Lee TV: The Economy

New Lee Terry ad out. See it below:



Pretty straight forward. Basically Terry is hitting Esch on his statements that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts were the wrong move.

But there is also another message when talking about Esch's belief on the stimulus checks:

Esch, personally, doesn't need a stimulus check, so he doesn't understand why people do need them.

As Terry's campaign manager put it:

"I can’t blame Jim for his ignorance—he just can’t relate. He lives off of a trust fund and hasn’t really worked a job in years."

Ouch! Welcome to the hardball of the final month of the campaign.

***

The Nebraska delegation voted as a block against the Wall St. bailout bill: Terry, Jeff Fortenberry and Adrian Smith, all "No". Mike Johanns also said he was against the House bill.

Which is interesting considering that Terry is the only one who has anything resembling a close race. Though apparently the administration tried their best to get all of their votes -- Vice President Cheney going after Smith and OMB Director and former Rep Jim Nussle going after Terry.

In the end the bad bill and the shouts from their constituencies carried the day.

Campaign-wise, it is hard to say this was a bad move. If the markets collapse there could be some blame thrown, but, as noted below, everyone is on the same page.

And considering how close the vote was, one would think there is a good chance some kind of bill will be passed soon.

***

And in case you think this was a Republican thing, note that Democrat Congressional candidates Jim Esch and Max Yashirin and Democrat Senate candidate Scott Kleeb said they support the "No" votes of the Nebraska House Republicans.

Not that Nancy Pelosi was twisting their arms though.

Esch TV: Make believe

Jim Esch has an ad out. See it here:



**AM UPDATE**

We're informed that for this ad, Esch bought $34,000 on broadcast and $6,000 on cable, for a total ad buy of $40,000 for the week.

It's also worth pointing out that for Esch's first ad of the season, he ignored doing an intro ad -- who is Jim Esch, what is his experience, where is he from, etc.

Hmm, we wonder why Esch would skip an ad about his experience...

***

A few other things that caught our eyes:

First, the "experts" that Esch rolls out. Namely, these people:

Admittedly, at least the first two may be employed, so they've got that going for them. (Sort of reminds us of The Onion's American Voices...)

Now you can take the word of these three about what Lee Terry has done on energy issues, or you could take the word of this crotchety old dude:


He commends Lee Terry for addressing the energy crisis.
And who is he?

Just the DEMOCRAT Chairman of the House Energy Committee...

***

And then, what the heck is with Democrats and inflating actual gas prices???

Take another look at the gas prices in Jim Esch's ad:

$4.49 and $4.38 per gallon? Interesting, except that anyone who drives a car knows that prices aren't close to that.

Furthermore, gas prices were never that high in Omaha. Take a look at the historic prices, with the highs coming this past July, according to GasBuddy.com.

They max out at $4.09 per gallon ($4.14 in Lincon):


Of course this goes along with alleged gas prices in Scott Kleeb's ads, which are alternatively:

$4.29, $4.99, $6.63, and (the big one) $8.78 per gallon!


Then there's The Reader, which, after some time working PhotoShop, suggests that the actual price of gas is $6.52 / gal.

Maybe when all of these Democrat are done making up the price of a gallon of gas, they'll realize the actual price and vote Republican...

***

Finally for Jim's ad, let's take a look at all of those stock quotes that go rolling by.


We see KaQ is up 1/8
QHJ is up an 1/8 as well.
NAW is up a 1/2.
VAN is down an 1/8.
VSA is down 3/8.

Um, except that those stock names are about as real as the gas prices.

Oh well. No sense using actual companies and prices when you can have pretend ones!

***

Well, at least The Reader has seen the light. In the correction section, you can note where they admit the mistakes from their front page story on Lee Terry:


And be sure to look to the corrections section in the next edition of The Reader.

In that one they'll note that Lee Terry is a Representative, and not a "Senator"...

Debate debate

Who won? Who lost? Your favorite zinger? (Your favorite twinkie?)
Let's hear it Leavenworth Street readers! Feel free to dive in as soon as it starts.

**POST DEBATE UPDATE**

While watching it, I personally felt that it was a tie. Though I felt McCain had a strong close.

In any case, what I was most amazed about was that this ad was up immediately after the debate.

Freaky Friday

As the events of Thursday and Friday, with the meetings at the White House and in Congress, keep changing, the issues will continue to be fluid.

That being said...

***

Lee Terry has emerged, apparently, as one of the hundred or so House Members who has "revolted" (Rep. Barney Frank's words) against the Treasury Secretary's original plan on the banking crisis.

However, Terry, who is in favor of Congressional action, was quoted in the L.A. Times, saying, "Whatever is going to be done has to be done this weekend. Allowing it to go beyond Sunday into Monday will devastate the markets."

Senator Chuck Hagel has noted that constituent reaction coming into his office is 50 to 1 against the bailout as originally proposed (we hear from our sources that it's actually more like 100 or 200 to 1). Voicing this position, Terry notes, "There is no way in heck any Congressman would support putting that money into the pockets of these CEO’s that caused this problem."

No word right now as to whether Terry is or was on board with the Wall St. self-insurance proposal that was thrown out by some House GOPers. But, assuming that a deal does get made, and the markets don't tank, Terry could be on the right side of this.

However, there will likely be no real political "winners" in this matter.

***

Jim Esch tried to make some political hay a few days ago as this came up. Esch put out a release saying that Terry was wrong to agree to a plan that would "give Wall Street a blank check".

While Esch may have jumped the gun on this, we would guess that he would be joining Barney Frank and Speaker Nancy Pelosi's position now. Does that include the blank check that Esch alluded to a few days ago?

We are not sure, though we would assume that he will be coming out with another statement on the crisis shortly.

***

We were a bit stunned by a report from leading pollster John Zogby who said the Presidential election could be a "landslide".

And who does he pick? John McCain.

Interesting. (Though we're sure he could change his mind at about any time.)

If the debate comes off tonight (which it now looks to be), feel free to come back to Leavenworth Street and give your comments on what happened.

And...Go Huskers!!

Pumping the resume

Jim Esch will apparently be speaking to the Creighton University College Democrats on October 1st.

A flyer (provided by an observant L. St. reader) below, brags that Esch visited Afghanistan "to visit our troops and learn firsthand about the challenges they face there."

Except that Esch didn't visit any American troops.

Note the final line of the OWH article about Esch's Afghan vacation:

Esch did not meet with staff at the U.S. Embassy or visit American troops.

Sort of crystal clear, eh?

The flyer also notes that Esch will talk about "his experience". You might want to get there early, as this could be a short meeting...

***

Congressman Lee Terry and Esch will be debating at Creighton the following week, October 7th. We have been asked by a C.U. student if we would ask our readership for questions for the candidates.

If you have an intelligent question, add it in the comments section, or email it to Leavenworth Street (link above).

Try to keep it short. We are sure "gotcha" questions will be submitted, and those are fine. Just keep in mind that they are looking for actual questions that can be asked in a public forum...

***

Scott Kleeb is apparently ending his pub-crawl across liberal America. He has yelped in New York City that he loves, "Drinking Liberally!". He has begged Chicagoans at the Billy Goat for money so that he can spend it in Nebraska in order to represent...well...you guess.

And then there are the San Franciscans who just can't get over the fact that there is a someone from Nebraska near them. Not that they would ever actually GO to Nebraska, but you get the gist.

(And it still kills us that people are now actually pointing out a comparison to David Hasselhoff -- originally based on our Separated at Birth. Uh, folks, IT WAS A JOKE. We were making fun of his Hoff-pose. It wasn't a compliment...)

In any case, apparently in honor of his pub-money-grub, Kleeb has put up a web-only ad on his YouTube site, proclaiming that he and his supporters are "the 50 state strategy!" You know, the plan for Democrats like Obama to compete in every state.

(Well, except that Obama has now abandoned North Dakota. And Montana (didn't they just have offices there?).)

But in any case, we found it interesting that the music used for Kleeb's little video is "Closing Time" by Semisonic.



You've heard it before. The pertinent lyrics are:

Closing time, one last call for alcohol, so finish your whiskey or beer
Closing time, you don't have to go home but you can't stay here.

New poll(s)

For those weekend readers, there is a new statewide poll on the Presidential race in Nebraska, as well as a claim of a new poll by the Democrat Senate candidate.

First, see the 45 second vid below of Scott Kleeb with his comrades raising money in New York City on September 19, 2008.



In it, you can hear Kleeb claim at the 32 second mark that there is a new poll that shows him:

"...up 22 points among women and 14 among men in a poll in Omaha (we think he yelps)..."

Now if those aren't nebulous numbers, we don't know what are.

• Up 22 points from...? Up 14 points from....?
• Why the breakdown between men and women?
  
• And what are the the final numbers then?
• And if he is "up", up from what? And when?
• And, by the way, no one in a statewide race cares what Omaha numbers show. What are the statewide results?

Well, no doubt that if these numbers are as great as Kleeb seems to think, we will see the poll and crosstabs immediately.

***

And from what we believe is an actual poll, ARG (appropriate the day after "National Talk Like a Pirate Day") has released statewide results for Nebraska in the Presidential race.

They are:


(* The ARG poll has these numbers as 56% and 47% respectively. Since these don't add up, we assume the second digit in each is a misprint)

Now of course these numbers don't give a breakdown by Congressional District as we are looking for these days. So it is difficult to make a guess about what the McCain-Obama or the Terry-Esch numbers may be with this is mind. Speculate at will.

We can only say though that we can't imagine that Mike Johanns is too far of off John McCain's numbers statewide.

Remember that Johanns was up approximately 60% - 34% in a July 31,2008 Rasmussen poll and about the same the month before that. And he hadn't even been on TV yet. We are expecting a new Rasmussen poll any day.

Happy Saturday everyone.

Political inflation

There is some political news in the 2nd District race. Late yesterday the Cook Political Report downgraded Rep. Lee Terry's chances of victory over Democrat challenger Jim Esch from "Likely Republican" to "Lean Republican".

CQPolitics also changed their rating on this race from "Safe Republican" to "Republican Favored". CQ explained:

Esch’s inclusion on the DCCC’s Red to Blue list will give him access to more campaign cash, and he’ll probably will wind up spending more than the $420,000 that his 2006 campaign laid out. And the Terry campaign this week aired a television advertisement that attacks Esch on energy policy — something it probably would not have done if it though

t Esch wasn’t at least a potential threat.

To flesh out Cook's and the DCCC's input a little more, we go to Joe Jordan's blog where he says:

Cook isn't banking on any polls he's seen, instead he's counting on what insiders with the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) are telling him.

According to Cook the DCCC is saying this: Their coming to Omaha with T-V ads targeting Terry's "links to Big Oil, and his congressional pay raises." [Neither of which is going to stick to Terry.]

Those are ads Esch wouldn't have to pay for and would mark the first time the National Democratic Party has gone after Terry.

***

So let's put all of this together:

• Barack Obama's Presidential campaign has Iowa in play, so they need to advertise in Omaha to reach Western Iowa. They also think the whole race could possibly come down to one Electoral Vote, so they are doubling down in Omaha, since they're advertising there anyway.
• Since Obama is putting money into Omaha, the DCCC is doubling down themselves with Esch, in the hopes that he can ride Obama's coat tails.
• Because of Obama's and the DCCC's money in the race, and because of a closer than planned race in 2006 (the year of the Democrat), Terry has gone on the air early against Esch.
• Because of Obama's money, the DCCC's money, and the Terry ads, Cook and apparently CQ think the 2nd District race is closer than expected.
  

But at no time have we seen:

• any actual polls that indicate the 2nd District race is close.
  
• any indication that Esch could actually beat Terry.
• seen that Esch has a competent campaign organization.
  

What we do have is a lot of betting by the Dems that if they put a lot of money into a race they think could be close, that it will become a close race. And while that might not be the strangest circular argument in history, keep in mind that all the while...they're betting on Jim Esch.
At some point, to get over the hump, Esch is going to have to be more than "the Democrat" in the race. He will have to show that he has some sort of experience, some sort of qualifications or some magnificent ideas for him to represent the District.

Just being the anti-Terry won't do it.

And that is Jim Esch's biggest problem and ultimately will be his fatal flaw in this race.

***

But one thing that Esch does have, that Terry doesn't, is a sympathetic alternative press looking out for him.

Get a load of the photo that is running with a current article about Lee Terry in The Reader.

They took a photo of Terry in front of a gas station and apparently indicated to him that they would photo-shop out the station's name.

But then... they photo-shopped in fake gas prices. And, for some reason, they added in a couple of nuclear reactor cooling towers. Hey, guess what kids, that ain't Fort Calhoun.

(And just in case you're still wondering about The Reader's intentions, they saved the photo as "Terry Gets Gas".)

They may as well have put added in an elephant with "GOP" stamped on it goring your baby to death. What an utter joke.   And by the way Reader fact-checkers, the 2006 race was an over nine-point spread, not six points.

But the gas prices particularly are what get us. What is with Dems and inflating actual prices? First Scott Kleeb claims you are paying almost $9 per gallon, and now Team Esch at The Reader claim it's $6.

Their message to you? You're an idiot.

***

Nice to see that the Nebraska Republicans came out swinging against Chuck Hagel. Hagel's Republican bashing has been given a free ride by many because of his past support for the state party. But his cheap shots against Sarah Palin (particularly the "passport" line) were uncalled for.

Governor Heineman put it politely when asked if Hagel would be welcome at a Republican event:

"I don't know how to answer that for sure. Nebraskans are polite and respectful people, but I would say right now they disagree with Senator Hagel."

Interesting way for Hagel to choose to close out his career in Nebraska...

Kleeb: Rope-a-dope

Scott Kleeb has a new ad up, called "Ropes". Take a look:



We're not exactly sure what this is an ad for.
Possibly a rodeo academy?
Belt buckles?

Wranglers?

All we know is that the whole time we were watching the kid to see if she could lasso the fake steer.

The guy in front of her might have said something, but we're really not sure.  Something about ropes, we think.

(Back to your regularly scheduled web log.)

Hagel slams Obama

U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel today slammed Democrat Presidential candidate Barack Obama in an interview with the Omaha World Herald.

In it he said that Obama had "no foreign policy credentials".

"I do think in a world that is so complicated, so interconnected and so combustible, you really got to have some people in charge that have some sense of the bigger scope of the world," Hagel said. "I think that's just a requirement."

"I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that (Obama's) got the experience to be president of the United States," Hagel said.

Oh. Wait.
He said that about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin?

But he MUST have meant Obama, right?

Obama hasn't even completed his first term in Congress.

He only recently went to meet with troops in the Mideast for the first time a few months ago.

And before he was a Senator, he was only in the Illinois state Senate. He has no military experience, and has no children in the military.

Governor Palin met with troops in the Mideast (before she was on the Presidential ticket). And her son is about to be shipped to Iraq. (Just how much more could one be focused than when their kid is going into the battle zone?)

Oh but Chuck is really concerned about a Vice President having all the right experience. We see now.

You know, like serving in Congress, the White House and as Secretary of Defense.
You know, like his good friend and confidant Vice President Dick Cheney.

(What? Chuck doesn't think much of Cheney? But...he said...experience...and...)

No, no. You see, Chuck Hagel has often characterized himself as an "Eisenhower Republican".

So what he means is, we should all look to Eisenhower's pick for Vice President.
Dick Nixon.

Or maybe, just maybe, Chuck is really just shilling for his good buddy Joe Biden (and his new BFF Obama), hoping that he can get a job in their administration.

You mean Chuck is simply now a Democrat party hack?

Who'd a thunk it...

(You could ask Chuck about all this the next time you're at the Nebraska Breakfast in Washington. Oh wait, Hagel hasn't been all year? Well, forget it...)

***

For those that care about this stuff, there is a LOT of back-channel goings on to see who will run for Omaha Mayor these days. And interested candidates, beyond Daub and Suttle, realize that they will have to start raising money asap.

At this point we see only a couple of realistic candidates on the horizon. Who will run?

***

The state GOP and Dems are both doing voter registration drives this weekend.

The Huskers have a bye week, so feel free to volunteer with them, or get your bad self registered, at least.

MJ - TV

Mike Johanns is (finally) on the air.

Take a look at his new TV ad, entitled "Where I stand":



We generally like these ads, where the candidates talks right to the camera. They are direct and effective.

Of course the funny thing about this spot is that you could replace Scott Kleeb in this ad, and he could run it word for word, without a change (well, except for the "Proven-Tested-Trusted" part...).

But Kleeb can't effectively run an ad like this because he is running from behind. This is a safe ad, and Kleeb can't play safe. 

That's why he has to play the "doom and gloom" card and claim you've been paying eight bucks for a gallon of gas.

By the way, note that this is the FIRST Johanns ad for the general election. Think he has enough cash to run ads non-stop until November? You can bet on it.

***

We were unable to watch or listen to the Johanns - Kleeb debate today, which was supposed to be streamed online. Ah well.

Here's the kicker. In the AP's initial coverage, they note Johanns knocking Kleeb for negative campaigning -- with his push-poll calls and the Kleeb stalkerazzi who follows Johanns around.

What that means is, there were no other notable points.

Which means that, assuming he can find some money as he leaves the state on his begging  fundraising tour across America this month, expect Kleeb to go highly negative.

At this point, he may not even be trying to win. He will be trying to avoid full-on national embarrassment.

**UPDATE 3:35 pm**

Here is more debate commentary -- all of which focus on Kleeb's negative campaigning:

• Omaha World Herald
  
• Lincoln Journal Star
  
• Nebraska Radio Network
  

download debate audio

The worst years of his life

Scott Kleeb has a new TV spot out (at least on YouTube).
It's called, "4 years in 30 seconds".
Take a look.


A few things on this struck us immediately.
First, this tells us that Kleeb is low on cash. Not much was spent on this generic slideshow with some random song.

Completely impersonal. Nothing about Kleeb. Nothing about Mike Johanns. Nothing about Nebraska.

Just a muddled generic ad that will probably be used in a bunch of other Democratic campaigns around the country -- but this one with Kleeb's ten gallon sombrero at the end..

(Our favorite image was of the dictionary definition of "debt". It reminded us of the time Homer Simpson was working on marketing the bowling alley, and he had to look up "marketing" in the dictionary...)

(Man, if you have to look it up, you ARE in trouble...)

The next thing that struck us is, Wow, Scott kleeb certainly must live a depressing life.

He apparently lives in all black and white.
And didn't Kleeb get married and have a child during the last four years?
Where's that?
He means to tell us that the last four years were hopeless and horrible for him?
Someone tell his family.

And to the rest of you who had success and joy in the past four years?
Well you can, apparently, just suck it.

***

UPDATE 9:30 AM

In that flurry of images from the Kleeb ad, did anyone notice this one, at about 8 seconds in:

That's right, Kleeb apparently paid $153.43 for 17 gallons of gas.  You know what that works out to kids?

$8.87 per gallon!!!

No wonder Kleeb is so distraught!  He has been paying EIGHT BUCKS for a gallon of gas!  Someone should tell him that he can run down to the Sinclair station and get it for around $3.60 like the rest of us.

***

A few weeks ago Kleeb was asked how he was going to win the campaign, particularly the Omaha area. His answer, Meet everyone!

So beyond his attempt to meet all of Omaha's lawyers, Scott will be making the rounds in the coming weeks to meet as many voters as he can.

Where, you ask?

Well in:
Chicago - September 17,
New York City - September 18
San Francisco - September 22
Boston - September 25
Washington, D.C. - September 26

And while he is in those cities, we are sure he will try to meet as many Nebraska voters as possible...

(BTW, Johanns - Kleeb debate at 12:15 pm (Central) today, live streaming on WOWT.com.
Or try KLIN for audio...)

***

Well, it is that time of year again. Yes, it's time for Yard Sign Destruction! Here is one for our collection, some artistic work done on a Lee Terry sign.

Apparently the artist believes the candidate should actually be running for Sheriff, or possibly as a boat driver back and forth on the river.

The artist also did some spell-checking on Terry's sign. We have blacked-out the change that you can be sure no longer spells ".com" or "Congress"...

Fifty Days

We received this Friday afternoon from a reader.

I am a law student at Creighton and at was the Omaha Bar Association's annual kick-off BBQ last night.

I was having a drink when I saw Steve Achelpohl and Scott Kleeb walk in. Mind you this event was open ONLY to Omaha Bar Association members and Creighton law students. Spouses weren't even allowed.

Achelpohl looked like he was corralling a lost sheep when he was with Kleeb. They eventually made it over to the group I was with and started talking to us.

One student said he was from Iowa and Kleeb asked him if he was going to vote in Nebraska. The student said no.

Then he looked at another person I was with. He asked her if she would vote for him. She had no idea who he was, so she said maybe. Then he looked at her and said, has anyone ever personally asked for your vote like I am now? She said no. Then he went on to say that that is what he is doing.

At that point, Achelpohl grabbed him by the arm and said we need to keep moving.

Just thought you might like the story for a possible update on Kleeb's campaigning style- going for law students, the majority from out of state who have no idea who he is, nor do they really care at an open bar event.

We are curious to know who, if anyone, invited him. Wonder if he paid the fifteen bucks...

***

In his Monday morning column, Don Walton argues that tomorrow's lunchtime debate with Mike Johanns will be crucial for Scott Kleeb.

Except not really.

If Mike Johanns liberates Eastern Europe or something, then it is possible a few people might pay attention. Otherwise, no one will see or hear about this except for the blurb on the news or in the paper. Sure the hard-core politicos may watch, but they've already made up their minds.

Kleeb needs something major to break open that campaign. We don't see anything on the horizon. (Unless you include pleading to law students from Iowa.)

***

Walton does make a good point about the upcoming Lee Terry - Jim Esch debates.

Note this schedule:

Terry - Esch debate
October 7th, 8:00 pm
Creighton University

McCain - Obama debate
October 7th, 8:00 pm
Belmont University

Terry - Esch debate
October 15th, 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Bellevue University

McCain - Obama debate
October 15th, 8:00 pm
Hofstra University

Now the 6:30 - 7:30 pm time on the 15th might not turn out so bad for the Congressional debate. It would be sort of an appetizer to the main course of the Prez debate. Of course the press on it will get buried beneath the avalanche of the Prez debate, but they're going to be running into that pretty much no matter what.

However the October 7th time is just silly. You'd have better luck scheduling it against a Husker game. Crank it back an hour and a half like the other and you end up having a decent event -- set up a big screen to watch the Prez debate afterwards. But who knows if C.U. can swing that at this point...

Terry - Esch's fourth debate is on October 16th at the Omaha Press Club at noon. FOUR debates. The challenger can't complain about that.

Obamaha?

Word of a recent Presidential poll in Nebraska's 2nd District has gotten us thinking.

First of all, at this time we canNOT confirm anything about this poll. We don't have the cross-tabs, and it is purely on the word of people in the know, whom we trust. So, if that's not good enough for you, so be it, just ignore it. No problems here.

So we've been told that, in Nebraska's 2nd District... 

McCain-Palin is up over Obama-Biden by 10%.

We've felt that way for a while now. But the noise about the Obama campaign seems to be swelling around Omaha, so what to make of it?

***

First let us look back at the Dem caucuses and then the Dem Primary.

Remember the Obama-thon at the Civic? Barack and Ben Nelson slow dancing? And then the caucuses came around and Dave and Dolly Democrat couldn't even get in the door to cast their piece of blue paper for Obama.

Obama beats Hillary 67% to 32%.
B.O. wins by 35% ! Ouch!

Butttttttt......

Then the Primaries came around. Where actual voters cast actual votes.
And Obama wins....but by less than 3%.

Hmm...

***

So when Obama dropped in fifteen "paid" campaign staffers (what are those wages?), we were at first impressed.
Then we saw that he opened an office! My, that's never been done in years, we are told.

But guess what?

Do you know how many offices Obama has in North Dakota?
Where is is behind John McCain (in some polls) by 14% ?
TWO offices.

And guess how many Obama offices there are in Montana?
Where Obama is behind McCain by 9% -- and has two fewer Electoral Votes than Nebraska?
Are you ready?
EIGHTEEN!!!!!
Eighteen offices !

Is Obama just spending money in Omaha because he has money to spend?

***

So anyway. We have no doubt that Obama is going to run ads in Iowa, a swing state, and will double up in the Omaha market.
And we can't doubt the enthusiasm of the Obamaniacs that showed up Wednesday night and disobeyed the cops and blocked traffic and whatnot.

But we are skeptical of Obama's real chances in the Omaha area. As a local political observer suggested to us, if Obama wins Omaha, it will be after he blew out McCain across the country, and didn't need the 2nd District's one vote anyway.

But we think (as of today) that it will be close nationwide. And that NE-2 goes for McCain.

***

So what does that mean for the Jim Esch campaign, and their Red to Blue money-money-money? Well, some have said that the DCCC could pump as much as $400K into each of their targeted races across the country.

However, what is more likely is that they will NOT spend their money proportionately. They will instead likely spend lots more on the big races, and just a little on the chance races -- like Esch's.

That's why Esch's fund raising email, that pointed out the Red to Blue designation, pleads for more money by September 30th. That way they may get some more -- maybe matched -- by the DCCC into their race. Can they get enough to make a difference on TV? We guess we'll see...

***

Finally, we happened to run across this Blair Witch-esque YouTube clip (via our Google reader).

It is Lee Terry giving an impromptu speech to supporters of H.R. 1279, which would "provide funds to States to enable them to increase the wages paid to targeted direct support professionals (i.e. home caregivers) in providing services to individuals with disabilities under the Medicaid Program".

We thought it was just interesting to see Terry standing out in the rain, pumping up non-Nebraska voters on an issue that he deems important. You probably won't see it in the news or even on campaign pieces, but this stuff does happen.

He's not the only one that does this, but there's one example, nonetheless.

Seen and Heard

First a quick Separated at Birth for the latest to join into the Omaha Mayor's race...

Councilman Jim Suttle, former VP Spiro Agnew and VP hopeful Joe Biden (Agnew and Biden sent in by a reader).

So, as Pete Townshend and the boys said, Who's next?

***

Nice turnout for the Obama-ites last night at their new HQ in Omaha.  Somewhere between six and nine hundred people on a Wednesday night?  Not bad.  (Of course there could have been more if Mike Boyle would have moved his car out of the way, like the police asked.)

That should perk up the ears of the McCain-Palin campaign -- if they're interested in securing what could possibly be a very significant Electoral Vote in Nebraska's 2nd District.  

A visit by the GOP Presidential candidates to Omaha would likely go a long way towards reinvigorating the base and nailing down the vote. 

***

Seen milling around, outside his campaign office on West Center Road in Omaha, trying to hone in on the press coverage for the GOP soiree next door -- one Scott Kleeb.  

Apparently sharing the spotlight later at the Obama party (though not sticking around for the whole gig) wasn't good enough for Kleeb.  So he tried his best to get the local media covering the GOP event to notice him.  

No one bit...

***

Well, if it wasn't clear before, it is crystalline now:  Jim Esch's plan for getting elected to Congress has nothing to do with his own background.  Or experience.  Or life story.  Or positions.  Or plans.  Or even his personality.

His plan is to simply be the Democrat candidate riding on Barack Obama's (hoped-for) coat tails.

Well, that's a strategy, we guess.

***

Seen at the Obama office opening last night with Democratic State Senator, Steve Lathrop -- one Republican State Senator, Brad Ashford.

***

The Nebraska Farm Bureau has endorsed Reps Terry, Fortenberry and Smith for Congress.

Yes, Smith and Fortenberry have races this year.  We haven't forgotten....

September 11th, 2001

Remembering those who lost their lives and saluting those who worked to save others on September 11th, 2001.

And from John McCain this morning in Shanksville, PA:

No American living then should ever forget the heroism that occurred in the skies above this field on September 11, 2001. It is believed that the terrorists on United Flight 93 may have intended to crash the airplane into the United States Capitol. Hundreds if not thousands of people would have been at work in that building when that fateful moment occurred, and been destroyed along with a beautiful symbol of our freedom. They and, very possibly I, owe our lives to the passengers who summoned the courage and love necessary to deny our depraved and hateful enemies their terrible triumph."
 
I have witnessed great courage and sacrifice for America's sake, but none greater than the sacrifice of those good people who grasped the gravity of the moment, understood the threat, and decided to fight back at the cost of their lives.

Blue Man Camp

News out of the Jim Esch camp is that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has added the Terry-Esch race to its "Red to Blue" program.  The Dem plan targets certain Congressional races for particular cash influx and/or attention.

Esch has emailed his supporters that the DCCC will provide "access to financial, communications, and strategic support from the national party."  Does this mean the DCCC will be providing independent TV ads on this race, as they do on other major races in the country?  It is possible, but at this point we still think unlikely.

Esch will probably get a link on the DCCC's web page for fundraising and may get his name in mass appeals to the George Soros types.

Could it then mean more cash for Esch?  Possibly.  If so, he could go beyond bus benches and ValPak inserts and get cash needed to go on TV (assuming he doesn't blow the money on bottled water -- no small assumption).

What is significant is that the Esch campaign needs all the help it can get right now.  Esch has had no organized media plan and his free-media has been abysmal as well.  In any case, he should receive assistance from the DCCC with his media message, oppo research and possible hands-on consulting from them.  Assuming they do all that, can his campaign be righted in just fifty-some days?

Well, as Lee Terry himself noted, "If Esch wins, it would be because of Obama."

[A side note from Leavenworth Street to Lee Terry:  Lee, when Joe Jordan sucks you into questions like this, don't take the bait and play Pundit.  Your job isn't to handicap your own race.  Your response should be something on the order of, "We'll let the voters decide if my experience and record of achievement in Congress, fighting for the 2nd District and our country merits their support."  Or some such.  You should never, EVER prognosticate about your opponent winning.  End side note.]

It seems clear to us that the DCCC's decision (for what it's worth) is based on the Obama campaign's decision to work hard for the 2nd District's one Electoral Vote.  They likely figure that if Obama is pouring resources in the Omaha market (fifteen paid staffers???) then they may as well double down on Esch.  And no doubt the Obama camp doesn't mind the Democrat Congressional candidate doing well.  They hope the rising tide floats all their boats.

[On another side note, if the forthcoming Rasmussen poll shows Scott Kleeb still way behind Mike Johanns, disgruntled Kleeb supporters will be looking for someone else to put their efforts behind.  They could provide renewed support for Obama or possibly Esch.]

Of course the flip side of this is the current nature of the Presidential campaign.  The Midwest is always on the end of any waves coming in from the coasts (to stretch the water analogy).  At this point, the tide is going out for Obama and heading in for McPalin.  Would a trip to Omaha seal the 2nd District vote for the GOP?  Maybe.

In any case, look for a renewed message coming from Camp Esch (and probably no more press avails from his Dad).  But as we asked above, can Esch turn things around in a  month and a half?

We are watching... 

Kleeb's mystery calls

A Pennsylvania company is making pro-Scott Kleeb push polls calls in Nebraska.

And Scott Kleeb claims he doesn't know anything about them.

Now there's an interesting turn.

As you probably know, a push-poll is a phone call that sounds like a poll, but adds a "message" about the opposition so that they're feeding the recipient negative information.

So it may be something like,
Q) "Are you voting for Mike Johanns or Scott Kleeb."
A) "Mike Johanns"
Q) "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for Mike Joahanns if you knew that he always votes against Nebraska and is against health care for children?"
A) "Golly!"

Except that the more astute voter, like John Marcucci of Kennard, quickly realizes that this is a push-poll and hangs up. Unfortunately, not everyone out there is as quick as Mr. Marcucci.

So here is the kicker on this whole thing:

When asked if they commissioned this push-poll, the Kleeb campaign manager replied:

"I can't even begin to speculate as to who would conduct such research."

So a reasonably well-known push-poll company, Eastern Research Services of Springfield, PA, is making calls on your United States Senate campaign's behalf, and you have NO IDEA that they are doing it? We see. We see.

Yet just two years ago, on Election Day, the same thing essentially happened -- pro-Scott Kleeb robo calls being made. Yet that time, they were certain that their opponent was making them, and have been bitching about it ever since. Interesting, interesting.

We're not sure if the Kleeb camp thinks you are a complete rube or they themselves are completely clueless.

In any case, note that Kamp Kleeb didn't condemn the push-poll.
They called it "research".
Yuh-huh...

Terry on Offense

Lee Terry has a new TV ad and a mailer out to the Second District. Let's take a look.

First the TV spot:



So...

For those who remember Lee Terry sweating out his Election Night party in 2006, you will see why he has decided to not watch Jim Esch have at it this time around.

The TV ad hits at one of the main issues of 2008 and Terry frames the issues -- He is in favor of expanded drilling for oil and Esch is against.

Now, see Esch's response to Joe Jordan on KMTV:



Esch, echoing a theme from a recent interview calls the Terry ad, "Lies."

Esch says, " We've never said any of those things... I've said 'everything is on the table'".

Except that Esch's response is pure shenanigans. (Heck, if Terry wanted to go full bore he could have said, "Esch says he will consider kittens and puppies as a fuel source." We think he took it easy on him...)

In any case, it's a simple question: Are you, or are you not, in favor of drilling in ANWR? There are arguments to be made on either side. It would likely to be a Yes or No vote on the House floor.

Esch's problem is that if it's "maybe" coming from a Democrat, the answer is "No" to drilling. And that's what Terry has said.

Jim could have very easily come out and said, "That ad is flat out wrong. I am in favor of drilling in ANWR." And that would be that.

[Here's the best we could find from Jim:

"I don’t necessarily think ANWR is a great idea, but to be honest I haven’t researched it enough."

That's great.  But the election is in a month and a half.  Make up your mind.]

So instead it's a maybe, and Esch's spin goes nowhere.

***

Next is the Lee Terry mail piece:


Esch will no doubt give the same sort of response on this, and his answer here should be stronger, in theory.

The piece says, "Jim Esch is not Pro-Life." Esch has said he is against abortion, except for rape, incest, life of the mother. So many consider that to be a classic Pro-Life position.

Except that these days "Pro-Life" has many more variances. The biggie is embryonic stem cell research as spelled-out in the mailer.

Esch has said he is in favor of embryonic stem cell research. That position puts him out of favor (and out of an endorsement) with both Nebraska Right to Life and Nebraskans United for Life. Which is why Esch refused to answer either of their surveys on the issues.

Now you can argue about whether this is the "issue of the day", as Esch has done. But this is another example of where Esch is trying to have it both ways, by simply not providing his position.

In the mean time, Lee Terry continues to frame the issues of the campaign.

UPDATE 7:00 AM

In this morning's OWH: "Esch said Monday that he no longer supports using any embryos for research. He said he now supports using skin cells and other types of cells for medical research."

This is a flip from 2006 when he said: "But after doing a lot of research on it, including visiting the UNMC, I favor us expanding embryonic stem cell research. You are going to have leftover embryos from in-vitro fertilization and no one's life is improved by just throwing away these cells."

And he says he answered NRTL's questionnaire...late.

Valpak campaigning

We haven't heard much from the Jim Esch for Congress campaign in a while -- except that he apparently missed the Obama stadium pep-rally because of Afghanistanarhea, or some such.

Well one of our faithful readers forwarded us the latest in the Esch campaign bag, directly from his mailbox.

Esch is now joining the likes of dollar dry-cleaners, nail salons and granite counter-top fitters, by placing ads in Valpak! (See if you can find it on the right.) You know, that chunky, light-blue envelope that has about a hundred coupons for various stuff that you usually never use?

We can't say it is a complete waste of campaign dollars. It is kind of like direct-mail...except not. It is a random target-audience. You don't know if you are hitting likely-voters or even registered voters. And recipients are forced to open the thing, flip through it, and hopefully find the Esch ad underneath the one for gutter-covers.

Compare that to a mailer sent that has your photo and logo right on the front or back, with other eye-catching info. Well, it is probably better than spending six grand on bottles of water...

***

Speaking of the Esch campaign, a hat-tip to the gang over at the NNN for their interview of Esch. Not a lot of information to base your vote, but it was certainly interesting to hear Jim bitch and moan about the "lies" about him.

Here are a few sample comments:

• "I can almost guarantee that they'll run just basically lies..."
  
• "They will lie. I'll go ahead and say it. I don't care."
  
• "To be honest with you, I don't read the blogs because I think I'd go insane probably."
  
• "Yeah...Most of the stuff they put out there - the innuendo and rumor - will that make the airwaves? I don't know. They're pretty vicious statements."
  
• "Given a few of the rumors I've heard them spreading about me that are so off-base....I've actually found some of them humorous....I don't even think a lot of these have made the blogs, quite frankly. They're even worse than the things I've heard on there."
  
• "The more they attack me...that does raise your profile."

So, first of all, his campaign strategy would seem to be, get the other side to talk about Esch so his name I.D. can go up.

And second -- Jim doesn't read the blogs? Oh really. Well, we happen to know that he at least reads this one, because he has commented here and told us so.

But moreover, what are these "lies" that Jim seems to think that people are telling? There have been the public spats about whether Esch has properly filed his FEC reports. All factual stuff.

Next there was the issue of Esch's .223 DUI. Esch discussed that on the news and said he was surprised no one else brought it up in the 2006 campaign (since he didn't).

So again, what are the "lies" Jim refers to? And frankly, why would Lee Terry need to lie about anything? Jim's record is right there in front of everyone if they want a comparison. And the legislative issues are stark as well. One need only look at their last radio debate to check that out.

So in the end, there are apparently "rumors" out there, that haven't even made the blogs, that Jim has heard, that are untrue. To tell you the truth, we hear most rumors on this stuff, and we don't know what he's talking about. If there's some big word-of-mouth thing going on, we have yet to hear of it.

Esch campaign, please fill us in. "The blogs" want to know.

***

In case you, and the rest of the world, missed it, Mike Johanns and Scott Kleeb (a/k/a "Smoky Smokerson" ) debated over the weekend.

All the same stuff came up and you can guess the responses.

Kleeb says Mike Johanns hates Nebraska and would rather leave orphans shoeless out in the snow so that he can line his silk pockets with oil covered gold. Johanns laughed it off and one-linered him later. You know the drill.

What is interesting in this race, is that Kleeb could potentially get blown out. And some Dems are already griping that Kleeb should have sought a rematch against first-term Rep. Adrian Smith instead of trying to topple political -giant Mike Johanns.

Kleeb must have thought losing to Johanns would look better than losing to Smith again. We dunno. But we can tell you the Kleeb bloom is quickly withering. It will be interesting to see how long his political career stays afloat.

So Long St. Paul

Bringing the convention, and his correspondence to a close is L. St. man-at-the-convention, Jordan McGrain...

Five days of conventioning have taken a severe toll on your faithful correspondent here, so I'm going to bring my so-called coverage to a close with the lazy but always reliable bullet point rundown. Here goes:

• Omaha guy Tim Barnes hosted a reception Thursday for the Republican State Leadership Committee, the third-largest 527 in the country. Tim is founder and finance chairman of the RSLC, which has raised more than $23 million this cycle. He's a guy every Nebraska Republican should get to know.

• I walked past the Fox News tent and saw Sean Hannity's head hanging out in there. You could see that thing from space. It has it's own assistant and entourage.

• I want to take a moment to apologize to Street Sweeper for the lack of photos submitted by me. I just couldn't deliver. Ansel Adams I am not.

• DCRP Chair Brian Buescher gave an interview to some guerrilla news team hanging out in the Xcel Center lobby hours before the McCain speech. They kept referring to him as Mr. William Shatner, despite his protests.

• I saw Kathy Griffin walking through the concourse. It may have been a man who looks like Kathy Griffin, but I'm not sure of the difference.

• There was some official business on the floor I missed while chasing down actor Jon Voight, also known as the father of the hottest babe on the planet. We shook hands and he was out the door. Again, no photo.

• Thanks to my good friend Dan Archer, I made it into the RNC Host Committee hospitality room. While standing in line for cheese curds and coconut shrimp, former Tennessee Senator Bill Frist was introduced as the next speaker. A very loud gentleman started to boo at the bank of 18 TV screens:

"Boo, Frist! You piece of s**t!"

I look over to see that the heckler was none other than a former senior Senator from New York, who looked like he'd been in the lounge since Monday.

• A bit of RNC-NFL cross promotion as Joe Gibbs is introduced. He says he's a phys ed major and none too sharp, which makes being here intimidating. The stage door is on your right, Joe. Someone will open it for you if you want to leave. And please apologize for beating the Broncos 42-10 in the Super Bowl, you jerk.

• Compared to Wednesday's grand slam lineup of Mitt, Huck, Rudy, and Sarah, tonight's speakers are a tad lethargic. This arena has less energy than a meeting of the Oceola Rotary right now.

• I've always liked Lindsay Graham, Tom Ridge is a decent man, and Cindy McCain is a very classy and generous person. But good lord, these speeches. I'm about to pitch myself down the escalator.

• The Man is about to come to the stage as Fred Thompson's voice-over intro is booming through the hall. Everybody's life sounds better when narrated by Fred Thompson.

• You watched the speech. I don't have to tell you what he said. But you may not have seen the gang tackle and flurry of haymakers one of the interrupting protesters took from security, delegates, guests, whoever. I hope eating food through a straw for the next few months was worth it, dude.

• Time for the Impromptu USA Chant Scoreboard: RNC - 452, DNC - 0.

• I thought McCain's speech was honest and straightforward. He's not going to set the world on fire with his oratory skills, but he got the job done. We all leave here feeling much better our prospects than we did eight days ago.

• Well, I'm done. Thanks Sweeper, whoever you are.

No, THANK YOU Jordan. Fantastic job.

And, as promised, a Separated at Birth for you.

Now, we know your mom or wife may be thinking Clooney, but our thoughts were...

GOP Convention Late-Nighter, Jordan McGrain and
Every-night Late-Nighter, Tom Sizemore...

Smokin' in the boys room

As we wait for Jordan McGrain's closing thoughts from the GOP convention, a few items...

***

Scott Kleeb is a ...SMOKER??? (Hey, just like Dem hero Barack Obama!)

We learned this from a random blog from the Dem convention in Denver where Kleeb was found sucking on a cancer stick:

Nebraska Senate candidate and New Yorker Talk of the Town hottie Scott Kleeb, smoking outside the Rolling Stone party and complaining about how The New Yorker drew him with his jeans tucked into his boots, which is not how he wears them.

So now that the Dems and their press cohorts have declared it open season on just about everything about a candidate, we have a few questions for candidate Kleeb:

• How long have you been a smoker?
• Are you addicted to nicotine?
• If so, have you ever tried to quit?
• Do you smoke in the house?
• Do you smoke near your children?
• Do they know you smoke?
• If so, what do they think about your smoking?
• Does your wife approve of your smoking? (Does she smoke?)
• Do you smoke in the car?
• If so, do you chuck your spent coffin-nails out the window near passing motorists, or do you pile them up in the ashtray for your driver to enjoy?
• Do you believe in additional taxes on smokers, since they will incur more smoking-related illnesses?
• What did you think of those post-mortem Yule Brenner commercials?

These are just a few questions off the tops of our heads. We're sure our readers have a few more.

***

And today is D-Day for Kandidate Kleeb!

That would be Driver's License Day!!! Scott Kleeb can now legally get his driver's license back.

You may remember that Kleeb lost his driver's license back in March 2008 after receiving his sixth traffic ticket in twenty-two months, most for lead-booted-ness.

However, in order for Kleeb to be eligible to renew his license, he must show that he has obtained high-risk insurance, which requirement will remain in effect until 2011.

Can anyone insurance minds tell us what that will cost him? Just curious...

***

Racking them up. As noted all over the place, the Farm Bureau endorsed Mike Johanns recently.

Johanns has now been endorsed by the Farm Bureau, the NRA, Nebraska Right to Life and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Despite all this (or maybe because of it) expect Kleeb to intensify his attacks on Johanns. With the increased attention on Obama in Nebraska and the swooning Kleeb has received by the nationwide liberal establishment, the pressure will be on him to at least perform decently against Johanns.

A trouncing by 25% -- coupled with his 10% loss to Congressman Adrian Smith in the Year of the Democrat -- would be an embarrassment at this point.