Is North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven, who has a long and impressive political track record in the Peace Garden State, interested in running for president in 2016?
You can ask him all you want — but he won't answer the question.
Newsmax TV's Steve Malzberg grilled Hoeven about his future political aspirations on Tuesday, but he was repeatedly rebuffed.
"I'm just trying to do my job as a senator and see if we can't get this economy going and growing and get this debt and deficit under control,'' Hoeven told Malzberg when the issue was raised.
But Malzberg — impressed with Hoeven's record of public service, which also includes a stint as North Dakota's governor from 2000 to 2010 and as president of the Bank of North Dakota — wasn't satisfied.
So he tried another approach, this time asking the Bismarck-born politician whether he has positively ruled out a bid for the White House.
"Like I said, that's not something I'm focused on or looking at at this point,'' Hoeven said.
"I'm looking at seeing if we can get the Congress working."
It was the non-answer answer of a very skilled politician.
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