Voters last night returned top insurance regulators to office in North Carolina, North Dakota, Montana and Washington.[@@]
Those results mean the only political changes in membership in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo., could come in Missouri and Indiana, where control of the governor's office, which appoints the commissioner, shifted from Democrats to Republicans, and in New Hampshire, where voters replaced a Republican with a Democrat.
In North Carolina, Democrat Jim Long, a former NAIC president, handily won his sixth term with 55% of the vote. He won his post along with Democratic incumbent Gov. Mike Easley, defeating former state legislator C. Robert Brawley.
Republican Jim Poolman easily won re-election in North Dakota, defeating auto glass repair shop owner Terry Barnes. Poolman suddenly quit his post as NAIC vice president this fall and took himself out of contention for the organization's presidency — a post that abruptly became vacant with the resignation of Ernst Csiszar.
Poolman took nearly two-thirds of the vote. During his campaign he said that availability was a key issue for the state that attracts few carriers.