Friday, February 15, 2008

Crowded House


Things are finally in motion to make your 2008 more interesting, politics-wise.

As we had noted a few days ago, 1st District Congressman Jeff Fortenberry offically has an opponent for November. He is a 25 year old Lincolnite named Max Yashirin.

We've actaully heard quite a bit about Max at this point, but we're going to hold off on all of that for a while. There's lots of time. Let's just say that about the only thing Yashirin has in common with Fortenberry's last opponent is their first names.

Like many twenty-five year olds, Max is a fan of Facebook and has a page up (or at least did recently, see pic to the right).

***

The ghost of Jim Esch has appeared via the Barack Obama rally, and it is looking more and more like Esch is going to try to ride the Obama gravy-train all the way to Washington.

Of course, if we were part of the Rich Carter campaign, we'd be more than a little pissed that after all the time and effort it took to put together their guy's website and Facebook page and Flickr account, Esch thinks he can just jump back in at a moment's notice.

You may remember that Esch couldn't be bothered to properly file his campaign FEC reports in July or in October of last year. And then he ceded the 2nd District House race to Lee Terry this year, since Hillary was just ruining everything for Democrats. But a few chants of "Esch!" at the Obama rally...er..caucus, and Jim is right back in.

So what has Jim been doing since the last election other than not-filing FEC reports? We're not real sure. Can he afford to loan his campaign another $100,000 for a 2008 try? We dunno. But we have a feeling that we may hear more from him over the next 7-10 days...

***

The Lee Terry campaign is up and running. The campaign will be helmed by veteran consultant and campaign manager David Boomer, most recently successfull in Terry's 2004 campaign against Nancy Thompson.

We're informed that Terry's new and improved campaign website will be up on April 2nd, but in the mean time, they are taking advantage of the internets by posting Lee's announcemnet speech on their YouTube site: youtube.com/terry4congress.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sweeper, quit using fake photos!!!! That is a woman in Drag and not Max. I'm outraged you would do this to Max. Furthermore don't you know that facebook pages are off limits in campaigns. Max has the right to express himself anyway he wants on Facebook. Shame on you sweeper.

Anonymous said...

Oh for God's sake Neil, what's next? You gonna start calling people poopypants and boogernose? Where is the real political discourse on this site?

Anonymous said...

Hey now, Hey now, Mr. Osborn, I just can't believe that is a photo of the 1st District Democratic Candidate. It's just something so strong carried me away to write that post. You know it is a Crowded House race for these seats.

Anonymous said...

I think Jeff Fortenberry is One Step Ahead of Max in this race. History Never Repeats in these lopsided house races. But it Never Ceases to Amaze Me that the democrats keep putting up poor candidates. I don't know why sometimes I get frightened that the Democrats can win any of our 3 house seats.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Sweeper. I did a little of my own research into the guy lil' Jimmy Esch idolizes -- Obrack Obama. It seems National Journal deemed him the "most liberal" senator based on 99 "key senate votes."

The problem is, does anyone really trust the mainstream media's definition of "liberal" or "conservative" anymore?

For example, Obama voted to:

* Prevent Mexican trucks from operating on most U.S. roads;

* Establish a Senate Office of Public Integrity to handle ethics complaints against senators;

* Increase fuel-efficiency standard to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

I'm not so sure these are really "liberal" issues. If they are, maybe I should rethink my own ideological description.

Undoubtedly, Obama is a lefty. But so is John McCain. He's far to the left of George Bush and his daddy, neither of whom are conservatives.

I'd rather see conservatives dedicate their energies toward electing Republican House and Senate members than to waste time on a presidential election that has already been lost.

Anonymous said...

So this kid, according to the OWH, is still in college? Nice. Ha!

I appreciate his service, but, by analogy, installing drywall does not make on qualified to be an architect.

I think Esch has started a trend of young guys running for office far beyond their grasp just to get laid. Little secret guys: democratic women are already easy anyway

Anonymous said...

Anonymous says, "democratic women are already easy anyway." But he doesn't explain why he is still blogging one handed.

Street Sweeper said...

Yeah, that comment came very close to being deleted.
I don't like doing that, so please work on keeping it cleaner.
Thanks
SS

Anonymous said...

The cigarette has already lost the election for Max. Unless he has reformed of course.

Anonymous said...

All Republicans who think McCain is as "left" as Obama are invited to join a new party. It is called
Lemmings for America and the line begins at the cliff.

Anonymous said...

Split enz --- Most of us keep wondering where they get their candidates. Remember --- the Governor candidate last shot had his debt paid off by his dad just a year prior to running, Maul was side lined by Ben as Lt. Governor because he didn't want her, Kate had two losses in the same year (one of the few {and maybe only} in Nebraska history that has lost as a Dem and Repub in the same year) and the bull rider had never paid taxes in Nebraska or voted in Nebraska before he ran. He is the only political candidate that I know of that thought he could impress voters by claiming to ride BULL ....... (s)

There are much better Dems out there ----- guess they are not ego robots of the Howard Dean School that follow blindly about FILLING slots.

Nebraska voters tend to be more discerning than most on the left give credit.

Anonymous said...

ok no one got the "crowded house" joke. No one here liked the 80's

Anonymous said...

The word is promiscuous not easy.

The easiest thing in politics is to rape taxpayers. Democrats and increasingly GOP incumbents find themselves promiscuous in this regard.

Anonymous said...

Everyone needs to read the Journal Star story responses on their site. Unfreaking believable!!! What are they smoking in Lincoln? Message to Max: run for a NRD position, school board, hell even Nantkes won a legislative seat, but Congress!!! Prepare to get your ass kicked and become politically irrelevant.

Anonymous said...

http://www.maxyashirin.com/

Anonymous said...

Oh anonymous, that website is priceless!!! Let's see, picture at the racetrack and out for a drinhk at the Q bar. Nice Max, I can't wait for the keg party fundraiser at PO Pears.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmm. How did that little "Paid for by the Nebraska Republican Party
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee | www.negop.org" blurb get in there?

Nice politics children.

What's next . . . the NDP gonna run all the photos they have of Adrian with his "boyfriend?" Lee beating puppies? Jeff snorting cocaine?

Get real.

Eric said...

You'd think that the NEGOP wouldn't need to stoop to illegally distributing stolen images just to score cheap political points for Jeff Fortenberry.

Anonymous said...

Eric, are you a lawyer? Political speech is given a strict scrutiny analysis under the 1st amendment. His images were placed in the public domain and they are not being used for commercial purposes. Sorry Charlie but those pictures are fair game and they are funny as hell.

Eric said...

They were not placed in the public domain. They weren't even put on facebook by the candidate. Every single piece of copyrighted material doesn't magically become fair use just because you're using it to poke fun at a candidate for office.

Anonymous said...

A picture is worth a thousand words, and Matt Connealy really doesn't care that this campaign could derail this young man's entire career. Connealy took on a bunch of personal debt when he ran for congress. Has anyone told this to Max? Connealy couldn't even get elected to the PSC Board after he ran for congress, has anyone told this to Max? Connealy wasn't able to get a job after his run for congress, has anyone told this to Max? All of these facts are true, even though Connealy actually ran a good campaign with a respectable finish. Max Yashirin will be humiliated and his long-term prospects will therefore be worse. If Connealy cared about Max he would tell him to get his education, make some money, and get established. For now he could volunteer with some campaigns and get some experience and exposure to the process. When he has settled in then he could pursue higher office. No, Connealy has to find candidates or Connealy gets fired and that's why the NDP is pushing this young man off the cliff. Max, if you are reading this, please consider this, as you're not just entering into a 7 or 8 month campaign here. The consequences are long term.

Anonymous said...

The Nebraska Democratic Party wouldn't advise a young man that wanted to pursue a career in public service. They'd have to know how to win elections before they could teach anyone how to win one.

Connealy is a shining example of how failure is rewarded by the NDP hierarchy. If he screws up enough he'll eventually get a job offer from Vin Gupta over at InfoUSA.

The best carreer path to get on the Democrats' ballot is to start out as a Republican.