Republicans joined hands early Wednesday and immediately set their sights on Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson. Full election coverage, results

Hours after Gov. Dave Heineman defeated Rep. Tom Osborne for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, the spotlight swung to this autumn’s Senate battle.

Sen. Chuck Hagel told an early-morning unity rally at Republican headquarters that Nelson’s contest with GOP nominee Pete Ricketts “most likely will decide who controls the U.S. Senate” in 2007.

Hagel said he spoke earlier with Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and she agreed the Nebraska contest will be pivotal in determining whether Republicans retain control of the Senate.

“We’ve got a lot to do,” Ricketts told the rally, “but we can beat Ben Nelson.”

Ricketts, former chief operating officer of Ameritrade, sailed past former Attorney General Don Stenberg and former Republican State Chairman David Kramer to capture the Senate nomination.

The unity event brought together all of the major GOP primary candidates — winners and losers — to pledge support for the party’s nominees.

Osborne was on the receiving end of many of the accolades handed out at the gathering.

Heineman saluted the 3rd District congressman and former Nebraska football coach as “an extraordinary human being” who remains a statewide legend.

“Everyone in the state admires him for what he’s done,” the governor said.

Republican State Chairman Mark Quandahl told Osborne: “The entire state owes you a debt of gratitude (as) somebody to look up to as a role model.”

In an interview after the event, Hagel said he believes Osborne “will continue to make significant contributions to the state and its young people” after he leaves Congress at the end of the year and returns to Lincoln.

“Tom Osborne will continue to have a long reach across this state,” he said.

Hagel supported Heineman in his high-stakes showdown with Osborne for the gubernatorial nomination, raising money for the governor and sending staff members into the state on leave to help.

Heineman said he’s “not taking anything for granted” in his general election contest with Democratic nominee David Hahn.

“We’ll run just as hard in the general election as we did in the primary,” the governor promised.

Heineman said he doesn’t know Hahn, although they met in Wisner when they crossed paths along the campaign trail.

“He’s a very respected individual,” the governor said, “and I’m sure he’ll have plenty of ideas.”

Hagel said he’s prepared to do whatever he can to help Ricketts unseat Nelson.

In apparent reference to the criticism he has received from some Republicans upset about his disagreements with President Bush over the war in Iraq, Hagel joked: “I will stay away, whatever you want.”

Unlike Nelson, who poses as “kind of a Democrat, kind of a Republican, kind of an independent,” Hagel said, Ricketts is a conservative Republican.

Hagel said he believes Bush will journey to Nebraska to campaign for Ricketts.

“I’ll encourage the president to come,” he said.

Among nominees participating in the unity event was state Sen. Adrian Smith, who rode through the night from Gering to arrive in Lincoln at 7:15 a.m., less than an hour before the rally began.

Smith won the GOP nomination to succeed Osborne in the 3rd District.

His victory sets the stage for a rare general election showdown between two single young men for a congressional seat.

Smith, 35, will face Democratic nominee Scott Kleeb, 30, in the general election.

Osborne unsure of future

Republican voters “clearly stated their preference as to who they wanted to lead their state,” Tom Osborne said Wednesday in a brief interview.

And now the congressman and former NU football coach isn’t sure what role he wants to play in Nebraska after finishing his House term. He will, however, continue to be engaged in his Teammates youth mentoring program.

Surveying Tuesday’s GOP primary results, Osborne said he believes “very, very strong feelings” about Class I rural school reorganization and resident college tuition rates for the children of illegal immigrants cut deeply into his support in his western and central Nebraska congressional district.

Osborne declined to sign a petition seeking a referendum vote to repeal the Class I school legislation and supported the tuition bill.

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