Hagel Meets His Match - June 6, 2007 - The New York Sun
The attorney general of Nebraska, Jon Bruning, stopped by our office yesterday to let us know that tomorrow he will announce he will challenge Senator Hagel in the Republican primary, which is in May of 2008. A poll conducted for Mr. Bruning shows him leading Mr. Hagel among likely Republican primary voters by 9 percentage points. Mr. Bruning assails Mr, Hagel for being, “The Republican that talks like a Democrat,” pointing to Mr. Hagel’s support for a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq, as well as his discussion of impeaching President Bush. “He’s become arrogant and out of touch,” Mr. Bruning said. “His constituent services are very poor.”
Watch the Bush/RINO machine go to work to stop Bruning in the primary, as they have done elsewhere.
Submit to Stumbled Upon!
Bill, if you hear when he gets a campaign site, let me know so I can send him some money. Since I live in TX, that’s all I can do.
Here you go, SDN.
I think I’m going to have to create a page that permits support, financial and otherwise, for candidates that meet some generally accepted conservative/libertarian criteria.
A flood of contributions to Mr. Bruning would send an unmistakable message to the RINOs. I already promised him one after he announces.
If Chuck Hagel’s constituent services are indeed “poor,” as the attorney general says, a strong primary challenger will get immediate traction. In a state the size of Nebraska, the word gets around if constituents think you’re blowing them off. It will be that factor, more than Hagel’s delusions of grandeur, that could sink him.
Being from Nebraska, most of the people I have talked to, who lean to the right, would like to see Hagel go. Last I heard though (a couple months back), the Nebraskan Republican Party still supported Hagel. However, that could change with Bruning throwing his hat in the ring. He has some name recognition and Hagel has a whole bunch of bad name recognition.
Politics are a weird thing in NE, it has been my experience that generally it is considered impolite to discuss them in both public and private gatherings. If they are brought up accidentally, even among people of the same general political persuasion, the subject is quickly changed.
At the place I work now (last 4.5 years), I can think of only one instance were a political discussion was started (over Iraq war). It was pretty short, everyone made there position known and then the subject was changed. Politics are usually only discussed in detail in groups of two people. More than two, and then it is considered bad taste and/or preaching to the choir.
At least Nebraska has a conservative ready to challenge a RINO. In a lot of states, conservatives need to take charge of local and state party offices to recruit conservative candidates, and make a real effort to get them elected.
Consider California last year, with Feinstein running for re-election. The best the party could do was a guy who had no rallies, no organization, no speeches, and whose sole expenditure was placing a message on his home anwering machine.
Granted, defeating Feinstein was a steep uphill battle, but at least make a reasonable effort with a credible candidate. That’s not going to happen until conservatives take over the grass roots.