OMAHA — With Mike Fahey focused like a laser on Omaha’s next big project, a 2008 Senate race isn’t visible on his radar screen.

Sure, he’ll give Democratic leaders the courtesy of considering a Senate bid.

“But it’s unlikely I’ll change my mind,” Omaha’s mayor said Wednesday.

“I love my job here.  I have an extremely full plate.  And I’ve told everyone that, including those in Washington.”

After a number of conversations with New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Fahey said, he agreed to “think it over for 4 to 6 weeks.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also has urged Fahey to enter the Senate hunt.

Nebraska Democrats had been counting on former Sen. Bob Kerrey to return to the state and carry their banner into the 2008 scrap for Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel’s open seat.  

When Kerrey decided to remain in New York and continue to serve as president of New School University, Democratic eyes quickly turned to Fahey, the two-term mayor with demonstrated political clout in Nebraska’s largest city.

If — or perhaps when — Fahey pulls the plug, Democrats next will knock on the door of Scott Kleeb in Hastings.  As the 3rd District congressional nominee in 2006, he attracted considerable attention, including a campaign trip to Nebraska by President Bush to help secure the traditional Republican House seat.

Sitting at one end of the conference table in his third-floor office in the downtown Civic Center on Wednesday morning, Fahey had other priorities in mind.

* A brand new ballpark near Qwest Center Omaha on the north edge of downtown, built to secure the College World Series for the next 20 years and spur economic activity in what’s been branded the NoDo district.

* An initiative to combat gun and gang violence.  

* A program to address the homeless.

* New police and fire contracts.

* Improvements in older neighborhoods.

The baseball park and NoDo are Omaha’s newest glamour projects.

“It would be exciting to be a part of it,” said Fahey, whose term extends to the spring of 2009, when he might seek re-election.

“I like this job a lot,” he said.  “I’ve been very fortunate to serve during this period of time.”

Omaha has been transformed during the last decade by more than $2 billion in downtown and riverfront development, with more hundred-million-dollar projects already under way.

The next mega-project for Fahey is the proposed 23,600-seat downtown baseball park.

“I want to get this issue settled,” he said.  

“The driving force is to secure a long-term agreement with the NCAA to keep the College World Series here.”

Fahey believes only a new ballpark, rather than improvements at aging Rosenblatt Stadium, can meet the NCAA’s requirements for a modern CWS site.

Omaha has hosted the event since 1950.

At stake for Omaha in retaining the NCAA event is a billion dollars in economic impact over 20 years, Fahey said.  

Fahey’s proposal to help fund a new stadium with the proceeds from a 2 percent entertainment taxhas been “rather controversial,” the mayor said with a smile.

That levy would be applied to restaurant meals and drinks, and perhaps to some entertainment ticket sales.

“All options are on the table,” he said, short of a property tax hike.

As Omaha wrestles with the ballpark proposal, its neighbor 50 miles down Interstate 80 is on the cusp of making its own decisions about a proposed new arena in the Haymarket.

Any thoughts from the mayor of a city that already has traveled that route?

“My advice to Lincoln is to get started early,” Fahey said.

“There’s a lot of competition.”

Fahey said he believes “it would be a good thing for the state to have an additional attraction” in Lincoln.

“All our successes have come through private-public partnerships,” Fahey advised.  Qwest Center Omaha is a prime example.

Omaha’s arena has “exceeded all our expectations,” he said, and has served as a catalyst for downtown development.

Whereas Omaha publicly funded the Qwest Center arena and convention center, as well as the attached Hilton Omaha hotel, Lincoln is considering public funding only for an arena with private financing of a convention center and accompanying hotel.

Although Fahey didn’t originally envision seeking any state tax breaks to help Omaha finance a new ballpark, he said, he’s beginning to think it “might be helpful.”

And it may make sense to collaborate with Lincoln as it considers whether to request state tax breaks to help fund its new arena, Fahey said.

“There might be some advantages to that.  Intuitively, it makes sense to work with more senators.”

Gov. Dave Heineman has been “pretty tight-fisted,” Fahey said, “but these kind of investments have long-term positive economic impact that we should consider.”

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