(CNN) - Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum will win Tuesday's Republican caucuses in North Dakota, CNN projects.
For the latest Super Tuesday developments, follow The Political Ticker's live blog.
Atlanta (CNN) – Newt Gingrich is looking beyond Super Tuesday as his rivals keep their focus on the biggest day so far in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. At stake, 419 delegates.
Gingrich heads to Alabama early this afternoon for two campaign events before returning to Atlanta for Election Night. The former House speaker is expected to easily win his home state of Georgia, which he has said is crucial to his campaign for the nomination. But Gingrich's decision to campaign in Alabama, which holds a primary next week, is a clear sign the former speaker has no intention of dropping out of the race even if he performs poorly outside of Georgia.
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(CNN) - Rick Santorum warned a quiet North Dakota audience Wednesday that their state's booming oil industry positioned the region as a prime target for terrorism.
"Folks, you've got energy here. They're going to bother you. They'll bother you, because you are a very key and strategic resource for this country," the Republican presidential candidate said. "No one is safe. No one is safe from asymmetric threats of terrorism."
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(CNN) - Democrats in North Dakota welcomed Heidi Heitkamp to the state's open U.S. Senate race following her official announcement Tuesday.
The former state attorney general said she is launching her bid because with a badly broken Washington, the state needs an "independent voice who will go there to stand up for North Dakota."
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(CNN) – Democrats in charge of electing members of their party to the Senate in 2012 see an opportunity in North Dakota where a Republican is currently favored for the open Senate seat.
Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, told CNN the Senate race in the state is "number one" on their list of contests that could become competitive in the next election.
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Washington (CNN) – The 2012 election may be 22 months away, but the battle for a what may be a vulnerable Democratic-held Senate seat in North Dakota is already heating up.
Commonsense Ten, an independent Democratic aligned organization, tells CNN that its launching radio ads Friday defending the record of Sen. Kent Conrad, who faces what could be a difficult bid for re-election in 2012. Jim Jordan, one of the Democratic operatives who last year founded the group, says they'll spend around $30,000 on the ad buy. The group spent around $4 million in last year's midterm campaign.
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(CNN) - Republican Gov. John Hoeven has won North Dakota's Senate race, CNN projects, beating out Democrat Tracy Potter for the seat left open by retiring Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan. Projections are based on CNN analysis of exit poll data.
Washington (CNN) - Sen. Kent Conrad issued a statement Thursday announcing that he has asked for the removal from the House bill of an exemption for the state-owned Bank of North Dakota that would have allowed the bank to continue making federally backed student loans.
Related: Conrad wins carve-out for North Dakota bank
Related on CNNMoney.com: Student loan reform shares health care fate
(Read Conrad's full statement after the jump)
Washington (CNN) - Sen. Kent Conrad said Thursday he won an exemption for the state-owned Bank of North Dakota to continue making federally backed student loans under legislation that would alter the loan process.
Later: Conrad asks for bank carve-out to be removed
He said the special treatment for the bank will be included in the budget reconciliation bill, which contains both fixes to health care legislation and changes to the way federally secured student loans are made.
Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, said his state's bank deserves to stay in the student loan business because it both originates and services low-interest student loans.
"They are not like these other institutions that have created these problems," he said.
Democrats have criticized private banks for earning profits by making federally backed loans, while also pocketing a subsidy from taxpayers. Under the bill, the federal government would make the loans directly and keep any earned profits from the loans.
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Washington (CNN) – Gov. John Hoeven will announce Monday evening that he is running for the open Senate seat in North Dakota, one week after Sen. Byron Dorgan revealed he would retire, a Republican source with knowledge of the GOP governor's plans confirms to CNN.
Dorgan's decision to retire after serving three terms in the Senate makes Hoeven an early favorite to win the election and put the seat back in the Republican column. Dorgan was first elected to the Senate in 1992 and currently serves as chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee.
Hoeven, a popular governor first elected in 2000, is expected to make the announcement at the Bismarck Area Republican District Convention being held in the state capital.
Follow Mark Preston on Twitter: @prestoncnn
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