Nebraskans are discussing a third-party run by their senator, Ben Sasse, after a Sunday Washington Post/ABC News poll revealed an unprecedented amount of dislike for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a rookie who ranks 99th in seniority, gave his maiden speech on the Senate floor in November. Normally, senators use such speeches to discuss why this or that legislation is needed. Sasse, a former college president and a historian by training (Yale Ph.D.) who has…
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska reports on the four central questions he's been getting from constituents on Iran:
Ben Sasse is projected to be the next Senator from Nebraska. This does not come as a surprise, as he appears to have won handily. However, THE WEEKLY STANDARD published the first major political profile of Sasse last summer, when he was a virtual unknown in the state.
Lexington, Neb.
The Republican Governors Association is running a new TV ad in Nebraska, attacking the Democratic candidate for governor, Chuck Hassebrook. The ad knocks Hassebrook for supporting Obamacare. Watch it below:
Ben Sasse has just won a decisive victory in the Nebraska Republican Senate primary. As of this writing, the race has been called by the Associated Press and Sasse holds a 27 point lead over his nearest competitor, with 79 percent of precincts reporting. Having clinched the primary win, early…
The New York Times is up with a story today, "Tea Party Activists See Own Groups Among Washington Adversaries," about the supposed tension between national Tea Party groups and local Tea Party activists. The lede of the piece involves an anecdote -- and I use that term loosely, as it seems to bear…
In advance of tomorrow’s Nebraska Republican Senate primary — one of the most hotly contested in the nation — Ben Sasse’s final two television ads note his opposition to Obamacare. The first begins, “Conservatives are rallying in Nebraska against Obamacare and for Ben Sasse,” and it features Sarah…
Nebraska Senate candidate Shane Osborn seems to have made a habit of, one might say, overreaching during this campaign.
Yesterday, I reported on how a super PAC -- Freedom Pioneers Action Network, started by Mitch McConnell's former campaign manager Justin Brasell -- was flooding Nebraska with outside money to take down Tea Party endorsed Senate candidate Ben Sasse. The primary is just a week away and the Sasse…
With the Nebraska Republican Senate primary a week from tomorrow, outside money is flowing into the state to take down the race's frontrunner, Midland University president Ben Sasse. And the provenance of the money attacking Sasse is especially curious--a super PAC with strong ties to senate…
Nebraska’s Republican Senate primary has long looked to be shaping up as a battle between Midland University president Ben Sasse and former state treasurer Shane Osborn. Throughout the campaign, Sasse has emphasized his determination to repeal Obamacare and fight the “Obamacare worldview,” while…
Texas senator Ted Cruz has endorsed Ben Sasse in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Nebraska. From the Sasse campaign announcement:
An excerpt from Bill Kristol's weekly newsletter:
Nebraska Senate candidate Ben Sasse has been declared "Obamacare's Nebraska Nemesis," and in a new ad Sasse explains why he's personally invested in repealing the law. In 2007, his wife Melissa had an aneurysm followed by an arduous recovery, which left his family with $160,000 in medical bills.…
In a surprising move, the influential Tea Party group FreedomWorks has withdrawn its endorsement of former Nebraska state treasurer Shane Osborn and is now endorsing former Bush administration official and Midland College president Ben Sasse in the GOP Senate primary. According to a statement from…
Nebraska Senate Candidate Shane Osborn is a former Navy Lieutenant Commander who was flying a reconnaissance mission in April of 2001 when the EP-3 aircraft he was flying was struck by a Chinese fighter plane. Osborn managed to land the plane safely, but in Chinese territory. This sparked the first…
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is mad as hell, and it’s not going to take it anymore. This is the third election cycle in a row where incumbent Republicans and the NRSC’s hand-picked candidates have faced stiff primary challenges funded by Tea Party groups. No less than Senate…
The Omaha World-Herald has two big stories up today that might impact the hotly contested Nebraska Republican Senate primary between former Bush administration official and Midland College president Ben Sasse and former state treasurer Shane Osborn.
In the latest issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD, which went online early this morning, I have an article about the Nebraska Senate race. In a nutshell, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is trying to give a boost to one of the candidates due to some disagreements with outside conservative…
Mike Lee, perhaps the United States Senate’s leading voice for a conservative reform agenda, has now endorsed Ben Sasse in Nebraska’s Senate race. Lee declared, “Nebraskans need Ben Sasse to represent their values, reformers in the Senate need his conservative vote, our country needs his voice.” …
Tom Coburn, the retiring Republican senator from Oklahoma and an influential conservative, endorsed Ben Sasse in the GOP Senate primary in Nebraska. Roll Call has the story:
There hasn't been a lot of polling in the Nebraska Republican Senate primary so far, though the four way contest to succeed retiring senator Mike Johanns has been heating up. Today, ConservativeIntel released its poll of Nebraska showing that Shane Osborn and Ben Sasse are in a dead heat:
There hasn't been a lot of polling in the Nebraska's Republican senate primary so far, though the four way contest to succeed retiring senator Mike Johanns has been heating up. Today, ConservativeIntel released its poll of Nebraska showing that Shane Osborn and Ben Sasse are in a dead heat:
There are a lot of Republican politicians who ostensibly favor the repeal of Obamacare. But there are a lot fewer who give the impression of having the ability and determination to lead the way in bringing about that nation-defining result.
The GOP Senate primary in Nebraska will be a 2014 battlefield in the hot war between the Republican establishment and the Tea Party insurgents. But at first glance, it's hard to see a casus belli.
How do you make a movie about depressing people that is not, in itself, depressing? That is the challenge that writer-director Alexander Payne sets for himself: He is the Houdini of depression, shackling himself in a narrative straitjacket of hopeless despair and then somehow magically getting…
Ben Sasse is doing what few Republicans have been able to accomplish: He's uniting the GOP establishment with anti-establishment conservatives in his bid to become the next U.S. senator from Nebraska.
The Club for Growth PAC has endorsed Ben Sasse in his bid to be the next U.S. senator from Nebraska.
While Republicans in the nation’s capital try to decide whether or not they’re committed to beating back Obamacare, a Republican Senate candidate from Nebraska is making his opposition to Obamacare the clear centerpiece of his campaign. During a speech earlier this week that officially launched…
Fremont, Nebr.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has written a letter to Chuck Hagel to ask that he open his Senate archive at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Graham, who also asks Hagel to authorize the release of past speeches organized by the Washington Speakers Bureau, believes interested parties…
Omaha, Nebraska
Nebraska senator Mike Johanns, a Republican elected in 2008, will not seek reelection in 2014. Kasie Hunt of NBC News has the scoop:
Deb Fischer of Nebraska, the state Chuck Hagel represented for many years, explains her opposition to Hagel as defense secretary:
Republican Senate candidate Deb Fischer of Nebraska has defeated her Democratic opponent, former governor and former senator Bob Kerrey, according to CBS News.
Former Nebraska senator and governor Bob Kerrey, the Democrat who is running for his old Senate seat to replace retiring Democrat Ben Nelson, said he would vote for Nevada's Harry Reid for majority leader if he is elected. Appearing on KFAB radio in Omaha Tuesday morning, Kerrey was asked if he…
Republican Senate candidate Deb Fischer of Nebraska has a new television ad out. "In Nebraska we solve problems by governing responsibly and sticking to our principles," Fischer says in the ad. "Time Washington did the same." Watch the ad below:
Deb Fischer, the Republican Senate candidate in Nebraska, is out with her campaign's first general election advertisement. The 30-second ad highlights Fischer's Nebraska values and roots, as opposed to the "out of touch" Bob Kerrey, her Democratic opponent and a former U.S. Senator. Watch the ad…
This story got me thinking about the GOP's complicated relationship with the big banks:
A new ad from Crossroads GPS is targeting Nebraska Democrat Bob Kerrey for his support for the Wall Street bailout of 2008. "Bob Kerrey supported the Wall Street bailout while serving on the board of a company that tried to exploit it," the voiceover reads. Watch the ad below:
On Tuesday night, Nebraska state senator Deb Fischer unexpectedly won the Republican primary over a better-funded establishment favorite, attorney general Jon Bruning. Folks curious to know just who Fischer is might want to watch a few her debates with her Republican primary opponents—many are…
Could Nebraska be the next state to select a conservative underdog in a Senate primary? Sixty-one year old Deb Fischer, a Nebraska state senator, had been a long-shot candidate for the GOP nomination for Senate against the better funded state attorney general, Jon Bruning, and the more well known…
Nebraska Republican attorney general Jon Bruning, the leading candidate to replace retiring Democratic senator Ben Nelson, has a new TV advertisement running statewide for the next two weeks. In the ad, Bruning touts his work as attorney general in suing the federal government over Obamacare, a…
A new poll from PPP shows Nebraska attorney general Jon Bruning, a Republican, as a clear favorite to replace retiring Democrat senator Ben Nelson in November. Former Democratic senator Bob Kerrey, who is returning to Nebraska to run for his old seat, actually performs worse against Bruning and the…
Former senator Bob Kerrey, a Democrat from Nebraska, may be regretting his decision to change his mind and run for his old Senate seat, given this latest poll from Rasmussen showing him behind his possible Republican opponents by double digits: