Dakota Discontent

AP News - 506 days ago
Dakota Discontent
This Sept. 30, 2010 photo shows flags flying in downtown Hope, N.D. The recession that's brought misery to so much of America hasn't touched Walter Grotte. Like many of his fellow North Dakotans, the retired farmer has prospered in recent years with a business moving silos and grain bins that's so robust he says life is "better than we deserve." But bring up, Earl Pomeroy, the state's Democratic congressman _ a man Grotte voted for in 2008 and the seven elections before that _ and the smile disappears. In a notable twist, a region that has largely escaped the lingering recession and doggedly high unemployment rate, has decided to join in the national bad mood. Grotte says he is angry about the federal debt.(AP Photo/Ann Arbor Miller)