Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Messiahs and Posers

The mini-war-of-words between former OWH publisher Harold Andersen and U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel continued over the weekend when Andersen used his Sunday vanity column (which you gotta pay for) to once again call out Hagel. Andersen said he believes there’s a distinct possibility that Hagel has a “messiah complex” based on Hagel’s notion to run for President as an Independent.

Andersen then proposed that Hagel resign from the Republican Party to run for President or re-election to the Senate as an “I”:

After all, how does a public of­fice- holder justify continued membership in a party that he described on a national televi­sion program earlier this month as having been "hijacked by a group of single-minded, almost isolationist insulationists, pow­er- projectors."
Andersen also took a shot at Hagel’s recent fundraiser, name-droppingly implying that it wasn’t a show of support for Hagel at all:

I would say the turnout — and the contributions — were to some extent a tribute to the im­pressive principal sponsors of the fundraising event, including Ann and Ken Stinson, chairman of Peter Kiewit Sons' Inc., in­vestment banker Mike McCar­thy and wife Nancy and Gov. Dave Heineman and wife Sally Ganem.
Andersen finished his column by discussing how he and his wife name their dogs.
Seriously.

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In today’s OWH Midlands section, new columnist Robert Nelson (which you also gotta pay to read) takes the opportunity to belatedly dump on Hal Daub’s old idea to flood Ashland and create a giant recreational lake.

Nelson attempts to segue into this topic by pointing out that he’s was born in a small town, raised in a small town, used to daydream in that small town…well, you get the picture… and that small town Nebraska people hate Omaha. Except that they like to go there. And for Nelson, Daub’s idea epitomizes they way Omahans think of small-town Nebraskans: They just don’t care about/respect us!

In the past, statewide political hopefuls with mainly Omaha cre­dentials have tried to wear a cow­boy hat, or a seed cap, or give some crazy new subsidy to farm­ers, in their attempt to be Ne­braskan.
Their “attempt”? Hey Robert, we’ve got a news-flash for you: Maybe while you lived in Phoenix you forgot this, but OMAHA IS IN NEBRASKA. Now go pay your wheel-tax already!

And just for the record Robert, we thought the lake idea was kinda cool…

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Carlos Castillo, who managed Governor Dave Heineman’s 2006 upset victory over the beloved Tom Osborne, will be recognized by Campaigns and Elections Magazine as a “2007 Rising Star” in its May 31st edition. The mag, which lists ten Democrats, ten Republicans and five nonpartisan politicos, had this to say about Castillo:

In the 2006 Republican primary, he led Heineman from a 40-point deficit to victory over Nebraska legend Tom Osborne. He has managed two successful re-election campaigns for Rep. Lee Terry and developed a successful strategy to elect a Republican majority on the Omaha City Council. In 2003, then-Gov. Mike Johanns appointed Castillo as the Douglas County Election Commissioner, making him the youngest election commissioner in the country.
In December, Castillo was appointed by Heineman as Director of the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great idea...Hagel running for his Senate seat as an Independent... he'd win by a huge margin. By straddling the fence he could pull in votes from both sides and no one would feel guilty. Harold threw in the bone that will save Chuck Hagel.

I think "Messiah Complex" might be a little strong...I view Hagel's narcissistic personality disorder more as an illness...then again.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to Carlos. Couldn't happen to a more deserving candidate.

A practical question at this point, though; shouldn't rising stars as designated by Campaigns and Elections be working, you know, in campaigns and elections?

Anonymous said...

DAS Director is a tough gig, but Carlos is up for it.

Anonymous said...

Harold Anderson ties himself to Bush’s falling star but the current publisher is tied to Kerrey who just put the NE GOP on notice that if they don’t reelect Hagel they may get a MoH winning Democrat back in the Senate.

Regarding Carlos, everyone thought Hagel was stupid for early-endorsing Heineman, who pundits knew was guaranteed to lose to Coach Tom. Carlos was safely running Terry's campaigns and took an equally big leap (faith? logic?) to do exactly what Hagel did for Dave. The point is, it is unwise to underestimate Carlos or Hagel.

Anonymous said...

Carlos Castillo is a conservative minority, and the liberals just hate it. I still recall the Democrat ED, Barry Rubin, taking to racial slurs so quickly against Carlos. Now he is in charge of the sprawling mess called DAS. He will do a good job cleaning it up, and the Dems will have one less "card" to play come election time. They don't know what to do about conservative minorities, because they are a threat to a major political base of theirs. I hope Castillo does well for himself, but I would also love to see a conservative thinker apply his ideals successfully.