Contra the New York Times, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) is not a “true midwestern moderate.” They pegged him more accurately as “a former insurance executive who also served two terms as Nebraska’s governor.” Hearing news of his retirement, I had to say, “Be still my heart, Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman both retiring, and in the same year?” God, do I hate bad Democrats. And I so love to see them go.
I despise Ben Nelson. I despise his only obvious replacement, Bob Kerrey, too. Still, contra Atrios, I’d be relatively happy if Kerrey ran and retained this seat in the Dem column. He’s much better than Ben Nelson. And he’d be better than any conceivable Republican candidate.
You’ll have to excuse me, though, if I tell you that contemplating Nebraska’s politics just makes me want to puke. I wish a guy like Scott Kleeb could win there, but I have seen no evidence that he can. That leaves little incentive for progressives to get involved, one way or the other.
Of course, Obama did pull one electoral vote out of Nebraska in 2008, and he might do it again if the rules haven’t been changed. I thought I read something about that, but I could be wrong.
