Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Daub dips his toe in

Today Hal Daub announced that he’s thinking about running for the U.S. Senate.

Sporting a blue button down shirt, next to his wife, at the Benson Community Center (where he said he and his brother used to sell fruit at the firehouse as a kid), Daub said he is not a candidate today, but...

  • Is going on a "listening tour" of all 93 of Nebraska’s counties;

  • Is going to raise, money, but will put all raised funds into a trust fund, which won’t be spent unless he formally announces, and if he doesn’t, he’ll return all the contributions;

  • Hasn’t decided whether or not he would run if Hagel stays in the race (since no one else has actually announced either);

  • Is not going to hatchet any other pseudo-candidates (like someone else we know), and will be “respectful” of the incumbent, Hagel;

  • Does not agree with Hagel that the GOP has been hijacked.

He has a new website – www.HalDaub.com – and if you want to see how informal his campaign is at this point, take a look. He lists his personal email address at Blackwell Sanders (helllllo SPAM…) and has a resume that must be four pages long. There’s a decent chance he put the site together, literally, by himself.

Unfortunately, the lone photo he has up, which says he’s a “Lifelong Nebraskan”, shows him in front of the D.C. cherry blossoms with the Washington Monument in the background. C’mon Hal! Chimney Rock! Get your melon in front of Chimney Rock! Ah well…

The presser was vintage Hal, with him machine-gunning off all the issues that need to be fixed. He was also pretty relaxed though and did a nice job bantering with the reporters. If nothing else, the guy is a veteran of the process, and has definitely mellowed with age -- he actually seemed to think and consider before answering the questions. And he did have a good line in response to a question about Jon Bruning’s poll showing Bruning walloping him: There was also an early poll that showed Dave Heineman losing to Tom Osborne by forty points…

17 comments:

Eric said...

This is good news for Hagel should he decide to run for reelection. Remember, Bruning doesn't publish polls on multi-candidate match-ups. My guess is that several challengers would split the anti-Hagel vote, and Hagel would come out of it with a plurality.

Anonymous said...

I hope he runs! I'll take Daub over Bruning (over Hagel) anyday. Hal's a good guy with a great grasp of the issues. Slightly weird, but a good guy. Downtown Omaha would be in shambles if it weren't for him (although to be fair Fahey did follow his lead in downtown development).

Hal would make a great Senator.

Anonymous said...

Octavius says.....


this voter would support Hal over Bruning any day of the week. It all hinges on Hagel though.....I support Chuck until he decides.

Anonymous said...

Hal must have a tingling idea that Hagel still has national ambitions towards a third-party presidential bid with Bloomberg. With Bloomberg willing to spend ONE BILLION of his own money a Bloomberg/Hagel ticket would be interesting to see.

Daub is right to get his name out there and start campaigning. Right now Bruning's the only one that people are seeing and with Hagel possibly out of the scene, may be the man to beat. I'd pick Hal over Hollywood Jon any day! At least he wasn't a liberal left-winger in his youth.

Street Sweeper said...

By the way, we're taking Hal Daub "Separated at Birth" nominations, so get your's in soon.

(Much better if you have a link to a suggested photo...)

Thanks
Street Sweeper

Anonymous said...

All this will seem like an act of futility when Mr. Johanns announces.

Anonymous said...

Octavius says.....

did someone say SAB for Hal Daub?

http://praguewriter.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/rossperot.jpg

http://www.powerperformers.com/pictures/Don_Knotts.jpg

ok, well at least I tried.

Anonymous said...

SAB. Mayor Adam West from Family Guy. When you include his voice, it is spot on. If not Adam West, then the guy who comes to Springfield to sell a monorail from the Simpsons (not so much in looks, but overall policy attitude). Pardon the consistent animation.

Anonymous said...

So we got Hal Daub ripping a page from Hillary Clinton's campaign strategy - she coined the phrase "listening tour" in her NY Senate run in 2000 - and Chuck Hagel getting another billionaire to spend his oown money on a campaign for Chuck (as Ricketts did last year). Chuck wants to run as part of a ticket that spends $1 billion? So much for his fiscal conservatism. Another fake issue for the man.

Oh and any militant NE RTLers concerned about Golden Boy's high hopes for a pro-choice President?

What's next for these psuedo-republicans? running a campaign on tax cuts, illegal immigration, and earmarks? Wait, Ben Nelson did that last year.

Street Sweeper said...

Wait a minute: You're a calling Hal Daub a pseudo-Republican??? That's gotta be a first. And because Nellie ran on all GOP issues last time around the Republicans are ripping HIM off? Interesting theory.

And when you head on back to your Neb Dem site, tell them to credit Leavenworth Street the next time they rip us off...

Anonymous said...

Go Bruning!

Anonymous said...

Hal Daub and Mel Maines separated at birth.

Anonymous said...

Run Hal Run!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey SS: Did you notice that Eric Fought and the rest of those clever cats at the Nebraska Democratic Party completely plagairized your post on their website about Daub-the-lifelong-Nebraskan in front of the cherry blossoms photo?

Their posts have always been painfully unfunny but this is nothing short of shameful.

Just thought you would want to know!

Street Sweeper said...

Thanks Grant, yes I did notice it and noted it in my 9:15 PM comment above. I guess it's nice to know they're reading...

Anonymous said...

Down on the Farm said...
All this will seem like an act of futility when Mr. Johanns announces.


I would bet that the more Republican candidates that come out to challenge Hagel 1) the more likely it is for Johanns to announce he's throwing his hat in the ring - he doesn't want to be late to the party, and 2) the less likely it is Chucky will run again, as he'll see how unpopular he is.

Street Sweeper said...

We'll put ourselves on record to say that IF Hagel runs for re-election, Johanns will NOT run against him.