 Others who had indicated an interest in the race were businesswoman Kristin Hedger and national progressive talk show host Ed Schultz.Hedger was the Democratic candidate for North Dakota Secretary of State in the 2006 general election, which she lost to the incumbent, Republican Alvin Jaeger.While flattered to have been asked, Schultz said he had to decline in that he would have been forced to give up his nightly television program on MSNBC The Ed Show as well as his daily progressive national radio show, The Ed Schultz Show, in order to run.