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Don Walton: A little drama in Nebraska

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Monday, Nov 03, 2008 - 12:42:04 am CST

This should be fun.

After a marathon campaign that has captivated many of us for a year, we’re finally gonna choose a new president.

And we might even know who it is before we go to bed Tuesday night or early Wednesday.

Story Photo

Then comes the drama of choosing the players in the next administration, setting priorities and beginning to craft both legislative and foreign policy.

With the economy in free-fall and the world waiting to hear from the winner, exciting days lie just ahead.

For a change, there’s even a little mystery in Nebraska.

Up the road in Omaha and Sarpy County a presidential electoral vote and a House seat are in play. Recent internal polls suggest those are one-or-two-point races.

In terms of the possibility of a Democratic electoral vote, that’s a first time in 44 years event.

Nebraska hasn’t elected a Democratic member of the House in 16 years. Might not happen this year either, but the contest between Lee Terry and Jim Esch could go either way.

Keep an eye on Omaha tomorrow night.

OK, let’s go vote.

Top thinkers

Two Nebraskans made the list of Cabinet choices listed by 10 “top thinkers” in the current edition of “Foreign Policy.”

Chuck Hagel was Grover Norquist’s choice for secretary of state.

“If you cannot go back in time and change mistakes, you can replace those who made the errors with those who had the wisdom to oppose them at the time,” wrote the president of Americans for Tax Reform.

Hagel was chosen for secretary of defense by Cesare Merlini, executive vice president at the Council for the United States and Italy.

Warren Buffett was selected by two of the thinkers as secretary of the Treasury.

Meanwhile, Grist — an environmental Web site — placed Ben Nelson on its list of prospects for secretary of agriculture in a McCain administration.

No doubt, Dave Heineman would be Nelson’s strongest supporter.

If Nelson leaves the Senate, the governor names the Democratic senator’s Republican successor.

Wyoming power

A Nebraska voter has twice as much power as a Florida or Texas voter in naming the next president.

But a Wyoming voter has the greatest power of all, twice that of a Nebraska voter.

Presidential electoral votes are allocated among the states based on both Senate and House representation. Equality of representation in the Senate tilts electoral vote power to individual voters in the small-population states.

Nebraska voters rank 13th in power, according to a chart devised by LJS statistics guru Mark Andersen.

Finishing up

* Big early vote in Douglas County, but Obama campaign director John Berge was disappointed the only early voting site was in west Omaha: “Very early on, we asked for consideration of satellite locations and that was denied.”

* NBC’s Chuck Todd: “One of the interesting potential missed opportunities for Democrats is the (Nebraska) Senate race. Republican Mike Johanns could have been given a tough race, but Democrats chose not to.” Scott Kleeb “hasn’t made a Bush case against Johanns,” Todd says, and could have done so with negative TV ads.

* Only six of Nebraska’s 93 counties count more registered Democrats than Republicans: Dakota, Douglas, Greeley, Saline, Sherman and Thurston.

* Milo Mumgaard has been working in Indiana as Common Cause mounts a “voter protection” effort to combat voter suppression in battleground states. He’s now Midwest regional director of state operations for Common Cause.

* The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza is the latest national observer to flag Nebraska’s 2nd District House race as a possible Democratic pickup. Cillizza writes that “both parties confirm that Terry is in serious trouble” in his re-election contest with Esch.

* If Esch wins, Jeff Fortenberry emerges as Nebraska’s senior House member with just two terms under his belt.

* Bob Kerrey, in an op-ed in The New York Daily News, suggests that Barack Obama, if he is elected president, convene bipartisan meetings with congressional leaders and governors to seek some agreement in moving forward on Iraq, the economy, health care and energy.

* When Kleeb spoke on the UNL campus last Friday, his audience included one witch. The Phantom of the Opera skipped the meeting, hurrying down a hall in the Student Union before Kleeb arrived.

* It’s November. Out of the meadows and into the woods.

* Pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 14.

* Can’t remember a big game being over in the first 5½ minutes. That schooner is framed in the rear view mirror; push the pedal.

* KU on Saturday is the difference-maker between improvement and a substantial step forward in the first year.

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


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a man of his word wrote on November 3, 2008 3:21 am:
" Indeed. Let's go vote! And when we do, let's remember that Sen. Obama pledged to abide by campaign spending limits, but failed to do so, while Sen. McCain has abided by those limits.

I want a President who will abide by his word. "

 Ricky wrote on November 3, 2008 6:54 am:
" Bye Bye Lee Terry!
He had his run.
We are lucky to be alive when Obama made his run.

ricky from omaha "

 Sue in Omaha wrote on November 3, 2008 6:58 am:
" And let's remember that when Lee Terry was elected to the House he said he would only serve for 6 years....he's now been there for 10 years. Terry didn't abide by his word.

Vote. And vote for Jim Esch. "

 American Soap Opera wrote on November 3, 2008 6:59 am:
" We are turning into England. This campaign "year" was just made for the poparazzi. How unsettling to be going through such times of crisis in the Country I have always loved best, when the top candidates turn the election into a soap opera of drama "king" proportions. Meanwhile the issues float to the bottom while the pubic is regaled with stories of who has the worst past connections, what he wore, what her's cost etc...
This election was insulting, at best. To assume Joe Voter is stupid is just reprehensible.
I see many people mired in the superficial over this and if you don't believe me just check out the American to American e-mail that circulates like a wild fire spun out of control. I have had to block members of my own family due to overdose of the mundane.
Meanwhile, back on the farm, Joe Main-Street is hurting. "

 Chris wrote on November 3, 2008 8:07 am:
" Chuck Todd's comments about Scott Kleeb's campaign are right on. I never heard Kleeb mention the words "Johanns" or "Bush" in any of his advertising; he just made fuzzy, feel-good references to "change," and left it at that. I understand that he's trying to run a positive campaign, and that's admirable, but at some point you have to stand up and say why you're a better candidate, and Kleeb never did that. (It wouldn't have been "negative" to do so, either.) So now Johanns is going to smoke him, and Kleeb's political career in Nebraska will most likely be over. "

 Vote Kleeb wrote on November 3, 2008 8:48 am:
" If Kleeb went negative Johanns would have dumped million on top of him. Kleeb ran the right campaign and you can see it all over his truck,folks here in Nebraska wrote what they want him to do when he is Senator. We don't need Washington's Chuck Todd to tell us how to elect our next Senator. "

 LIARS wrote on November 3, 2008 9:07 am:
" McCain has not abided by his word. He said that he would choose a VP with experience, because that is SUPPOSEDLY what Obama does not have. Yet he pick the one out of five or six hopefulls with the LEAST amount of experience, just becasue she was a woman. Does he really think, that the woman voters will vote for her just because she is a WOMAN!? Well, this woman isn't falling for it. Politicians are liars, ALL OF THEM. We just need to figure out who's lies we want to go with. "

 Limits wrote on November 3, 2008 9:08 am:
" McCain abided by limits only because he had less donations. "

 jake wrote on November 3, 2008 9:17 am:
" So what happens next for Kleeb? It is disappointing that he didn't receive much help from the party. I hope his name resurfaces again soon. "

 backonthefarm wrote on November 3, 2008 9:30 am:
" meanwhile back on the farm...might be the only part of the economy with a good picture. any farmer with a inkling of sense contracted the majority of his crop in a range for high profits while most other small business is struggling with little hope. if the democrats win tuesday the small businesses that employ the majority of nebraskan will face obama's distribution of wealth promised. aka steal from hard working successful owners that took huge risk on the chance they might better their finances only to have the return on their invest taken away and given to those too lazy to work. on the other hand if the republicans win its another 4 years of status quo. might as well stay home tuesday and rake leaves at least the lawn will look nice if nothing else does. "

 JoBeth wrote on November 3, 2008 9:34 am:
" Come on people. We remember Johanns and what he hasn't done. This man is a career politician. It's time for a career change. Go Scott! "

 Limits 2 wrote on November 3, 2008 9:54 am:
" I agree with Limits comment. I just received an email this weekend from the Republican party asking for donations to bring home the victory! They must be desperate because I am democrat! "

 whatever wrote on November 3, 2008 10:34 am:
" Actually I just saw and analysis of Obama's and McCain's tax plans. McCain's will run a much bigger deficit than Obama's adding much interest to the federal budget. But let's all be honest here for a moment. No matter who is elected there MUST be tax increases and budget cuts. Our creditors really don't give us any alternative. In addition there will be some form of National Health Insurance. In the unlikely event there isn't a National Health Insurance program the State of Nebraska will likely get a State Insurance Plan pushed through the Unicameral and signed off by whomever is governor at the time. And actually backonthefarm if you study both candidates economic plans it's more likely to be an expansion of small business and more profits for the average farmer than under McCain. Don't get caught up in the diatribe of the mainstream conservative radio media. They are pretty much propaganda machines for the Republican Party and nothing more. At one time that wasn't the case but those days are long gone. "

 The Omega Man wrote on November 3, 2008 10:55 am:
" I'm a Republican and all get is information and requests for votes from Democrats. The Democrats are really setting themselves up to make some serious gains over the next 8 years. The Republicans? I would say some leadership changes definately need to be made in this state. "

 B Reed wrote on November 3, 2008 10:59 am:
" John Berge and the Obama campaign have a right to be outraged at Omaha's collective psychological complexes to censorship which provide in this instance so much negativity to participate.in the democracy. Vote Obama '08! "

 Hoping wrote on November 3, 2008 5:24 pm:
" Let's not count Scott Kleeb out yet!
To me the big difference between Scott Kleeb and Mike Johanns is that Johanns is like the parent that always says "No." The parent that doesn't want to be creative and take some effort to accommadate their children and help them make their dreams come true. Johanns doesn't make the effort he just says "No, it can't be done and that is that."

Scott Kleeb on the other hand takes what on the surface appears to be difficult but says let's work on it together and see what can be done.
Scott Kleeb sees possiblities for our future and will creatively work to make dreams and hopes a reality. Scott knows it won't be easy to solve our problems but he is willing to give it his enthusiastic energy and hard work. I have faith in Scott! I know if we give him the chance he will make Nebraska and the world a better place for us and future generations. VOTE FOR SCOTT KLEEB! "

 Support the Fort 10 wrote on November 3, 2008 9:07 pm:
" Lee Terry is a swell guy and he will knock the socks off of Jim Esch. But let's be honest. He's slipping, and the very fact that he has to go out and knock on doors just to survive shows that he's not Nebraska's leader in the House. On the other hand, the Fort will walk tomorrow with massive approval from his constituency, proving once again that he is the Nebraska Representative getting the job done in Washington. Terry may be senior, but everybody knows the real leadership lies in the First. "

 JR wrote on November 3, 2008 11:40 pm:
" Lee Terry promised us to bring us term limits when he got to Washington. ^ years is long enough, he said. Well, he is well overdue to be sent back home. And as dirty as his campaign has become, he knows he is in trouble.

As for Kleeb, I like his no nonsense, positive approach. Now, if only Nebraskans would wake up and vote for the best man instead of the Party, we would be much better off. "

 Outside the Box wrote on November 4, 2008 8:29 am:
" I respectfully disagree with Support the Fort 10's comment. When Forternberry wins by a large margin, it won't be due to his job performance. It will be due to the no-name opponent the Democrats dug up, and lack of any serious campaign he put up.

An incumbent running virtually unopposed SHOULD get a large portion of the vote. "

 Dano wrote on November 4, 2008 12:38 pm:
" Careful what you wish for.

And Feb 14 is reporting day. Yeah GO CUBS GO! There is always next year. "

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