Thursday, September 20, 2007

No rest for Johanns


On the day that Mike Johanns is leaving the Bush Administration in a Rose Garden ceremony, it is obvious that Jon Bruning is going to continue tossing the haymakers. And Bruning is going to try to hit Johanns with what was Tom Osborne’s Achilles’ heel in the Governor’s race: immigration.

Johanns has made a number of statements regarding the Bush immigration plan, particularly regarding how it would affect migrant farm workers. It will be interesting to see if and how Johanns addresses this issue right out of the box. One would think/hope that Vicki Powell, who ran Osborne’s campaign and will(?) run Johanns campaign, will have prepped for this one.

***

Bruning is getting questioned about the stance he took recently regarding gas station owners in North Platte misleading consumers about their prices. (On gas pricing, did Bruning opinions follow publicity? – AP – 9/20/07 ) At the time Bruning said that the practices were illegally deceiving. However a few months before that, Bruning’s office put out an opinion that the practice was specifically “not illegal” and that the buyers should simply beware.

Bruning now says, that wasn’t HIS opinion. That was the opinion of (wait for it) Robbie the Intern!, and what matters is Bruning’s new opinion.

Robbie was last seen lying under a bus back behind the AG’s office, along with Jon’s son’s football coach

***

Ben Nelson, no doubt still bitter about Chuck Hagel hammering him last year, has decided to put in his opinion on Mike Johann’s entrance, nice and early as well. Nelson has come out criticizing Johanns regarding the Farm Bill (saying Johanns is abandoning the bill). Yet, the House of Representatives has already addressed it and the Farm Bill sits right now, in Nelson’s own Senate Agriculture Committee!

On another note, Ben would also like to know when Johanns is going to mow Nelson’s lawn in Regency, since an unsightly yard reflects poorly on all Nebraskans.

***

Former Omaha City Councilman, (and former Republican) Cliff Herd is apparently going to make a run for the Democrat nomination to take on Congressman Lee Terry.

Herd is the “local businessman” we had referred to earlier and he should be able to self-finance a decent chunk of his campaign. No word yet on Democrat State Senator Tom White’s plans.
Herd has also been accused of trolling Leavenworth Street pimping his blog…

15 comments:

Eric said...

Who's the source for this Cliff Herd news?

Street Sweeper said...

A connected individual.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that Herd-it-on-the-street blog sucks. Sweeper, you should be flogged for letting him pimp his wares on this site.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Street Sweeper said...

Wonderer,
Please resubmit, but with the second part out.
-SS

Anonymous said...

SS, cleaning up the blog-world one post at a time, huh?

Any way, I was just wondering about Cliffy selling his Caddy SUV on Ebay?

and,

If Jimmy will be his campaign manager?

Now that I think about it, Esch and Kleeb have a lot in common, they've both been all but forgotten by their Party.

Street Sweeper said...

...hence the name...

Anonymous said...

the dems are already after johanns - geez. shame on nelson and his negative campaigning. it's about time he got called out on it!

Anonymous said...

If Vicki Powell is the campaign manager for Secretary Johanns, this campaign is going to be much more difficult than it needs to be. People are still harboring hard feeling from the T.O. debacle. Why would she run Mike's campaign? Better yet, why would he ask her back??

Anonymous said...

Congressman Terry Lee should be pretty nervous if Tom White gets into the race with any kind of financial backing. He's done nothing to distinguish himself since the last election...excluding the dust-up with Jesse Jr. In any debate, White will likely clean his clock...if White isn't forced by the Dem base into liberal speak.

Street Sweeper said...

OmaSteak,

You're nuts. Terry has gotten more free press during the past year, with a Dem Congress, than he did in the previous two. He's involved in a bunch of legislation, and comes off as sane amongst many of the other wackos out there.

And what kind of coat tails do you think a Hillary campaign will have?
While he better take all comers seriously (hey whatever happened to that Esch guy?), Terry will be in good shape.

Anonymous said...

The only reason why Terry might get nervous is if White threatens to start throwing his Brylcreem during a debate.

Anonymous said...

Is this the same Clifford Herd who placed last in the 05 Council primary, or is it a different Cliff Herd?

Anonymous said...

That be him!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info, Wonderer. That gives rise to a question: what was it that Herd did, or did not do, that prompted him to be so soundly rejected by the voters? Was it poor constituent service? Voting against his constituents' wishes? Abrasive personality or inability to work with others? If Herd cannot serve a Council district effectively, why would we assume he can represent 600,000+ people in the U.S. House?