I have focused on Ben Nelson, and the Cornhusker Kickback, repeatedly. The big question was whether Nelson would run for reelection, with the Democrats hoping he would as the best chance of keeping the seat.
It turns out he is retiring, 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 the leadership.
Updates to follow:
Former Senator Bob Kerrey has not ruled out a run on the Democratic side if Nelson retired, but he has had a rocky road since leaving office, including a run as President of the ultra-liberal New School in New York City. His tenure there may not hurt him as much as expected, as he ultimately left after butting heads with the even more liberal faculty and student body, as I reported back in April 2009.
Here’s the Farewell to Ben video created by a Legal Insurrection reader and physician in Nebraska which I ran on December 8:
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Comments
“Nelson is scheduled to hold a press conference” where he will undoubtedly inform us of his newfound desire to spend more time with his family. A desire which will be contagious this year, particularly amongst House Democrats. Nice to see a Senator pack it in without a fight though.
What number does this take the total to in the Obamacare political body count?
I’m from NE and the old coot knew he couldn’t win here again.
if i recal correctly didnt kerry get medal of honor ad wasnt there some controversy surrounding it
Good riddance! Unfortunately, there will probably be another crooked politician to replace him.
[…] UPDATE: A Ben Nelson farewell video. […]
I would liked to have seen him get beat, badly for his voted for Obamacare.
The GOP should not take Nelson’s seat for granted. A year ago, it was a foregone conclusion McCaskill would lose her seat in nearby Missouri.
Instead, we have three mediocre Republicans who are running in a primary – none of whom are able to raise much money to fund their campaign. The last story I read several weeks ago indicated one of them had only raised about $100,000 and another just under $300,000. The third guy is a businessman who has never held elected office before (he’s the only one making significant media buys so far – presumably he is self funding – but it’s not helping. McCaskill crushes him in recent polls).
Only one of the GOPers polls marginally better than McCaskill. That is former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman. But Rasmussen only rates her as a +2 favorite – essentially a statistical tie.
If the national Republican apparatus does not dump several million into this race, then McCaskill is likely to keep her seat. She has the dough and a big network in Kansas City and St. Louis, the two Democrats strongholds in the state.
I don’t know where Charlie Cook has the race, but as things stand now, at best it looks like it’s a virtual toss up depending on who the GOP nominee is. Throw in her advantage of incumbency, name recognition, editorial board cheerleading from the Kansas City Star and the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and the standard amount of Democrat voter fraud, and her seat may even lean Democrat.
It was unthinkable she would retain her seat shortly after Obamacare passed and Missourians voted down the idea of a health insurance mandate by a margin of 29/71.
NE Governor is quite popular (if he decided to run) while the Democrat bench in NE is pretty thin. Kerry? Like Nelson, he’s getting long in the tooth and will he want to have a long, nasty fight like Ben was up against?
If a socialist gets beat up by Marxists, is that an honor? Is that a reason to support Kerry? I’m not as bad as those darn OWS marxists and anarchists? Cripes.
[…] you haven’t heard the news yet, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and the Cornhusker Kickback is retiring. There’s no other explanation for it than Nelson realizing he’s about to get […]
EVERY demonrat that crammed and rammed that disgusting PO$ “health”care bill on December 24th 2009 down America’s throats needs to be evicted from the the Senate!
Bill Nelson
Ben Nelson
Jon Tester
Claire Mschakill
Bob Casey
etc….
I was still a registed democrat then in 2009, I remember calling so many of these jerks asking them why they would vote for this PO$ bill, asking them please do this in steps, not this massive expansion of the federal govt’s power, a bill they had no clue what was in it, not even read the freaking piece of crap legislation!
And yet these cowards all voted for it! EVICT THEM ALL IN 2012!!!!!!!!!!
Lets not get too cocky. Remember the NJ Senatorial race in in 2002? Robert Torricelli was in deep doo-doo and Doug Forrester was ready to measure the office drapes when things went bad. Torricelli left the race one month before the polls (due to corruption charges) and the NJ DNC inserted a dinosaur named Frank Lautenberg on the ballor. The law stated one thing (the DNC should of been SOL) but the liberal NJ court had other ideas. A potential pickup for the GOP slipped by their fingers.
Well, bye.
[…] Here’s a farewell Ben Nelson […]
I wonder how the chumps feel who flooded the airwaves with pro-Nelson ads for the past month? One of the best parts of his retirement may be that I don’t have to hear that nonsense for the next 11 months.
On that note, I’m looking forward to January 4, when the ad buys aimed at Iowa caucus voters are over. It’s mostly Rick Perry “personal story” ads, which are tedious.