(From the diaries. – promoted by James L.)
The timetable hasn’t really changed for any of our candidates. Though the Presidential race is sort of altering our idea of when the race is going to get started, it’s worth remembering that none of our candidates in Nebraska got into the race until late summer 2005 for the 2006 cycle.
The Republicans are eager to get started. Former Omaha Mayor Hal Daub was giving interviews to every single local TV station yesterday. Jon Bruning wasn’t very subtle about his intentions should Hagel retire, either.
Mike Fahey had the most realistic outlook:
Mayor Mike Fahey, a Democrat, said it was too early to start the Senate race. He said it would be a good thing if Hagel’s decision to postpone an announcement shortened the race.
“These campaigns last too long the way they are,” said Fahey, who is being courted by national Democrats to run for the Senate in the event Hagel bows out.
Examining the facts, it’s hard to see Hagel’s non-announcement announcement yesterday as anything but a stall tactic. The reasoning behind it is beyond comprehension at this point (though I suspect, between a hundred some supporters on a conference call yesterday, someone will leak the information). But two specific things point to a Presidential run:
– Hagel’s appearance at an IAFF forum tomorrow.
– Hagel’s new website http://www.hagel.tv – which features a vaguely presidential campaign ad. Remember, we’re still 14 months away from the primary election for Senate.
Here’s my take:
As much as we’re growing impatient with Hagel for not making up his mind, it’s important to realize that the timetable for a Senate campaign is a lot different than the accelerated timetable for this Presidential race. Delaying until the fall isn’t going to alter Mike Fahey’s plans one iota. He likely wouldn’t announce his intentions to run for Senate until the fall, anyway. We all know Fahey can raise the money. Everyone’s assuming Jon Bruning’s going to run. Hal Daub all but said the words “I’m running for Senate” in several television interviews in the past week. But after the hell that was the 2006 Senate race, do we really want to subject the people of Nebraska to all of that again so soon, especially if Pete Ricketts gets back in the mix?
I’m convinced that Fahey’s going to run for Senate if it’s an open seat. If it doesn’t turn out that way, then we’ll have to work a lot harder, but Ryan at the New Nebraska Network had a great point:
What this proves to me is we can’t afford to be spectators any more. The Nebraska blogosphere has served as a vigilant watchdog of Chuck Hagel’s record. That’s all fine and dandy, but there comes a day when every public official must answer those critics and defend that record and for Senator Hagel, that day is Election Day, 2008. If we aren’t committed to making that a contest, we can’t pretend to be serious about building a “new Nebraska”.
Our candidates are going to operate on their own timetables, and the best we can do right now is encourage them to run. But the grassroots will be operating in other ways in Nebraska – from local elections to Young Democrats and many other places in between – until the time comes. We’ll continue to keep you posted on any developments, of course.
.tv?…is he stupid?