Sunday, July 29, 2007

New grass-roots candidate in the Senate race


There is a new candidate in the 2008 race for the U.S. Senate in Nebraska.

Pat Flynn of Schuyler announced on Friday that he has chucked his beret into the squared circle for the Republican nomination for the seat presently held by Chuck Hagel. (Schuyler investment adviser to enter Senate race – LJS – 7/27/07.) At this point, only Flynn and Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning have announced. (Look up to your right for our guess on when Hagel will finally chime in.)

Flynn will be formally announcing on Tuesday, but in the mean time, he has his “Pat Flynn for Senate” website up that gives an outline on his general positions, and a thumbnail sketch of his personal life.

And for some reason, Flynn has decided to get out ahead of his “history” with alcohol and marijuana use back in his twenties. Now we can understand how one might mention that, sort of in passing, in an announcement or an interview or something, but Flynn makes it the focus of his bio page, more or less.

That’s great that you’re all up-front about your former love of weed, dude, but geez, uh, it’s pretty much the only thing anyone can focus on the day you announce for Senate. Prooooobably not what you want people to walk away with…dude.

[Follow-up, 8/1/07: In his formal announcement, Flynn actually said he was going to run a grass-roots campaign. Just so we're clear, our headline above was tongue-in-cheek. Get it? Good.]

***

And speaking of the 2008 Senate race, we had lost track of possible candidate Hal Daub as he has been loping across Nebraska on his “listening tour” visiting 93 counties in 93 days . (Might want to get someone to update that website more often – though nice new photo...)

Last Thursday he was apparently in Crete and the publisher of Nebraska-based blog Red State Eclectic took part in the meeting. It regrettably had poor attendance, in part no doubt to the local newspaper “forgetting” that Daub told them he’d be in town. Nonetheless, Red State Eclectic (which usually focuses on all things Ron Paul) has a detailed write-up of the focused and mellowed Daub and her visit with him. Take a look.

***

And finally for our bizzaro story of the weekend, which features another possible 2008 Senate candidate, Cosmic Bob Kerrey.

So get this: Actor/comedian/wild-and-crazy-guy Steve Martin got married over the weekend to his longtime girlfriend Anne Stringfield in Los Angeles. A bevy of stars attended the surprise wedding (they were told it was just a party), including best man, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. (More on Steve Martin’s Wedding – E! Online – 7/29/07.

So who presided over the nuptials? None other than Rockin’ Bob Kerrey! Apparently Kerrey got “ordained” just so he could marry the couple. No word at this time what religion Kerrey’s holy orders are based upon. (Remind us in the future that all references should be to, not Governor, not Senator, but to The Reverend Bob Kerrey.)

[Follow-up, 8/1/07: The OWH's Robert Nelson reports that anyone with a valid marriage license can perform a marriage in California. That's nice. He'll still be The Reverend to us...]

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nebraska's third-tier GOP candidates are still better than than the state Dems' top-tier candidates.

Anonymous said...

A certified Messianic Complex is not enough to perform a Hollywood wedding? Hollywood must be raising their standards. Oh I forgot...Hagel holds the rights to "M-C's"

Anonymous said...

I still recall my amazement when Steve Martin got the Mark Twain Award for outstanding American Comedy. I wasn't amazed about him being selected - I was amazed that Bob Kerrey was sitting in the balcony box beside Steve Martin. Martin's parents were on the other side of Kerrey.

It takes a pretty good friend to get between a boy and his mother.

Anonymous said...

Another poster on this blog makes an accurate point. The Dems would love to have a candidate like Flynn. He's 3rd tier in the GOP. The strategy then, for the Dems, is to tear candidates down. Since they can't compete at the high levels being offered, they will have to play negative. It's not that the Dems are bad, per se. It's just the reality of politics...when behind by a ton you have to go negative. They lead with negative and it serves to form their party.

Eric said...

Yeah, good thing those Republicans are practically immune from anything remotely negative. The primary so far has been the pinnacle of gentlemanliness. Darn nice guys they are.

Anonymous said...

Dont act like republicans cant be negative. does anyone remember the pet ricketts vs ben nelson campaign? ricketts spent $10 million or so doing nothing but being negative. its the nebraska republican party strategy!

Street Sweeper said...

OK, this isn't going to be some special forum for revisonist history of last year.

You can feel free to turn back to posts showing who said what, and you can see that both sides did their share of "comparative" ads and spent lots of money doing so.

GOP Wonk said...

The best quote came from the OWH article about Flynn's candidacy: "He doesn't doubt, however, that he will raise enough money to mount a credible statewide campaign. Flynn has already hired two full-time staff members and plans to raise about $1.2 million."

If Pat Flynn believes he'll raise $1.2 million in a Nebraska GOP primary that could feature Bruning, Daub, and Johanns, then he's STILL smoking something.

Anonymous said...

I guess I don't understand GOP Wonk's cynicism. Why can't Flynn raise $1.2 million...just because he doesn't come from the Party establishment? No offense, but I think it's refreshing to see someone other than a lifetime politician running for office.

GOP Wonk said...

Refreshing and realistic are two seperate concepts. As are cynicism and realism.

You answered your own question in the same sentence you asked it: "Why can't Flynn raise $1.2 million...just because he doesn't come from the Party establishment?"

Precisely.

Bruning, Johanns, and Daub do. So assuming they run, they'll get the bulk of the GOP money and primary support.

Anonymous said...

So if Pat Flynn is making such a deal about his past chemical troubles, what is he trying to draw attention away from? ...

AnonymousII

Anonymous said...

The cynicism is beautiful, that is, all these people on here, checking out the blog, attempting to be "Nebraska Insiders!" So, a guy is going to attempt a campaign run from the ground up...isn't that part of the American dream! I guess there isn't much of a debate here...only time will tell if this run is a joke or not! I will love to see the faces of the "veterans", "insiders", etc., if this campaign does something great! As for coming out with the past record...I think that is smart; he has come out of those habits and made something of himself (he sounds like an average American to me; how many of us made past mistakes? [that question is rhetorical])! The point is that he is trying to get the bullcrap out of the way to make room for the actual issues that way when March and April comes around we don't have to hear the media fret about his past and they can actually report about real politics! Best to everyone!