Raimondo close to Senate bid

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By DON WALTON / Lincoln Journal Star

Tony Raimondo has moved to the edge of a 2008 Senate bid.

Paul Johnson, who has managed successful Democratic campaigns in Nebraska for Sen. Ben Nelson and former Sen. Bob Kerrey, has agreed to help him organize a campaign, Raimondo confirmed Wednesday.

Raimondo said he expects to announce within a few weeks whether he’ll enter the Senate race.

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Tony Raimondo

Tony Raimondo

“The process is going very well,” he said. The agreement with Johnson, he said, was “the next step.”

Johnson would help Raimondo set up a campaign by identifying a campaign manager and staff, assist with campaign messaging and work on targeting voters.

In 2006, Johnson was campaign manager for Nelson in his successful re-election bid against Republican nominee Pete Ricketts.

Nelson and Raimondo have close ties, leading back to Nelson’s two terms as governor.

Raimondo, the chairman of Behlen Manufacturing Co. in Columbus, switched his party registration from Republican to Democratic earlier this month to clear the way for a possible Senate bid.

Originally, Raimondo had considered entering the contest as a Republican. But he abandoned that path when Mike Johanns resigned as U.S. secretary of agriculture to return to the state to seek the GOP nomination and immediately gained Gov. Dave Heineman’s endorsement.

No Democrats yet have entered the contest for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel at the end of next year.

“I’ve not finally decided yet,” Raimondo said by telephone. “Give me at least two more weeks.”

Nelson was a Behlen director before his election to the Senate in 2000 and now serves as a member of the company’s unpaid board of advisers.

Scott Kleeb of Hastings, the 2006 Democratic congressional nominee in western and central Nebraska’s 3rd District, also is considering a 2008 Senate bid.

Johnson, a political consultant who lives in Shreveport, La., is a veteran of Nebraska political wars.

In 1988, he managed Kerrey’s first Senate campaign, then managed his re-election victory in 1994.

Johnson was campaign manager for Nelson in 2000 and managed Mike Fahey’s two successful mayoral campaigns in Omaha in 2001 and 2005.

His resume also includes managing successful Senate campaigns for Tom Daschle in South Dakota and Mark Pryor in Arkansas.

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