Professor Diane Duffin really is clueless:
While Nebraska typically votes heavily Republican in presidential elections — President Bush took 66 percent of the vote there in 2004, his fourth-highest total in the nation — Democrats have historically performed well in Senate races in that state and expect to wage a highly competitive campaign for Hagel’s seat. Hagel himself noted Monday that Democrats had won nine of the past 11 Senate races in Nebraska.
“I don’t know how anybody can say it’s a safe Republican seat with that kind of a track record,” Hagel said. “The Republican Party and the Democratic Party will contest this seat — as they must, as they should — and it benefits the state of Nebraska. I hope the best candidates will come forward.”
Many Democrats are encouraging a Senate campaign by Bob Kerrey, who served in the Senate from 1989 through 2000, when he retired and was succeeded by Democrat Ben Nelson, who was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2006. Now president of The New School in New York City, the 64-year-old Kerrey has expressed some interest in returning to political life. Kerrey is a Vietnam veteran and former Nebraska governor who served on the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“If Kerrey runs, [Democrats] will be dancing in the streets,” said Diane Duffin, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.
If Kerrey does not run, Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey is seen as a strong potential candidate, given his political base in Nebraska’s most populous city. Scott Kleeb, a rancher, also has been mentioned; he garnered a respectable 45 percent vote share last year as the Democratic nominee in the state’s 3rd District, the most strongly Republican territory in the state.
Bob Kerrey is the only Democrat that can rival Joe Lieberman is his enthusiasm for the war in Iraq. His performance on the 9/11 Commission was a disgrace. Democrats want Bob Kerrey to run about as much as they want Joe Lieberman to become Majority Leader. Now, Nebraskans may feel differently…political consultants may feel differently…Chuck Schumer probably feels differently…
But the last thing rank-and-file Democrats want is for Bob Kerrey to return to the Senate. God no.
