NE-Sen: Hal Daub May Run Even If Hagel’s In…

Following up on last week’s updates:

Hal Daub’s announcement came with one significant surprise: He refused to rule out a run should Chuck Hagel decide to seek reelection. Daub is the ultimate Republican insider, a member of the Republican National Committee. He’s also very much part of Hagel’s circle. So, if Daub’s saying that he’s not going to base his decision on what Hagel does, that means one of two things. Either Hagel has already decided not to seek reelection, or he’s hemorrhaging support so badly that even Hal Daub doesn’t want to be tied to him. Either way, it’s going to be a tough road for Hagel to gain his party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate, especially after all the recent talk of running for President as an independent.

If Daub were to win his party’s nomination, it creates an interesting matchup should Mike Fahey run for the Democrats. A rematch of the 2001 Omaha Mayoral election, which Fahey won by a narrow margin.

But Daub’s is a history of electoral failure. He lost a primary challenge to David Karnes in 1988. Karnes was ultimately defeated by Bob Kerrey. He failed against Jim Exon in 1990. In 1997, he narrowly defeated Brenda Council in a campaign that was marred by race-baiting and outlandish stunts. (Daub actually took a polygraph test to “prove” he wasn’t a liar). By 2001, Omahans were so sick of Daub’s attitude that they were ready for someone new. Enter Mike Fahey. The last six years speak volumes, and Fahey’s landslide reelection victory in 2005 has helped to seal his legacy.

We are now less than a year from the primary. What comes next is anyone’s guess, but the field will be set by Labor Day.

In an unrelated note, we’ve got a big weekend in Nebraska – Nebraska Young Democrats are hosting YDA’s Spring National Conference in Omaha. Bill Richardson will be the keynote speaker on Friday. I mention this because I don’t think I can understate just how important the youth will be in 2008 for all of our candidates here. We saw young candidates like Jim Esch and Scott Kleeb do remarkably well for Nebraska, and energize a whole new generation of political activists in this state. It’s time to build on that for 2008.