MINOT — The North Dakota News Cooperative's recent poll shows that, of North Dakota's top elected officials, Gov. Kelly Armstrong is the most popular with a 66% approval rating.

This is terrible news for the people in charge of the North Dakota Republican Party, which is an odd thing to write, I know, given that Armstrong is a Republican. I'll explain more in a moment.

All of the Republicans who hold the state's top offices are popular. U.S. Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer come in at 63% and 59%, respectively. U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak is a bit below those marks, at 54%, and while the News Cooperative reported this as a "slip" in her popularity (she earned over 69% of the vote last year), I think it has more to do with her newbie status than anything else.

Before running for the

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