Brandishing a survey of likely Republican voters taken last week, Attorney General Jon Bruning said Monday he ran 9 points ahead of Sen. Chuck Hagel in a 2008 GOP Senate primary matchup.

Bruning led by 47 percent to 38 percent.

The poll of 404 Republicans, conducted by Bruning’s pollster, Dresner, Wickers and Associates of San Francisco, was summarily  dismissed by a spokesman for Hagel.

“With his record of credibility, we don’t put much stock in ‘polls’ Jon Bruning pays his pollster to produce,” said Hagel’s political director, Kevin Chapman.

At about the same time, Bruning was telling a telephone news conference Nebraskans are “very troubled” by Hagel’s criticism of President Bush and his support for legislation calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq

Bruning said Hagel favors “a strict troop withdrawal deadline.” The Senate legislation Hagel has supported proposes a non-binding timeline for phased withdrawal of most U.S. troops by the end of March 2008.

Monday’s Republican firefight provided a precursor of what could develop into a battle royal next spring.

The attorney general is preparing to mount a primary challenge to Hagel if the senator seeks re-election in 2008.

“But I am leaving room for hedge,” Bruning said.  In the end, he said, it’s possible he might not be a candidate although he’s raising money, traveling the state and organizing now for a possible Senate bid.

Chapman questioned Bruning’s political convictions.

“When Bill Clinton was president and the Democrats controlled  Congress, Jon Bruning was a card-carrying, pro-choice, pro-tax Democrat,” Chapman said. “After a Republican Congress was elected in 1994, he transformed himself into a pro-life, anti-tax Republican.”

Nebraskans will not vote for “a chameleon,” Chapman said.

In contrast to the attorney general, Chapman said, Hagel has compiled one of the most conservative voting records in the Senate over the past 10 years.

Hagel has said he’ll announce later this year whether he will seek re-election, pursue the presidency or leave elective office at the end of next year.

In poll results released by Bruning, 55 percent of respondents said the country has “seriously gotten off the wrong track,” and the war in Iraq was identified as the problem of most concern.

But there was no data on whether respondents support the president’s Iraq war policies, whether they endorse the surge of additional troops or whether they favor withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Voter opinion on Iraq policy was not the purpose of the survey, Bruning said.

“My support for Iraq policy is not based on a poll,” he said. The United States, he said, needs to stay in Iraq “until we can win.”

Bruning led Hal Daub, former Omaha mayor and former 2nd District congressman, by 55 percent to 16 percent in a second Republican matchup in the survey.

The poll did not measure support for Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, the former two-term governor, Bruning said. So far, Johanns has indicated no interest in a Senate bid if Hagel decides not to seek re-election.

Bruning said his lead over Hagel was substantial in western and central Nebraska’s conservative 3rd District, which always serves as “the bellwether” in Republican primary contests.

When respondents were told Hagel is “voting with liberal Democrats” on Iraq and that he has “suggested publicly that impeachment of President Bush is an option,” they chose Bruning by a 55 percent to 31 percent margin in the poll.

Reminded that Gov. Dave Heineman has expressed his continuing support for Hagel, Bruning said: “Maybe that’s the payback for the governor’s election, but I don’t think so.”

In the end, Bruning said, he doubted Heineman could support Hagel’s position on Iraq or in raising the question of impeachment.

Hagel endorsed Heineman in his 2006 GOP gubernatorial contest with former Rep. Tom Osborne.

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