The chance for the party nominations really getting weird-fun pretty much passed as Columbus businessman Tony Raimondo told the employees of his Behlen Mfg. Co. that he will not run for the U.S. Senate this term. Raimondo cited the difficulty of raising money against former Governor Mike Johanns as the chief culprit.
Backing shut door on Raimondo – Columbus Telegram – 10/26/07.
The 68 year old Raimondo had been extremely interested in running, and had stated numerous times that he would begin organizing his own campaign as soon as Senator Chuck Hagel dropped out. Raimondo had even hired an experienced out-of-state campaign manager and was meeting with potential supporters.
But soon after the rumors of Mike Johanns intentions surfaced, Raimondo, with the help of some poll results, realized that he would never have a chance against the Johanns Juggernaut ©. With that realization came rumors that Raimondo, who is good friends with Senator Ben Nelson, might be interested in switching parties to run for the Democratic nomination. Raimondo reportedly sneered that Leavenworth Street was the only one saying that – but didn’t specifically deny interest…
Alas, the Raimondo Run, and all the fun that would have come from a competitive Democrat primary, will not be. Instead, we can look forward to lots of furtive glances, knit brows and shiny belt buckles from the Democrat bench. Yee ha…
***Update, 7:30am 10/27/07***
Well, it seems now that Leavenworth Street isn't the only one talking about Raimondo runnning as a Democrat. In the OWH's story about Tony Toni Tone they said:
Ben Nelson guy vs. Bob Kerrey's boy? Awesome....
Backing shut door on Raimondo – Columbus Telegram – 10/26/07.
The 68 year old Raimondo had been extremely interested in running, and had stated numerous times that he would begin organizing his own campaign as soon as Senator Chuck Hagel dropped out. Raimondo had even hired an experienced out-of-state campaign manager and was meeting with potential supporters.
But soon after the rumors of Mike Johanns intentions surfaced, Raimondo, with the help of some poll results, realized that he would never have a chance against the Johanns Juggernaut ©. With that realization came rumors that Raimondo, who is good friends with Senator Ben Nelson, might be interested in switching parties to run for the Democratic nomination. Raimondo reportedly sneered that Leavenworth Street was the only one saying that – but didn’t specifically deny interest…
Alas, the Raimondo Run, and all the fun that would have come from a competitive Democrat primary, will not be. Instead, we can look forward to lots of furtive glances, knit brows and shiny belt buckles from the Democrat bench. Yee ha…
***Update, 7:30am 10/27/07***
Well, it seems now that Leavenworth Street isn't the only one talking about Raimondo runnning as a Democrat. In the OWH's story about Tony Toni Tone they said:
Raimondo left open the door — albeit a hairline crack — that he could be persuaded to run as a Democrat.So it looks like we can keep our hopes up for a Raimondo-Kleeb matchup.
"I'll keep all options open, but it's unlikely," he said.
Raimondo also said he has not been approached by anyone, including his friend Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson, to run as a Democrat. He said he would listen if approached but has no plans to switch parties.
Eric Fought, spokesman for the Nebraska Democratic Party, said party officials had no plans to woo Raimondo. "It is not a discussion that we've had, and it's not a discussion we plan to have," he said.
(emphasis ours)
Ben Nelson guy vs. Bob Kerrey's boy? Awesome....
Posts
15 comments:
Tony never considered being a turncoat just to run. To say he did, means that neither he, nor you are the gentlemen you claim to be.
Now the question you gotta ask yourself...Did Tony drop out at Heineman's request because a four-way primary ticket spells trouble for Johann's? I think it would.
And no...it doesn't make a difference who finishes in the primary Scott...you would still looking for your cowboy hat and wondering which herd it was that ran over you. You should have taken the high paying job back east. You know..."Hastings is a lot like Boulder..."
Did Bruning leave the state? He's handing it to Mr. Rogers...er...Johanns.
I hate to horn in on Tony's 15 seconds of fame...but seems the Draft Kleeb Coalition has formed...
http://tinyurl.com/2wqqd6
Disappointed,
1) We've only reported what we've heard (while this is absolutely a rumor, it's one that we got from numerous sources).
b) We've never claimed to be gentlemen.
OOINT,
The Draft Kleeb "coalition" is made up of the same guy who did the "I hate Lee Terry" site, and is trying to make a business of political consulting. Gee what a groundswell...
Columbus, NE (AP via CBS News)-This must mean that Columbus and Platte County are swinging Chriss Timm and Pat Flynn's way. We are now projecting Colfax and Platte County to go to Pat Flynn in the primary.
SS...
Thanks for the heads-up. Sometimes the whole story doesn't make it to...(or past???) the NTV crowd. They are too busy being agenda driven.
....and Madison, and Buffulo, and Kearney and lancaster and Holt and Gage and......
go Pat go!!!!!!
By the way, his name is Tim Criss,....and Dodge, and Douglas, and Dakota and Cuming, and Saline and Pawneeeeeeeeee..... and.................
All we know about Tony is that he craved Chuck's seat but was too afraid of Mike's power to run. And that says less about Tony than it does about Mike's strength.
We can throw Bob in with Tony. But poor Jon, its too late for him to quit. He has the choice of being a loser or a nasty loser.
This Senate race is over.
Anony with the list of counties,
I believe the phrase you're looking for next is, "Hyaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!"
You've made Howard Dean proud...
Wait, you criticized Kleeb for saying he'd consider an offer, yet when Tony talks about the fact he hasn't gotten an offer, you say nothing. Huh.
Anony,
My you Dems are fine at making things up. Try reading again, and you can see that TR said no one has "approached" him about switching parties. Kleeb was waiting for "an offer" to run.
Someone CAN approach TR about switching parties. No one has anything to "offer" Kleeb.
But, you know, nice try.
Actually, they mean the same thing, but nice try playing stupid, SS.....
Approach: to present, offer, or make a proposal or request to: to approach the president with a suggestion.
Offer: to present for acceptance or rejection; proffer. to propose or put forward for consideration: to offer a suggestion. to make a proposal or suggestion.
"Huh",
I'll type slow here so you can understand:
TR is waiting to be asked to switch parties. He's not going to do it on his own, lest he seem like an opportunist (though how he avoids that, I don't know).
SK said he's waiting for an offer. An offer of what? The NTV anchor gave him the chance to clear that up and he still didn't do it. There's nothing to be offered to Kleeb. There's nothing to accept.
(Had Kleeb said "approached", we could assume he was waiting for the nod of the party elders.)
And here's where we're going to be critical: He had all day, or at least the drive over to the TV station, to come up with what he was going to say, and THAT was it? Rookie mistake from someone who's not a rookie anymore.
Post a Comment