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Friday, December 10, 2004
US Senate 2006: Ben Nelson's Nine Lives
Posted by Tim TagarisAt the start of this election cycle, Democratic Senator from Nebraska Ben Nelson figured to have one of the largest bulls-eyes on his back. At first, many speculated that Governor Mike Johanns would be Nelson's challenger for the Senate seat. Then the President appointed him as Agriculture Secretary.
That seemed to clear the way for current Congressman and former Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne to make a run at Nelson's seat. But Osborne made it clear yesterday that he will not make a run for the seat either.
"I thought this Senate thing had taken on a life of its own," he said. "I thought before people got all worked up about it I better put the thought to rest. ... I had never seriously considered it."
He did not rule out a run for Governor in 2006.
Osborne said he intends to announce by June whether he intends to run for governor or re-election representing the 3rd Congressional District.
This leaves a few more Republicans on a shrinking list of candidates to challenge Senator Nelson.
- Republican State Attorney General Jon Bruning
- Republican State Senator Kermit Brashear
- Republican State Party Chairman David Kramer
Posted at 07:29 AM in Nebraska | Technorati
Comments
Hopefully we'll be able to retain this aeat, but we are definitely on the defensive in 2006: About six Senators (Cantwell-WA, Stabenow-MI, Nelson-FL, Nelson-NE, Dayton-MN, Carper-DE) were pickups in 2000 won by about 5 points or less. There aren't as many slam-dunk retentions (Bayh-IN, Boxer-CA, Schumer-NY, etc) as there were this past November. (Check www.removerepublicans.com for more info.)
Posted by: AnthonySF at December 10, 2004 10:38 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Nelson lucked out on this one,
Osbourne woulda eaten him for lunch
in my opinion. But one cannot count
out the importance of friendship.
Supposedly, they are real close
friends, so that might have played
a role.
Posted by: Manny at December 11, 2004 11:33 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment