WWBD? (or, What Would Ben Do?)

Amidst all of the Omaha Mayoral endorsements yesterday -- Suttle by Mike Fahey, and Hal Daub by Dave Heineman, Mike Johanns, Lee Terry, Jon Bruning and around sixty-five others -- there was silence from one individual.

But an AP story, picked up in Sioux City (didn't see it any of the Omaha MSM), told of the position one U.S. Senator E. Ben Nelson has taken vis-a-vis the Omaha Mayor's race: 

Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson says he's staying out of it. 

His reason for not endorsing fellow Democrat Jim Suttle?

Nelson says he won't get involved because he has to work with whoever gets the job.

Well isn't that interesting?!

Because Nelson had no trouble endorsing Scott Kleeb against Adrian Smith in 2006.

And Nelson had no problem endorsing Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton and then John McCain in 2008.

Nelson now has to continue to work with all of those people (well, except Kleeb).

So why shying away from Jim Suttle? Does he dislike Suttle that much? Does he love Hal Daub that much?

Is he simply convinced that Daub is going to win?

Now there's one for you commenters to chat about. (And maybe the local MSM will pick it up as well...)

***

Hey many folks have been getting phone calls asking about their support for Jim Suttle lately.

The calls have included the questions:

If I said that Hal Daub received a pay raise while in Congress and voted against the minimum wage, would that change your mind to vote for Hal Daub?

If I said that Hal Daub was against a living wage for city employees while he was mayor, would that change your mind to vote for him?

If I said that Hal Daub put the city’s economy in bad position with the Qwest Center and has added millions of dollars of debt to the city and will be put on the backs of the taxpayers, would that change your mind of Hal Daub?

Interesting, interesting.

We see first that Suttle is looking to reach back into Daub's 1980's Congressional record to dig up any issues he can. Daub won't run from that, but it's funny that Daub was Mayor for six years, is running for the same office, but Suttle is trying to gain points on his job from twenty years ago.

If I said that Hal Daub expressed a video preference for "Safety Dance" over "Take On Me" would that change your mind to vote for him?

Then there's the "push poll" point at issue here (that the Suttle folks are spinning like mad on the comments board). Now, every candidate who does calls like this asks comparative questions like these to try to flesh out what issues to send to voters. But it's also a handy little vehicle for Suttle to hammer Daub on whatever message he feels will work for him.

And we will also have to see whether the Suttle camp comes out to say that they have a "poll" that shows them in the lead -- or shows their "poll" to potential donors -- basing it on these leading questions. It's one thing to use it internally. It's another to try to hang your hat on the voters that you've pushed.

We will wait and see.

***

And in case you missed it, embattled former Nebraska Senator, New Yorker and The New School President Bob Kerrey sent in the NYPD against students trying to take over the school...again. 

After the kids pretended they're were fighting "the Man", Kerrey sent in the cops to pepper-spray them back to the bowels of the local coffee shops.

So, since this keeps happening, it's only a matter of time until a bunch of these neo-radicals try to take over the Bob Kerrey Bridge, right?

(And then, how you'll get over to an empty field in CB, we have no idea...)

OPD, arm your pepper cannons!