Monday, April 13, 2009

Tie-ing up endorsements


Councilman Jim Suttle was endorsed today by the duo of Mayor Mike Fahey and the Mayor's tie.

In accepting Fahey's endorsement, Suttle said to Fahey:
The Mayor's office is a "leadership platform", not a "Bully Pulpit" -- which you inherited from the previous administration.
So Dems used to hate when GWB said, "nuke-you-lar", but they're OK with Suttle bastardizing the English language?

Let's square this away again: "Bully Pulpit" is a term coined by President Teddy Roosevelt. The "pulpit" referenced is the position of leadership that an office holder has. 

The "bully" in that term, does not refer to a harasser who is kicking sand in your face. "Bully" means, "wonderful" or "terrific". So Bully Pulpit means a terrific platform that an office holder can use to further their public agenda.

The fact that Suttle has no idea what the term really means -- and that none of his staff have filled him in -- is baffling. Couple that with his proposals about business parks in Iowa, a complete lack of coherent statements on plans to run the city and, of course, the Pope opening the new stadium, and it all comes together.

Or, better said, comes apart.

Of course, Suttle discounts his endorsement by Fahey, since Fahey is just a Democrat like Suttle, so really just scrap the whole thing.  (Jim sez so.)

***



Across town, Hal Daub had a little endorsement shindig.  Outgoing Omaha City Councilman Dan Welch may have had the best line when he said:
"You could scour the nation and not find a person who is more qualified for this position."
At his jam-packed campaign HQ, Daub was endorsed by...
Sen. Mike Johanns,                  U.S. Senator - Nebraska
Gov. Dave Heineman,             Governor of the State of Nebraska
Rep.. Lee Terry,                       U.S. Congressman, Nebraska District 2 (Omaha)
Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy,             Lt. Governor- State of Nebraska
Atty. Gen. John Bruning,        Attorney General of the State of Nebraska
John Gale,                                Secretary of State - Nebraska
Mike Foley,                              State Auditor - Nebraska
Shane Osborn,                          State Treasurer - Nebraska
Rep.. John Y. McCollister,      Former US Congressman, Nebraska District 2
John S. McCollister,                 Former M.U.D Board Member
Dan Welch,                              Omaha City Council President
Jim Vokal,                                Omaha City Councilman, 2009 Mayoral Candidate
Franklin Thompson,                 Omaha City Councilman
Chuck Sigerson,                       Omaha City Councilman
Scott Hazelrigg,                       District 66 Board Member
Clare Duda,                              President, Douglas County Board
Mary Anne Borgeson,              Member, Douglas County Board
Kyle Hutchings,                       Member, Douglas County Board
Tim Dunning,                           Douglas County Sherriff
Tom Doyle,                              Douglas County Engineer
Kurt Geschwender,                  Former Candidate for NE Leg.
Stu Dornan,                              Former Douglas County Prosecutor
Gene Spence,                           Former Candidate for Governor of Nebraska
David Nabity,                          Former Candidate for Governor of Nebraska
Jerry Ryan,                               Former Mayor of Bellevue, Nebraska
Robert Cunningham,                Former Mayor of Omaha
Subby Anzaldo,                       Former Omaha City Council Member and Acting Mayor of Omaha
Sen. Mike Flood,                     State Senator & Speaker of the Nebraska Legislature
Sen. Brad Ashford,                  State Senator
Sen. Beau McCoy,                   State Senator
Sen. Abbie Cornett,                 State Senator
Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh,          State Senator
Sen. Tony Fulton,                    State Senator
Sen. Tom Carlson,                    State Senator
Sen. Tim Gay,                          State Senator
Sen. Scott Price,                       State Senator
Sen. Rich Pahls,                       State Senator
Sen. Pete Pirsch,                      State Senator
Sen. Mike Friend,                    State Senator
Sen. John E. Nelson,                State Senator
Sen. Charlie Janssen,                State Senator
Sen. Pam Redfield,                  Former State Senator
Sen. Mick Mines,                     Former State Senator
Sen. Mark Quandahl,               Former State Senator
Sen. Kermit Brashear,              Former State Senator
Sen. Jim Jensen,                       Former State Senator
David Kramer,                         Former US Senate Candidate
Richard Takechi,                      Member, Learning Community Coordinating Council
Don Groesser,                          Mayor of Ralston
Tony Sorentino,                       Board Member, Metro Community College
Ron Hug,                                 Board Member, Metro Community College
Lisa Cuevas-Jorgensen,            Former Board Member, Metro Community College
Mike Pate,                               President, Millard School Board
Linda Poole,                             Member, Millard School Board Member
Mike Kennedy,                        Member, Millard School Board Member
Julie Kannas,                            Member, Millard School Board
Tim Cavanaugh,                       Metropolitan Utilities District Board Member
Dave Friend,                            Metropolitan Utilities District Board Member & former candidate for Mayor of Omaha
Tim Fowler,                              Board Member, Papio-Missouri River Natural Resource District
Jim Thompson,                         Board Member, Papio-Missouri River Natural Resource District
Mike Cavanaugh,                     Board Member, Omaha Public Power District
Sandra Kostos Jensen,             Omaha Public School Board Member
Nancy Kratky,                         Omaha Public School Board Member
Van Argyrakis,                         2009 Mayoral Candidate
Randy Brown,                          2009 Mayoral Candidate
Nancy McCabe,                       Douglas County Republican Chairman
Beth Ragland,                          2ND District Exec. Committe Member at Large
John Sieler,                               2ND District GOP Chairman
Carol Pirsch,                             Former Douglas County Board member, Former State Senator
Mark Fahelson,                        Chairman, Nebraska Republican Party
Frank Christensen,                   Former Omaha City Councilman
Randy Ferlic,                           University of Nebraska Regent
Unions
Steamfitters and Plumbers Local Union #464
City Employees' Union, A.F.S.C.M.E. Local #251
Plumbers Local Union #16
The Civilian Management, Professional and Technical Employee Council
Construction Laborers Local Union #1140

Geez. We've been to Omaha Beef games that had fewer people. That's a cramped campaign HQ. As Chief Brody said, "You're gonna need a bigger boat."

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

First!!

Chirping in the Dark said...

It always appears to me that Suttle' announcements are in front of an empty house. Daub's press conferences are packed to the gills.


So, Mr. Suttle, are you courting the crickets' vote?

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's me, but Mike Kennedy looks like he's about to eat the Governor in that photo!

Mmm, tasty!

Anonymous said...

Isn't the audience of a press conference the press? Why would it matter if people are at a press conference, as long as there is press there.

macdaddy said...

That sure is an impressive list of people endorsing Daub. Too bad many of them can't vote in the election. The fact is that Omaha is purple and the Daubians need to have a better game plan than they had for the primary. Suttle will probably use the Jim Esch strategy of not saying a word to anybody about anything and let a superior GOTV effort nearly (in Esch's case) drag him over the top. Daub has to give people a reason to get excited about him. I still think he's the underdog in this election and he certainly needs to plan like he is.

Anonymous said...

Nice plan...except Jim Esch never was carried over the top.

Anonymous said...

5:49
There is one very KEY thing you are missing in your plan...

Obama is NOT on the ticket.

If you think Jim Suttle is going to motivate the Obama voters to get to the polls, you have another thing coming.

Look at the areas Suttle will need to boost turnout (CC1 and 4) and you will see there are not competitive races.

Ricky said...

Hey what was Cousin Fulton from Lincoln doing at the Daub presser?
He probably never even met Hal.
Why wasn't I invited? What am I - chopped liver?
My city councilman FT was there as well as Mr. conflict of interest Kermit.
I thought Hal wanted to keep the "Omaha" Royals downtown. Then why did he invite Sen. Abbie Cornett and Kermit? Both of them want to stick it to Omaha by working to get the Royals a home in Sarpy.

"Politics is strange bedfellows".

Who said that anyway?

ricky from District 66.

That gets me to think; where was my buddy David Karnes?

Anonymous said...

Well, at least Daub is running a push poll like Suttle has engaged into night. Negative and nasty politics. Can we stop with the lying, deceit and crap.

Just tell us your vision Jim and stop the crap nasty lies and negative politics.

Anonymous said...

I meant to say at least Daub is not running a push poll like Suttle.

Anonymous said...

What kind of push poll is Suttle running...?

Anonymous said...

Suttle's push poll is absolutely disgusting. They just called me. I asked the woman who paid for it, and she said, "I'm not at liberty to say." It makes me want to puke. They have to go back 20 years to find something bad about Daub? Call was from New Jersey. Makes me want to take a shower.

Anonymous said...

"Would it change your mind if you knew Hal Daub voted for this or that in 1980-something?"

Give me a break.

Anonymous said...

Good call on the tie!

Seems like a wink, nod, and chuckle endorsement.

Fahey always has had a great sense of humor.

Anonymous said...

What is the substance of the push poll? Does anybody know, or are people playing both judge and jury on this before we have any info?

Street Sweeper said...

I have some of Suttle's push-poll Qs.
Will post new on Tuesday morn.
-SS

Anonymous said...

Anyone can say anything about a supposed push poll without any factual base. Let's hear some specific details about the alleged push poll before making sweeping accusations. That's bad politics.

Scott Bluff said...

I don't get the bit about the tie.

I'm surprised Ben Nelson wasn't at Daub's gathering. It seems every other Republican in the state was.

Anonymous said...

I feel like, for a site that claims to be well-versed in politics, people should actually *know* what a push poll is.

A push poll is a negative-message call disguised as a poll that reaches thousands of voters. Often, this is done extremely close to election day to maximize impact while minimizing blowback. In order for the message to actually stick, the call is less than a minute long.

A *message testing* poll is done by every campaign. Every campaign. If a campaign tells you they aren't doing it, they're lying. Every television ad you see on TV was created using a poll like this. Whether they are testing positive messages about their candidate or negative messages about their opponent.

I suspect all of you know this, but it would deprive you of a politically convenient issue. If you don't, then consider this a lesson.

One Out In The Third said...

Gee Whiz Sweeper...there are more endorsements than there were people that actually voted in the election.

Anonymous said...

To Anon 12:08 and others: I received a call on Thursday asking me certain questions about Jim AND Hal. For disclosure, I moved here from Chicago a couple of years ago, where I received plenty of "poll question" calls (push polls). They would ask questions like; "Are you conservative or liberal?" "Did you know candidate X provided taxpayer funded abortions to unwed immigrant mothers?" and other BS like that. I got these calls from the Right and the Left (I am a Democrat and my wife is a Republican).You knew it was a push poll because they never asked you about your gender, age, or other demographic info. They just dropped some BS on you and asked you to respond, then hung up.

While the call I got the other night asked me about certain issues, it also asked me about how I felt about those issues and whether or not it affected my judgment about the candidate, whether it made me more or less likely to vote for a candidate. That was NOT a push poll. Not even close.

It was as 12:08 said, a "message testing" poll. So, based on how everyone responded, you will know whether a certain issue really resonated with voters or not. I'm guessing a 1980's vote probably doesn't matter much, but a good campaign will still ask the question (don't you think Hal Daub has/will do the same thing?). If he doesn't, I would be concerned; but, then again, I come from a different market.

I made this post because I disagree with Street Sweeper's comment about having the "push poll" questions. I got them myself, and I know that wasn't a push poll. Don't be mad about a campaign being aggressive and researching an issue. If someone wants office bad enough, I would hope they do their homework right. Message research and push polls are 2 separate things. Don't confuse the issue because you don't like the person asking the questions...

Street Sweeper said...

Chuckle.

Well the Suttle spin machine is in motion!

We'll have an update later...

Geosuser said...

I saw Suttle on with Cheryl Weston (?) on the public access tv channel last night. I didn't watch more than a couple of minutes but did catch Suttle talking about a "secret plan" with a "secret donor" willing to put up $1.5 million to start a program to attract "Obama stimulus plan money" to train North O "african-american youth" to be carpenters, plumbers, etc. to rehab houses in North O. Even the hosts of the show didn't appear to believe Suttle. Is Suttle just a nut or is he a compulsive liar???

Anonymous said...

Civility in the Mayor's office...hahahhaa...with Jim Suttle....hhahahah. The Suttle's are the most divisive people in Omaha. They play dirty pool in their elections. Just watch and see.

Anonymous said...

The Suttles play dirty other ways too. I have the proof.

macdaddy said...

And so it begins here on LS. I really hope that Daub is not going to use the same tactics that he used on Vokal. Complaining about how dirty the other guy is is not going to get people to the polls. Daub needs to be fresh. He needs to somehow make himself new. He has to motivate people to leave work and go vote for him.

One of the Anonys earlier said that Obama wasn't on the ticket. That is true. And it doesn't help Daub. There were probably as many people motivated to go vote against Obama as there were to vote for him. The Daubians ignore the Dem "machine" in Omaha at your own peril. People don't look to the past for answers. They want to try new things, even in Omaha. Daub is old, Suttle is new. Daub has to flip that statement. Hopefully none of the posters on this blog are running Daub's campaign because if you're hoping to beat Suttle by ragging on him, Daub will lose.

Anonymous said...

I just got a push poll from Daub. But I can't tell you what it is about. But it was really, really bad, and Daub should be ashamed.


I thought as long as this blog is allowing the rampant spreading of unsubstantiated rumors, I should get into the game as well. Get some integrity and give details if you have them, otherwise shut up about this "push poll."

Anonymous said...

It seems pretty obvious from the comment section that a number of Democratic *consultants?* are commenting rather than Daub managers.

I'm sure, however, the Daub managers were glad to know that was a *message testing* poll.

That's the best one yet, since itemizing everything down to the number of phone lines on campaign finance reports.

Anonymous said...

I got the polling call from Suttle campaign and it was not a push poll in the slightest bit.

For one, it was an extremely long call - it probably took more than five to ten minutes to answer all the questions. At the very end there was a minute or two of message testing. It was far from a push poll.

So, if anyone tries to discredit the polling data that was obtained from the first 3/4 of the interview then they weren't being called. There was no way to tell who paid for the poll until the very end when the campaign put in a couple questions to see if it resonated with voters.

Anonymous said...

I just got "push polled" by the Dodge Street Blog asking me if I read Leavenworth St then asking: "Would you continue reading Leavenworth St if you knew the author of the blog voted to raise your property taxes?"

I answered yes because I live in a condo.

:P

Anonymous said...

Who cares if it was a "push poll" or a "message poll"?? It was a very negative poll against Hal Daub done by the Jim Suttle camp. Why can't they keep it positive? Oh yeah, they know they have a very, very small chance of winning. They're desperate.

Anonymous said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_poll

"A push poll is a political campaign technique in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll. In a push poll, large numbers of respondents are contacted, and little or no effort is made to collect and analyze response data. Instead, the push poll is a form of telemarketing-based propaganda and rumor mongering, masquerading as a poll. Push polls may rely on innuendo or knowledge gleaned from opposition research on an opponent. They are generally viewed as a form of negative campaigning.[1] The term is also sometimes used inaccurately to refer to legitimate polls which test political messages, some of which may be negative. Push polling has been condemned by the American Association of Political Consultants[2], and is illegal in New Hampshire.[3]"

This isn't a matter of "spin," this is a matter of fact. Push polls are not polls, they are not 15 minutes long. They don't make any effort to capture real data. They are negative attacks disguised as polls.

The Republican Party did a few of these polls in the fall of 2008 here in Omaha. I got a couple of them. So did the Democratic Party. And neither one of those was a push poll.

Please, at least make an attempt to know what you're talking about. A "push poll" is not a poll.

Anonymous said...

Seriously . . .

This is a joke. I started visiting this blog when the city elections heated up.

I should have known that Street Sweeper has no grasp of local politics when he predicted Vokal would pull through the primary. Vokal didn't think Vokal would pull through.

And now the revelation that he doesn't know what a push poll is. Incredible.

So either learn something about what you're talking about, or stay out of it.

Anonymous said...

If you are looking for negativity, look at Suttle. If you are looking a positive and exciting way to grow and explode the economic potential of Omaha - look at Daub.

Anonymous said...

What I can't believe is that it was NOT the Qwest Center that made the debt problems appear. It was the City Council with Jim Suttle who made the problems appear by building that hotel across the street on the back of the taxpayers. The Hotel is not paying for itself. The Qwest is.

Anonymous said...

2:29 PM -

Please get your facts straight. Jim Suttle wasn't even elected to the City Council until 2005, after the Convention Center and Hilton were built.

Anonymous said...

ashford and john s. mc collister endorsed daub?


hmm, I always they were democrats considering how liberal both of them are

and their assocations with far-left churches in omaha