Don Walton: Bruning sets 2008 in motion

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Momentum. The impetus of a moving object, the dictionary says. That’s the unknown element unleashed by Jon Bruning’s decision to begin to organize and finance a possible 2008 Senate campaign. We’re in motion now.

Bruning says he wants to be ready in the event Chuck Hagel decides not to seek re-election to a third term in the Senate.

“I will not run against him” in a Republican primary election, the attorney general says.

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OK.

So what happens now?

Bruning launches his “ground game,” identifying and organizing supporters across the state.

And he begins the rather challenging task of attempting to raise funds for a campaign he may never wage. 

Hagel loyalists in the Republican ranks are going to hold tight, one would guess.

Bruning loyalists will step forward behind their man.

And what will Republicans who are angry with Hagel for opposing President Bush on Iraq do? 

Judging by letters to the editor, telephone messages and anecdotal evidence, there are a lot of them out there.  They are upset, and they are energized.

Do the anti-Hagels put their hopes, and money, with Bruning?  Help him build a sturdy campaign vehicle?  Implore him to run?  Coalesce into their own organization, whether Bruning’s a candidate or not?

There’s no reason to doubt Bruning’s word that he has “no intention of challenging Senator Hagel” in the GOP primary.

And no reason to believe Hagel wouldn’t ultimately be nominated no matter who, or how many, Republican opponents he might have.  

Hagel had a 59 percent approval rating among Republicans polled in a December survey commissioned by a Bruning supporter.  In that survey of 430 likely Republican voters, only 23 percent said they view Hagel unfavorably.

The uncertainty is where this bold move by Bruning leads.

Not by planning or intention, but fueled by momentum, a force that sometimes follows a path of its own.

People’s movement

Hagel clearly is intrigued by Unity08, the independent “people’s movement” now organizing to nominate a bipartisan presidential-vice presidential ticket through an online political convention next year.

Unity08 is attempting to gain access to the ballots in all 50 states and offer voters an alternative to the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees.

Citizen delegates, who must be registered voters, would nominate a Republican and a Democrat  to form a presidential and vice presidential team. 

Unity08 organizers believe many Americans — perhaps most — are unhappy with both major political parties and their narrow, and divisive, partisanship.

“I’m enthusiastic about what they’re doing,” Hagel said during an interview last Monday in Omaha.

“The more you can engage the citizenry, the more you strengthen the system.  I applaud the effort.”

Third parties — or, in this case, a third alternative — always have been “the driving force for change,” Hagel said. 

It is clear from national polling that most Americans are “frustrated and upset” by the direction the country is moving, he said. 

“They want something better,” Hagel said.

Some national pundits believe Hagel might consider a presidential bid outside his party. 

“I’m a Republican,” he told a questioner at his Omaha news conference last week.

“But I’m disappointed in my party the last few years.”

From Dr. Nelson

Ben Nelson, responding Dr. Seuss-style in a handwritten note to teachers in a reading program at Morton Elementary School in Millard:

“Thank you for working so hard

Teaching your students the Bard,

Or ‘The Cat in the Hat,’

And others like that,

Which is why I am sending this card.”

Finishing up

* What’s this?  A private sale of all available 2008 NCAA basketball tourney tickets in Omaha, turning this big sports moment in Nebraska into a private event? Not even a few thousand seats open to  the rest of us?  Hey, blow the whistle, that’s a flagrant foul.

* Charlie Matulka, the 2002 Democratic Senate nominee, says he’s ready to challenge Hagel again in 2008 and “demand a statewide handcount” of the vote.

* Hagel told the firefighters convention in Washington last week that in Nebraska, the “axis of evil” is Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas State.

* Thirteen days until baseball.  C’mon, Time Warner, we’re counting on you for “Extra Innings.”

Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com.