Nebraska
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8:20 p.m.
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Friends: On Monday, I filed as a candidate to be the next State Senator for Lincoln's Legislative District 27. Sorry I didn't get around to posting about this sooner, but I'm already learning the hard way just how little time devoting myself entirely to this campaign is going to leave for leisurely activities like blogging about Nebraska politics. Since I can't take the time readers deserve...
New Nebraska Network - Wed 4:07 a.m. - 8 clicks 
In what would have been an almost certain loss of a Senate seat this fall, it appears that there may be good news coming out of Nebraska..... ...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Mon 10:03 a.m. - 6 clicks
The biggest economic news in the last few weeks has been the swift and sudden rise in gasoline prices. Here in Lincoln, gas prices have gone up around 50 cents per gallon in the last 30 to 60 days. Economists are telling us that gas prices will probably go up to $4.00 per gallon and they may even rise to $5.00 per gallon. If the usual economic laws of supply and demand were app...
New Nebraska Network - Mon 9:04 a.m. - 7 clicks
Last year, the Nebraska Republican Party drew a firm line in the sand with State Senators, committing that they would "not support in any manner" those who refused to buckle to the party's demand that the state change its electoral college vote to winner-take-all. This unprecedented partisan strong-arming in our nonpartisan legislature is sure to have had a role in Sen. Brad Ashford's de...
New Nebraska Network - Mon 9:04 a.m. - 5 clicks
Earlier today, University of Nebraska Regent Chuck Hassebrook announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. In his announcement, Hassebrook said that he would stand up against "rich and powerful interests" if elected to the U.S. Senate. The Democratic Senate candidate (correctly) contended that that middle-class Americans are being ignored by a Washington, D.C. that cares more about providi...
New Nebraska Network - Mon 9:04 a.m. - 7 clicks
ActBlue Nebraska is BACK!!! And, it needs your help to make sure our best candidates have the support they need to win in November as we continue to build a new Nebraska. Please contribute what you can in money and in your time. In launching his campaign for the U.S. Senate, Chuck Hassebrook promised to stand up against "rich and powerful interests" - drawing a stark contra...
New Nebraska Network - Mon 9:04 a.m. - 6 clicks
Today's Lincoln Journal-Star reported that Jon Bruning, Don "Quixote" Stenberg and Deb Fischer won't name their preferred Republican Presidential candidate. Responding to a Journal-Star email survey, the three leading Republican Senatorial hopefuls said they're not endorsing anyone in a volatile Republican fight that appears unsettled with four candidates still standing. I can't say I blam...
New Nebraska Network - Mon 9:04 a.m. - 4 clicks
On February 17, 2012, Senator Ben Nelson (and Representative Adrian Smith) voted with bipartisan majorities for a bill that extends the payroll tax cut for another year, extends long-term unemployment benefits and blocks a scheduled 27% cut in Medicare payments to doctors. The legislation passed by a 60-36 margin in the Senate and a 293-132 margin in the House. This legislation rep...
New Nebraska Network - Mon 9:04 a.m. - 6 clicks
The big talk in Nebraska politics over the last thirty days has been speculation that former Senator Bob Kerrey may throw his hat in the ring and run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Ben Nelson. Kerrey has recently said that he expects to announce a decision sometime next week. Obviously, Kerrey's decision will have huge ramifications for Nebraska's political scene t...
New Nebraska Network - Mon 9:04 a.m. - 6 clicks
Eventually, if a person really stands for something, there comes a time to quit talking and lay it all on the line for that in which you believe. For close to seven years, I've been "talking" on NNN ( "computer-assisted pontificating" is probably more exact ). In my own little way, this series has been my attempt to take what I've learned from that experience ( so far ) and translate i...
New Nebraska Network - Mon 9:04 a.m. - 3 clicks
The ALEC-inspired attempt to introduce a voter-ID ( read voter suppression) bill in the Nebraska legislature is being countered by a threatened filibuster from progressive senators. But while no one was looking, the Douglas County Election Commission decided to halve the number of polling stations and poll workers. ...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Sun 8:08 p.m. - 6 clicks
Joke stolen from jeffmd For any who may be reading this series for the first time : this is a thought experiment where I try to see what would happen if the size of the House of Representatives were doubled to 870 members from 435. And yes, I know Republicans have the trifecta in Nebraska and there's split control in Missouri. This entire series is theoretical to begin with, gimme a break...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 10
We will begin with the Senator. The Weather/Dam info has been updated from last nights diary. Senator Ben Nelson is stressed about the two nuclear plants in his State of Nebraska. Dam Report. THE LETTER In a letter today , Senator Ben Nelson expressed his concern regarding a statement made by a representative of the US Army Corp of Engineers in charge of the Missouri River floodin...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 2 clicks
Sen. Ben Nelson (D) Via Politico : Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska will announce today that he is retiring after two terms, a serious blow to Democratic efforts to hold onto their majority in the chamber next November. Nelson is scheduled to hold a press conference back home in Nebraska as early as today to make his decision official, said several Democratic insiders close to t...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 2 clicks
At last! Someone realizes the turmoil is taking place in Nebraska over the TransCanada. And that it completely undercuts the political garbage that is getting spewed out of the Republicans in Washington. ...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 2 clicks
The radicals, i.e. town meeting attendees, were out in force in Nebraska yesterday, asking one of their senators, Republican Mike Johanns, for just a little bit of sanity . It was not forthcoming. As the Lincoln Journal Star reported, “many of the loudest voices and waving fingers urged Johanns to include tax increases — particularly applied to the wealthiest Americans — as part of the sol...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 2 clicks
Another Nebraska Republican is joining the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline, the planned conduit from Canada's tar sands fields to refineries in Texas. Last week, Republican Gov. Dave Heineman wrote to President Obama and Sec. of State Hillary Clinton in opposition to the pipeline, which could potentially endanger the state's Ogallala Aquifer, a critical water source for the state's...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 3 clicks
I know that Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson isn't real popular around DKos, but - speaking as a Nebraskan - I'm hoping everyone will take a good, hard look at the dangerous extremism that's our only real alternative in the 2012 election. Earlier today, the blogger Ronaldo of New Nebraska Network posted a great diary featuring the following local TV news interview with state Attorney Genera...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 2 clicks
The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant in Nebraska looked like this on Friday: Early Sunday morning, Ft. Calhoun's Protective Aqua Dam, installed on June 6th, 2011, collapsed. The aqua berm is also termed aqua dam. It's the donut looking thing surrounding the plant now. The 2,000-foot aqua berm collapsed about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, allowing the swollen river to surround two buildings at t...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 3 clicks
I previously did a diary about what maps I thought we should have drawn for Illinois and Arkansas. Now, I'll critique the GOP's map-drawing in Indiana, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. Because the Obama-McCain numbers don't accurately reflect Oklahoma's political landscape, I calculated numbers from the 2004 Tom Coburn-Brad Carson Senate race, which Coburn won 53-41. For Nebraska, the...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 3 clicks
As director of pipeline outreach for Bold Nebraska , I am often asked to give a summary of why the Keystone XL pipeline is a bad idea. I usually outline a list of concerns, including the threat to the Ogallala aquifer, the mistreatment of landowners by TransCanada, the illogical economics of oil-supply bottleneck-breaking and the lack of appropriate pipeline regulations. Finding rea...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 2 clicks
This diary is of three maps I did of three small states, Nebraska, Maine, and New Hampshire, which did not warrant stand alone diaries. Since each state has 2-3 districts there is only so much you can do with each from a partisan perspective. Each state was gerrymandered from a different partisan perspective. ...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 2 clicks
Or so I am told by Republicans and TEA Partiers. This is certainly not a new theme by the American Republican Party. They have been throwing this label at Liberals for years and it ramped up soon after 9/11. I have been extensively blogging on McCook Gazette's web page for years. I lived in McCook for four years and it became a home to me. So when the opportunity came t...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 2 clicks
What could go wrong? Nothing, they say, What went wrong? It's still raining , a neighborhood legally blew up a levee causing a 2 or 3 inch surge of water to flow into the Missouri River, and yet another levee failed . Omaha is pumping water back into the River. I wonder if you can still see the hammer. Anyone near there want to snap a photo? "Making money"? &nbs...;
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 2 clicks
Randy Thompson is a landowner fighting to protect his legacy, his heritage, his economic activity and his grandkids' clean drinking water. He is at the heart of our pipeline efforts in Nebraska and the man behind over 25 locally organized I Stand with Randy events that took place across our state, including one where we circled Gov. Heineman's mansion to " Shine a Light " on h...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Feb 6 - 2 clicks
Earlier today I posted my prediction that the Democrats would barely hold on to the Senate. Ben Nelson of Nebraska must have seen my analysis, because he's hanging it up . The 70-year-old conservative Democrat, whose seat is being heavily targeted by Republicans in 2012, said in a statement that “while I relish the opportunity to undertake the work that lies ahead, I also feel it’s time for m...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Dec 27 - 3 clicks
From the New Nebraska Network : This spring, I attended a forum hosted by the Nebraska Department of Insurance on the state's implementation of the 2010 health care reform bill. Our Republican Governor Dave Heineman sat in the back of the UNL Student Union's ballroom throughout the presentation by two young policy analysts - Michael Sciullo and John Paul Sabby - who were hired by th...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Nov 1 - 2 clicks
As top Pennsylvania Republicans openly explore splitting their state's electoral votes by congressional district in order to benefit Republican candidates for president, Nebraska Republicans are working to move to a winner-take-all distribution of their state's electoral votes in order to benefit Republican candidates for president: The Nebraska Republican Party is showing a startling ne...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Sep 14
Nebraska has already completed its redistricting and it ended up changing very little despite the Nebraska 2nd having an only marginally Republican PVI. There was some attempt to gerrymander precincts in Sarpy county so as to make the 2nd as Republican as possible given that it contained all of Douglas county (Omaha). That is the problem though. Douglas county is almost an entire congressional...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Sep 11 - 5 clicks
Gov. Dave Heineman This is big news for the large coalition of groups, and individuals, fighting the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Nebraska's Republican governor has written a letter urging President Obama and Sec. of State Clinton to reject a pending permit application for the pipeline. Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman (R) urged President Obama on Wednesday to reject a pending permit app...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Aug 31 - 2 clicks
..." CHICAGO -- The Republican governor of Nebraska on Wednesday urged President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to deny a federal permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, citing concerns for water supplies in his state. While Gov. Dave Heineman said in a letter to the pair that he is "not opposed to pipelines" in general, he is against this one "because it is directly...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Aug 31 - 3 clicks
Add metaphors to the list of things at which Republicans really, really suck : Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, a frontrunner to win the GOP nomination against Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), compared poor people to scavenging racoons in a speech this week. […] "The raccoons figured out the beetles are in the bucket," Bruning said. "And its like grapes in a jar. The raccoons - they're no...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Aug 9 - 2 clicks
Today, Crossroads GPS reached out to me through a Youtube Video , asking me to contact Sherrod Brown about the problem of reckless spending. It's not just Senator Brown being targeted. There are videos for Missouri , Florida , Montana , and Nebraska as well. So I did, below the fold. ...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Jul 30
I am surprised that nobody in Nebraska got shot during the winter of 1890-91. In fact, a few people may have; probably it just never made the papers. The cause of the potential violence was politics. On Tuesday November 4, 1890, the Republicans and Democrats spilt seven seats in the state senate and forty-six seats in the house. But every other seat, eighteen in the senate and fifty-four in the ...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Jul 24 - 4 clicks
So I was sitting in my front room catching up on my reading and I get a phone call to take part in a Town Hall with my House Representative(Jeff Fortenberry-Rep, 1st district,Nebraska). Except for the city of Lincoln, this is a pretty conservative district-the last time it went Democratic was 1964. I say this because these weren't liberals storming a town hall: we were called a...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Jul 13
Senator Ben Nelson is stressed about the two nuclear plants in his State of Nebraska. Dam Report. THE LETTER In a letter today , Senator Ben Nelson expressed his concern regarding a statement made by a representative of the US Army Corp of Engineers in charge of the Missouri River flooding, specifically the Corps stated "Nebraska's two nuclear plants aren't being factored into the Army...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Jun 29
The newspaper in Omaha has been doing what it can to reassure Nebraskans that the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant remains safely in cold shut-down and under control, even though the facility now sits in the Missouri River, twenty miles upstream from the city. In a story this week, the paper identified "a few good cards to draw from" for public safety, during the flood danger at the plant becaus...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Jun 29
Today, forest fires forced evacuation of the town of Los Alamos and closure of the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory in New Mexico. With two Nebraska nuclear power plants threatened by Missouri River flooding, and the ongoing emergency at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, U.S. nuclear experts are now monitoring four concurrent nuclear crises. To my knowledge, this is unprecedented in U.S. history a...
DailyKos (Nebraska) - Jun 27 - 4 clicks
