Memorial Day 2010

Have yourself a weekend, and be sure to remember all of those who served.

(And the comments are opened up to discuss all.)

Last week of Spring...

Just catching you up from the weekend...

H/T to Neal Obermeyer's Tweet on the Ben Nelson t-shirt to the right.

We still think one with the tag-line, "I'm not without some skills!" works as well. (But mainly we're just bitter we didn't think of this first.)

***

ICYMI, (and you wouldn't have if you'd just read our Tweets...) New Yorker Bob Kerrey looks to be tapped to be the new head-lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America.

Back in the Jack Valenti days, this meant a short speech during the Oscars, and the occasional ridiculous defense of the movie ratings system.

Oh, and according to the reports, he totally would have run for Senator again in 2008 if it had just worked out right for his family.

Mmm-hmm.  It had nothing to do with Mike Johanns getting in the race, you see.

***

And, just because you're nosy, here is a link to area Congressmen's assets. There is a lot of "somewhere between..." language involved...

Money from a wall?

First, we'd just like to note the photo the OWH has been using for Senator Ben Nelson lately.

This is the best the paper has of Nelson? Really?

Heck, we've seen and used plenty of shots of Nelson, but even we would suggest that this shot isn't worthy of the mighty OWH.

And as we note there, are they suggesting that Nelson is a hobgoblin? Because that's the gist we got from it.

Interesting choice there OWH. Interesting choice.

***

The Capitol Hill newspaper "Roll Call" printed this "Overheard on the Hill" item the other day:

“I don’t even know how to use one.”

— Sen. Ben Nelson, confessing his inexperience with debit cards to reporters Tuesday. Asked about ATM fees, the Nebraska Democrat says he only pays with cash or credit cards and confessed to being “frugal.”

Then the OWH picked up on it to quiz Nebraska's senior (citizen) Senator on his use of ATMs and credit cards.

Nelson noted that, "But I could learn how to do it just like I’ve . . . I swipe to get my own gas, buy groceries. I know about the holograms...I mean, I'm not without some skills."

(You know, like nunchuku skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills...)

The OWH didn't follow up on Nelson's original claim that he uses credit cards instead of debit cards, because he's frugal -- missing out on the point that credit cards charge interest while debit cards are just a plastic version of cash. Ah well, we'll assume he has a staffer that can educate him on this machine of the little people.

While Mike Johanns said he has only used at ATM "fewer than five times" in his life -- well at least he was familiar with the concept. But is the ATM really that new fangled?

Why those crazy kids with their ATMs and their Walkmans and their Vanilla Ice.

Question: Are these "ATMs" open on Sundays?

***

Oh, and by the way OWH:  Considering that Roll Call had this story yesterday...no matter what header you put on the story, it ain't an "EXCLUSIVE".

***

Congressman Lee Terry is continuing to hammer his opponent, state Senator Tom White on White's support of the ObamaCare Health Care Reform.

Recently the Congressional Budget Office stated that the cost of the new law will jump by $115 BILLON, based on requirements for new IRS cost and other new government programs and services.

Terry is asking White how White would propose funding these new costs.

“Tom White supported the healthcare legislation while I did not. The cost of this initiative has now suddenly jumped by $115 billion. My opponent needs to step forward and tell us if he is willing to cut other programs to pay for this new spending or raise taxes to cover it. Either way, he owes us an explanation.”

Not to worry though White campaign.  Our guess is that this is the last time in the campaign that Lee Terry will mention Tom White's support of the new health care law....

New ratings in Terry - White race

Congressional Quarterly has come out with a new analysis of all the races in the U.S. House of Representatives.

And here is their latest take on the Congressman Lee Terry vs. State Senator Tom White match up:

Nebraska’s 2nd District: Likely Republican (was Leans Republican)


Omaha-area Democrats hoped to continue the momentum they built in 2008, a year in which Obama narrowly carried this district and businessman Jim Esch held Terry to 52 percent, the low point in his six House victories.


The challenging party went all out with its successful recruitment of state Sen. Tom White, who had been thinking about running for governor, who is relatively well-funded for this year’s election.


But with the national Democratic Party faces fights to hold on to dozens of seats targeted by the Republicans, it’s hard to envision how they could go all out for this one.

Note that CQ changed the prospects on the race from "Lean Republican" up to "Likely Republican" (just one notch below "Safe Republican").

Leaving Terry plenty of time to move up.

***

And Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson has also taken a step back from voicing any support for Tom White.

On Saturday at the Nebraska Democrats' premier annual fundraiser, Nelson stated,

"If there is an anti-incumbency backlash, I don't think it's showing in any material way in state races."

Note Nelson watching out for his own hide here, instead of backing up White and potentially citing Terry's primary numbers.

With friends like Nelson...right Tom?

***

In his fight to get the Nebraska Democrat Party to change its rules and allow free-posting on their blog, Phelps Co. Democrat Chair (and frequent commenter on this blog) Brian Osborn has invoked Ronald Reagan.

In an open letter to Dem Chair, Vic Covalt, Osborn demands...

Mr. Covalt, Tear Down This Wall!

Osborn goes on to say,

Democrats are notorious for their opinionated stances on any number of issues.

Democrats are famous for their tendency to argue, often vehemently, amongst themselves.

Democrats thrive in an atmosphere of freedom and they detest limitations to be set upon them.

That said, I urge you, Mr. Chairman, to restore the NDP Blog to the way it was before you clamped the ignoble chains of CENSORSHIP on it. I urge you to demonstrate to the State of Nebraska, and the world, that we Democrats in this state do not fear the unfettered exchange of opinions and ideas. I urge you to give the Democrats of our state their due.

The NDP Blog belongs to the Democrats of the State of Nebraska, not just to you, nor just to the NDP State Executive Committee, nor just to the NDP State Central Committee. It is OURS, Mr. Covalt and we want it back.

Mr. Covalt ... TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!

Brian T. Osborn

Chair - Phelps County Democrats

Fight the good fight, BTO.

Sakalosky endorses Terry

Republican Primary challenger Matt Sakalosky has endorsed Primary winner, Congressman Lee Terry.

Directly from the Terry for Congress release:

“My campaign was based on issues that I feel very deeply about such as the ballooning federal debt and out-of-control federal spending.  The voters face a very clear choice now—a choice between a conservative, Lee Terry, and a liberal Democrat, Tom White, who supports trillions in new spending on the federal stimulus and government-run health care programs. Our nation cannot afford liberal politicians like Tom White.

 “I am enthusiastically supporting Congressman Lee Terry today.  I will vote for him in November and I will ask all of my supporters to do the same.  As a conservative, I agree with Lee Terry on about 90 percent of the issues.  I agree with Tom White on about zero percent,” Sakalosky said. 

 Terry said he was “delighted” to have Sakalosky’s support.  “I congratulate Matt on his campaign and for the level of discourse and energy he and his supporters displayed.  Matt is a solid guy who has a great future in our party.  I value his endorsement today and look forward to having his involvement with our campaign this year,” Terry said. 

The unity being displayed today on the Republican side is “Tom White’s worst nightmare,” Terry said.  The Democratic nominee is counting on the Republican party to emerge from the primary fractured and divided.  “The opposite is the case—we are unified and energized about keeping this seat and having the Second District play a key role in bringing balance back to Washington, D.C.,” Terry said.   

Official statistics show that 28,968 Republicans cast ballot in the Second district congressional race, dwarfing the 12,288 Democratic voters who did so. 

Post Primary Wrap

Before we dive into yesterday's votes, first a little ballot-issue Separated at Birth:

Lincoln's new (planned) Haymarket Arena and Steve Martin's King Tut hat!

***

So what happened in yesterday's 2nd Congressional District? How could political unknown, and massively underfunded Matt Sakalosky have garnered 37% of the vote?

Here's how:

Matt Sakalosky became the face of the Tea Party movement in Nebraska.

The Tea Parties have been the political story of the year, since the health care reform came down. They were featured in the main stream media, their caravan made news where ever it went, it a was an event and it gave people an outlet to express their political frustration.

And everyone took notice. Heck, recently even President Obama was noted using the slur "Teabaggers" to talk about them. (And don't think that goes unnoticed by the Tea Party ranks. It pisses them off.)

So the Tea Partiers had a reason to go out and vote.

And they had a candidate.

Now, Matt Sakalosky was not a powerful candidate. But, he did have decent name recognition among voters yesterday. He got a TON of free media from local TV, radio and newspapers. If the Tea Party was mentioned, MattSak's name wasn't far behind. So frankly, he didn't need a well-funded campaign.

Well, unless he wanted to win.

But was winning ever really the goal? If it was, his supporters sure didn't show it monetarily (short of a few last minutes media buys). No the goal was to show up, declare that "we're here and pissed off!", and...well...not sure after that.

Sakalosky was never going to defeat Lee Terry. Terry let Sakalosky go pretty much unchallenged through the Primary, and that's the way campaigns go sometimes. But if Sakalosky had spent some money, Terry would have spent more money. If Sakalosky had gone on TV or radio, Terry would have gone on more TV and radio. If Sakalosky started to gain more ground, Terry would have debated him and would have beat him in that venue.

Terry was never in fear of losing yesterday.
Never?
Never.

***

So, back to the Tea Partiers, what is their goal for the November General Election?

Well, you have to think it's still to send the President and the country a message, right?

The message is NO to ObamaCare, NO to Cap & Trade, NO to the President's liberal economic policies.

Now, could that possibly be accomplished by helping to elect -- directly or indirectly -- Democrat Tom White?

Tom White who has said he would have voted for ObamaCare?
Tom White who expresses his support for the President where ever he goes?
Tom White who would be another Democrat vote for Nancy Pelosi?

(And to those who suggest that White would be a "conservative Democrat" and vote with Republicans on certain issues, we ask that you look no further than "conservative" Ben Nelson's vote on ObamaCare.)

And to the Tea Partiers, we would ask, do you really think that Lee Terry isn't conservative enough for you?
Lee Terry?
Check his full record, and you should be pleasantly surprised, if you didn't know it already (which we'd guess you did).

Lee Terry is your guy. And if you want to "send a message" in November, it would be that the 2nd District, which went for Obama in 2008, won't get fooled again, and solidly rejects Obama/Pelosi lackeys.

There's your message. (Which, we have no doubt, Lee Terry has heard.)

***

So did this race "soften-up" Lee Terry for Tom White? Well probably a little.

Terry had to spend money on mail and stuff. And the argument that "37% of voters went against him" probably doesn't help.

But is he really damaged goods for Tom White?

Uh, no.

When we see the next polls on this race, Terry will very likely be in the same position against White that he was before. and as things are turning, there will be less and less federal money to blow on White's race, as it becomes a longer and longer shot.

Make no mistake, this will be a real race for Terry.

But we feel Terry is up to it.

***

Looking at the state Treasurer race, we thought Don Stenberg wouldn't have much of a problem, and he proved us correct. Once that became a three-man race, it was locked up for him. And he should similarly roll in November.

And some of those Legislature races? As we noted yesterday, a number were very close (Joe Jordan has a quick summary on his blog) and will be interesting to watch through the summer and fall.

***

Now here's a screwy one for ya:

Did you SEE the results in the Democrat 1st CD primary?

Ivy Harper, who was the only candidate with any "campaign" to speak of, not to mention experience, etc, barely squeaked by.

And who was her main competition? A woman named Jessica Lynn Turek.

Ms. Turek lists her profession as "writer and drummer". Her legislative goals included making money "smell good". Beyond that, she didn't even respond to half of the LJS's candidate questions.

And this woman received 36% of the vote (to Harper's 38%)!

She lost by less than 400 votes!

This is who Lincoln Democrats voted for. (Oh, by the way, good luck on Googling her. She didn't even have a campaign website.)

Rock on Jeff Fortenberry. Rock on.

Early Primary Results

For those of you following along, note that the results will come the fastest directly from the Secretary of State's site.

They update every 5 minutes, so these results are already old...

Updated with the FINAL un-official numbers:

CD-2 GOP
Lee Terry......................63%
Matt Sakalosky.............37%

GOP State Treasurer
Don Stenberg ... .........52%
Tony Fulton .............. 28%
Tom Nesbitt ..............20%

Note that Stenberg is pretty much kicking ass and taking names in every county...except Lancaster, which Fulton is winning.

And this complaint from Nesbitt could have been a little more...timely.

CD-1 Dems
Ivy Harper .................38%

Jessica Lynn Turek ....36%

Stanley E. Krauter  ....13%

Sherman Yates ..........13%

Rock on.

Mid-Primary Election Day...

Say hey folks!

We're hearing very low turnout in the Omaha metro. A little friskier in Haymarket Arena-minded Lincoln.

***

The Lincoln Journal Star is running live, ticker type, election coverage here. Take a click.

Babies have taken over the Lincoln polling places (apparently).

Our intel says that the Arena vote will be close.

***

Under the "The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend" heading...

The Esch (Sr.) residence on Blondo street is all about pimping...MattSak...

(Wonder who Jim is backing...)

***

A few potentially tight Unicameral races to watch the underdogs on tonight:

Dis 16 (West Point): Kent Rogert vs Lydia Brasch
Dis 46 (Lincoln): Danielle Conrad vs Chad Wright
Dis 30 (Beatrice): Norm Wallman vs Bob Tiemann
Dis 12 (Omaha): Steve Lathrop vs John Lillis
Dis 34 (Aurora, et al.): Annette Dubas vs Brandon Hunnicutt

***

Not enough excitement going on for you today?

2012 is still too close as well?

Well, how about the 2013 Omaha Mayor's race!

Who's interested? Maybe State Senator Brad Ashford or City Councilman Franklin Thompson.
Or City Councilwoman Jean Stothert...
Maybe.

***

And here's a totally random one:

As many know, National GOP Chair Michael Steele has not exactly endeared himself to many party stalwarts with the way he has handled the job in the past year. Basically, many feel that the gig means you stand in the background, sell the party line, and take hits when called upon. Steele hasn't exactly done that.

So a few names have been bandied about for the job for next year, in GOP circles.

One of those names?

Dave Heineman.

Gossip amongst yourselves.

***

Updates later.

Primary Election Day!

As we gear into Election Day, here are a few final spots from the GOP CD-2 candidates, Congressman Lee Terry and Matt Sakalosky (a/k/a Sakalowsky, KPTM...):

First a mailer, that went out to 30,000 Republican households, from LT.

Note that the Terry campaign has not done any radio or TV against their severely underfunded opponent. Instead they've concentrated on direct mail, a robo-call from Governor Dave, volunteer calls, lit drops, and a recent teleconference town hall meeting by Terry. If a Republican planned on voting, there's a good chance they were contacted by Lee's camp.

But just to give you something to look at, here's a piece on YouTube from Terry's campaign site:



***

Next there's the MattSak camp. According to the FEC site, Sakalosky only raised $26,000 ($10K of that, from his own pocket) -- this despite being in the race for at least the past twelve months.

Ah well. That won't shake the Sak camp when they have a couple of sugar-mommas coming through, apparently.

Joe Jordan noted on his blog that Patricia Heskett, who has been very active with the 912 wing of the Tea Partiers, dropped $10K on her Sunday OWH, page 5, pro MattSak / anti Lee Terry full-pager.  See it below:

We then later got word from Shelli Dawdy of Grassroots in Nebraska -- a Lincoln, Nebraska wing of the Tea Partiers -- that she was asked by another group to whip together a radio spot for MattSak to be played on KFAB during the Voorhees, Limbaugh, Beck and Becka.

See the YouTubed version of it here:



The actual radio spot states at the end that it was "Paid for by Grassroots Patriots", but it's not clear where that group is from. We find a Kentucky version of them on the web, but nothing particularly from Nebraska or the Omaha area.

And we haven't found any Federal Election Commission filings from either Heskett or Grassroot Patriots at the FEC's site, since each would be required to file a report within 24 hours of their independent expenditures. But whatever, right?

***

So if we hear anything worthwhile throughout the day, we will do our best to give updates.

Send us an email if you hear or see anything interesting, or have any camera phone shots to share. And feel free to tell us about your polling place experience either via email or in the comments section.

And for Gaia's sake, please remember to vote a few times, will ya?

**We will try to update with a new post around noon today.**

Primary Election Eve!

A quick and timely SAB sent in by an intrepid reader, Nick Schinker:

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, and not-Osacar nominee, Kevin James!

**And STOLEN by Jimmy Kimmel!**

***

On this Election Eve (hey, just go out and vote tomorrow, OK?), some VERY exciting stuff!

Um...well...anywho...

OK, here ya go:

The OWH endorsed BOTH former Attorney General Don Stenberg AND State Senator Tony Fulton for State Treasurer.

Way to hedge your bets, OWH editorialists!

The funny thing is, now Tom Nesbitt has some hope.

***

Here's a Q for ya: Could Lincoln turn the statewide election? For those of you not paying attention, the Lincolnites have a ballot question on whether or not to build a new arena.

That's the sort of issue that may get people to actually release their weapons and Bibles, crawl out of their bunkers, refrain from texting while driving to the nearest fallout shelter marked building and carefully fill in an oval.

Not saying the rest of you beyond the Memorial Stadium city limits won't do so, but we'd wager that their voting percentages will be higher.

So: will they be the difference makers? Will you have to blame your winner on them? Will they take credit?

Updates late night tomorrow.

***

Finally, we haven't seen any unoffical polling numbers yet, but we've been Tweeted by MattSak that the CD-2 race is "close".

Unclear as to whether he means the "hour to vote" is close, or whether he believes the present numbers are close. Close by? Close at hand? Sitting right next to him?

Unclear.

***

It's a free-for-all, kids.

The Lakers Scandal

The Mark Lakers for Governor campaign is in complete panic mode right now.

Or if they're not, they should be.

Not only is their campaign teetering toward bolivian (as Mike Tyson once said), but they may be in serious danger of being subject to civil penalties or even (gulp!) criminal charges!

As you probably have read, the Lakers campaign recently filed their finance report with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, listing $23,000 in cash received -- and $309,000 in "pledges". (Note, if you're ever reviewing this sort of stuff, that's what's known in industry-speak as a "red flag".)

Well, as a few of the "donors" got wind of their "pledge" (we'll stop using quotes at "some point" here...), they let the NADC know that A) they didn't make any pledge and that either B) they don't make political contributions or C) they support Dave Heineman!

Now the Attorney General's office (upon request of the NADC) is looking into the matter.

So, instead of just linking to all of those unfulfilled pledges (which you can find online here), we figured we would list them out, so maybe any others of those could take a look and see if they, unbeknownst to them, made such a "pledge".

"Donor"	"Pledge"
GREAT WESTERN BANCORPORATION	20000.00
BILL    HANIGAN	10000.00
JIM    JENKINS	10000.00
BEREXCO	10000.00
CARGILL INCORPORATED	10000.00
HODNE FARMS	10000.00
KAPPA ETHANOL	10000.00
MASCHHOFFS INC., THE	10000.00
MID-AMERICA BIO ENERGY & COMMODITIES LLC	10000.00
MONSANTO COMPANY	10000.00
NANC, INC.	10000.00
SANDRIDGE ENERGY, INC.	10000.00
JULIE    MASCHHOFF	7500.00
AG AND FOOD ASSOCIATES, LLC	7500.00
RON    BEACH	5000.00
SCOTT    BURROUGHS	5000.00
DENNIS    FOGLAND	5000.00
R. BRAD    HARSE	5000.00
NORM    HEDGECOCK	5000.00
JOHN    HOICH	5000.00
JOHN    HOLZFASTER	5000.00
RALPH    HOLZFASTER	5000.00
EJNAR    KNUDSEN	5000.00
STEVE    TURNER	5000.00
ADAMS LAND & CATTLE CO.	5000.00
AMAIZING ENERGY	5000.00
E ENERGY ADAMS, LLC	5000.00
GROVELAND CAPITAL	5000.00
PASSPORT CAPITAL	5000.00
SCOULAR COMPANY, THE	5000.00
STANDARD NUTRITION	5000.00
DAVID    DOMINA	4000.00
KRAUSE CORP	4000.00
LN, INC.	4000.00
LOZIER CORPORATION	3000.00
FRANK    CARROLL	2500.00
JASON    LOGSDON	2500.00

(Note: We took out anyone who was listed as having made an "unpaid pledge", but has already made an actual pledge. While this still may be suspect, and we have no doubt the AG's office will look into it, at least those folks seem to be supporters of one kind or another...)

Just those listed there, giving Lakers the benefit of the doubt as noted above, comes to $260,000.

Now. We will guess that there are some listed above who DO support Lakers and DO intend to give him some cash.

But note those who said that their inclusion on Laker's NADC form is complete BS:

• E Energy Adams, listed at $5,000. The CEO "has never discussed donating to Lakers' campaign with either Lakers or anyone on Lakers' campaign staff."
• Kappa Ethanol, $10,000, "pledged nothing to the Lakers campaign and has also supported Heineman in the governor's race."
• Berexco, $10,000, "We support Governor Heineman. We've had no conversations with anyone from Lakers' campaign."
• Great Western Bank, $20,000, "it's not the bank's practice to make political pledges or contributions."
• Mid-America Bio Energy & Commodities, $10,000, "denied making pledges to Lakers' campaign."

If that's the case with those $55,000 worth of bogus pledges, the rest have to be suspect as well, right?

In Lakers' defense, he says a dude he knows totally told him that all these pledges were %1000 there, man.

In the mean time, if you see Lakers we would suggest not making eye contact, sudden movements, or for gawd's sake, not shaking hands. He will undoubtedly take any of those actions to mean you have pledges $30-40,000 to his campaign.

Best to be safe out there.

Primary Week!

It's Primary Week kids, so we will try to concentrate on the few big primaries going on in Nebraska.

The main statewide race in contention is for State Treasurer.
(And we'll link to their Facebook pages, since that's what all the cool kids look at...)

State Senator Tony Fulton, former Attorney General Don Stenberg and former State Patrol Superintendent (the top spot) Tom Nesbitt are all vying for that job of jobs.

What's that you say? Well, PLENTY of people would like that gig, that's who!

You know, people like Kay Orr, Dave Heineman and Shane Osborn.

(Are you starting to get the drift?)

Look, it's a statewide office, you have some responsibilities, and you know, maybe...possibly...you can launch to a higher office from there.

Not saying any of these folks plan that, but hey.

It's just sort of funny that these guys talk so little about actual treasurering...

***

Anyway, watch some 30 second spots (in alpha order):

Tony Fulton



By the way, the Stenberg camp doesn't like Fulton's spot.

Tom Nesbitt



Don Stenberg



***

So, here's our super short, succinct analysis:

If this were a two man race, Tony Fulton would have a shot.

But as it's a three man competition...well...we just don't see how Stenberg's statewide name recognition can be beat.

It could happen. We're not saying it can't happen.

But we're saying that if it does, it would probably be the upset of the year.

Dive in peoples.

***

Test Tweet here folks...

Dems, this is what happens when the AG is left unopposed http://bit.ly/adQoj7 (and when you claim $500K that hasn't been delivered...)less than a minute ago via bit.lyStreet Sweeper
LeavenworthSt

***

A much more detailed plot thickens (via the LJS) on the Mark Lakers NADC report: http://bit.ly/94ER7hless than a minute ago via bit.lyStreet Sweeper
LeavenworthSt