Monday, July 03, 2006

"Nervous" Nellie?


The Olde School press event at the local Sinclair station

If the national GOP wants to feel positive about Pete Ricketts’s chances in November, they have only to look at Earl Ben Nelson’s actions in the past week:

1) An attack ad on Ricketts
2) An email to his “supporters” telling them Ricketts is negative because he has suggested that the Senate could turn Democrat
3) A gimmick “press conference” at Ted’s Sinclair in Omaha.
(Nelson, Ricketts throw a few firecrackers - LJS - 7/3/06)

Earl campaign, beside the fact that you’re basing this latest free media goofiness off a throw-away line about Ricketts supporting a consumption tax, is this where you’re going, this early?

Marching in Seward doesn’t have the umph you desired, huh? Handing out stickers at Memorial Park wasn’t good enough for you? You really think this is going to stick?

I guess it’s official: these are desperate times for Earl’s camp.

(By the way, looking forward to your sound trucks rolling up and down Leavenworth Street in the near future. Love the old school politicking…)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

D-E-M-O-C-R-A-T-I-C

You forgot the last two letters.

At least Nelson is talking about issues and not making up newspapers headlines out of whole cloth.

Anonymous said...

I don't know. didn't ricketts fire his campaign manager? that sounds more desperate to me.

Street Sweeper said...

I haven't heard anything about PR firing his manager. He has a new spokesperson (apparently), but if you'd like to confirm anything else, I'd like to hear it.

And #2, we here on Leavenworth St. sometimes use slang. It's not worth your time or my time to report it.

The Ricketts lines were in the paper. And frankly I give them as much or more credence than what some newspaper editor thinks.

Anonymous said...

Street Sweeper...slang? Come on. You and I both know that some pollster in Washington found that the average voter had more warm and fuzzy feelings about the word "Democratic" than they did "Democrat," so they changed the language to use it as a pejorative.

And why would you trust what a reporter writes over an editorial board? I'm sure we can agree that most reporters just write down each side's accusation and rarely do any checking to find out whether what each candidate says is true.

By the way, that "straight out lies" line is from an accusation Hagel made in 1996. So it's a newspaper quoting a political opponent. Doesn't sound all that convincing to me.

Street Sweeper said...

(exahaling looong breath...)
1) You wrote “You forgot...” referencing the article, not the ad.
2) What makes an Ed board the Voice of God? They're writing their opinions.
3) And again, I'll take Hagel's word over an Ed board's, thanks.

Anonymous said...

From the AP:

"Former Nebraska GOP Executive Director Jessica Moenning on Monday was named campaign manager for the general election for Republican U.S. Senate nominee Pete Ricketts...

"Pat Fiske, who guided Ricketts' campaign through the primary, will continue to provide counsel to the campaign, Ricketts spokeswoman Trisha Meuret said."

They're trying to put a nice spin on it, but changing campaign managers usually is a bad sign.

Anonymous said...

Also - You are disregarding something Ricketts said 3 months ago (supporting national sales tax), yet taking as gospel something Hagel said 10 years ago???

Anonymous said...

Streetsweeper, if Hagel's word is more valuable than an editorial or news story, why didn't the ad say, "Hagel Says Ben Nelson is a liar" or something along those lines? Isn't there an assumption by the Ricketts campaign that the "newspaper report" is unbiased and therefore more valuable than a Hagel statement, since he had a vested interest in the outcome of the '96 race?

Street Sweeper said...

The Ricketts camp did not consult me on the ad.

Street Sweeper said...

Finally saw the news re: Jessica Moenning as the new Ricketts manager. I wouldn't call it desperate by any means (it's July), but I would say I'm surprised.

Anonymous said...

I was at the bank next door to his press conference. This girl/law student went to watch the press conference and got kicked out by two of Nelson's people (they looked all official). They wouldn't even let her stay and listen to her own Senator! Then, after they kicked her out they followed her down the street because some guy asked her why she was leaving. God, talk about crazy. Why can't Nelson's own constiuents be at a press conference? If you were a candidate, wouldn't you want to talk directly to the voters?