Svoboda out of Lincoln Council

Former Lincoln Mayoral candidate and Lincoln City Councilman Ken Svoboda lost his re-election bid yesterday, coming in fourth in the catch-as-catch-can Lincoln City Council election. The top three vote getters were Jayne Snyder (D), Adam Hornung (R), and Eugene Carroll (D).

This was apparently a pretty dirty race at all levels, but frankly we just didn't follow it that closely.  But sometimes info is hard to come by.  For instance, Svoboda was "unavailable for comment" by the LJS last night. Unavailable? No cell phone? Didn't make a statement at his campaign party?  

Think there's room for a Lincoln politics blog?

And was Svoboda's loss by a mere 600 votes due to his Selleck-esque mustache? We have no idea.

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The OWH endorsed Hal Daub today.

The gave the standard reason that everyone knows for voting for Daub:  whip-smart, never stops working, a million ideas, superb record.

But what was telling was how harsh the OWH decided to go on Suttle.  Example:

Then there is the issue of temperament. Daub isn’t known for being warm and fuzzy. But neither is Suttle. Far from being the nice guy who supposedly can make peace with everyone, Suttle has left a City Council record marked by his strained relations not only with his fellow council members but also with Mayor Mike Fahey. The record shows it.

Four council members took the highly unusual step of voting to strip the funding from a $200,000 project Suttle had proposed. Suttle showed poor diplomatic skills when he disrespected Fahey by going to Washington, D.C., and attempting to negotiate for a bridge without Fahey’s knowledge. Due to that and other disagreements, relations between the two men were remarkably strained for years.

Early this year, Suttle handled matters with neighborhood associations during a public forum in such a way that leaders with seven of those associations wrote The World-Herald to express their opposition to his statements

Ouch!!!

And that's not even the whole thing.  Take a look yourself.

(We still think Daub has a good chance in this election, even with the OWH's endorsement...)

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The last you'll care about the money contest in the Omaha Mayor's race: Hal Daub clobbered Jim Suttle in total cash taken in, $1,012,558 to $693,020.

You remember hearing from Suttle partisans prior to the primary about how Suttle's fundraising shows how much support he has.

Will they give Daub his due here?

We will expect that right around the time Jim Suttle tells us how he plans to bring in 1,000 new jobs to Omaha. He has only had four years to think about it.

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Dem's Love Lee Terry!

You heard Jim Esch tell you that Lee Terry was one of the most partisan, least easy to get along with, hated by the the Dems so-and-so this side of the Rockies. 

You have heard it from the state and local Dems about Terry. And you will no doubt hear it from Tom White or whomever the Dems trot out next to take on Terry.

But one group you don't hear it from? His Democrat colleagues.

In a survey by The Hill of the House of Representatives, Democrats found Lee Terry to be one of the ten most bipartisan Republicans in the chamber. (The most partisan Democrat? Speaker Nancy Pelosi.)

Keep stories like that -- along with statements from Democrat Chairman John Dingell -- in mind the next time you hear the local Dems ranting and raving about Terry. They obviously don't know him.

Terry's Democrat colleagues in the House obviously do.

(Btw, Terry has a new official website.  Check it out here.)