Ben Nelson is Worried

Does the man in this hat look comfortable?

Earl “Ben” Nelson is scared of Pete Ricketts.

Earl has been going around to business groups spouting the line that “Pete Ricketts was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.” (Forget for a moment that Ricketts had a middle-class upbringing and has had a successful business career.) Instead note that the last person who used that line, against a political neophyte with a successful father, was Ann Richards, former Governor of Texas, who went on to lose her office to a guy called “W”.

Earl has been stealing lines from Republicans too. On election night he stole David Kramer’s line about Ricketts spending in Washington like he did in his campaign – hardy-har-har (Ricketts Wins Senate Nom – KETV – 5/9/06). So he really IS bipartisan.

Earl also claims that this is a battle of “Main St. vs. Wall St.” (In Nelson-Ricketts race, it’s ‘Main Street vs. Wall Street’ - LJS- 5/9/06) [Hey, way to use that Nelson hit line in your headline LJS. Nice balance and all. Very professional]. But funny, last time I checked, Earl lives on Fieldcrest Drive in Regency, not Main Street.

And Earl has been bringing in the big guns for his election – bringing in a Senator crony for a pre-election outing in Omaha. Except that Earl didn’t HAVE a primary opponent.

So let’s sum up:

Earl rips Ricketts with old Dem attack line.

Earl rips Ricketts with old GOP attack line.

Earl rips Ricketts with see-through populist pap.

Earl brings in Washington emissaries when he’s not even challenged.

Seems like someone is just a littttttttle worried. Worried – scared. Take your pick. And if Earl is this scared, just a few hours into the General Election campaign, that can only mean one thing:

Pete Ricketts can beat Earl Ben Nelson.