By Dave Thompson
Bismarck, ND – House Minority Leader Merle Boucher has become the second Democrat to announce he's running for governor.
Boucher will challenge former state Senator Joe Satrom for the job.
Boucher is 57. He was first elected to the Legislature in 1990, and has been the Democratic floor leader for the past eight years.
Boucher held a low-key announcement of his plans in Bismarck. He says he wants to concentrate on the issues, and not on such things as staged rallies.
"Good God -- what we see - and I'm not being critical of the people involved in the current race," said Boucher, "but money drives the whole system. It's not about issues, it's not about people who believe in it, it's not about their passions. It's how good of a marketing program you put together. And I think sometimes we find out that the product isn't doing the job."
Boucher says he wants to develop North Dakota's water infrastructure. He also says North Dakota has to get away from being -- as he put it -- a "colonial economy and society."
"It should be the Governor's message to the outside world that we are independent," Boucher told Bismarck reporters. "We come to the table, offering our goods and our services, and wanting to become part of this world economy. And we're going to do it on an equal basis. We are expecting that we get our fair share."
Boucher says he will have to raise between one million and two million dollars to run a race -- if he gets the Democratic nomination.