NEBRASKA BLUE

What did you think of yesterday’s Senate debate between Kleeb and Raimondo? Did either candidate sway you? Floor is open !

Richard Carter one of two Democratic candidates for Congress from Omaha ambushed his opponent Jim Esch yesterday.

Carter Campaign Lets Us Down With Drug Testing Pseudo-Scandal

http://newnebraska.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=962

I’ll let the good post and comments on NNN serve up this story.

I will add that this is a pretty juvenile attempt by Rich Carter to embarass Jim Esch,
and it seriously calls into question his judgement as a leader.

Another point I would like to clarify for the readers here, is the fact that even though Richard was called a “Soldier” by the Reader in it’s article on him, he is NOT a soldier.
Mr. Carter is and was an Electronic Warfare Officer first in the US Air Force and now in the Air Force Reserve at Offutt AFB.

His “Tours” in the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan consisted of cruising over those countries at 35,000 feet while ACTUALLY being stationed nowhere NEAR either country, more likely flying daily out of Qatar, in an Electronic Warfare Plane.

His Service while admirable does not give him any special insight on the war as it fought on the ground. Indeed he in all likelyhood got his news and formed his opinions the same way someone here in the US could have, in the papers and by watching the news.
While sitting at the local TGI Fridays sipping a cold beer on Al-Udeid Air base in Qatar.

Regardless of his claims, you don’t see anything “first Hand” from flying over a country
at 35,000 feet.

And his claim as follows -

“No issue has come up more than the War in Iraq; an issue, as a Veteran of the United States Air Force who flew combat reconaissance missions over Iraq and Afghanistan, I am uniquely equipped to lead on.”

Is BULL…….

Real Leaders don’t pull cheap shots on their opponents…

There will be a Debate THIS saturday between Scott kleeb and Tony Raimondo at the State Theatre in Lincoln 1415 O st. The Debate starts at 1 pm, and is free to come watch.
It will be televised on KLKN Channel 8 also. There will be a meet and greet starting at 12 pm free to Lancaster County Democrats, or you can join for $30.

Should be an intersting afternoon.

Read more here… (the Times for the debate, are WRONG in the newsletter).
http://www.lancastercountydemocrats.org/newsletter/0804_news.pdf

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That same newsletter has some really good articles explaining the positions of some of the local folks running for office in Lincoln, and statewide. You can read all about Vern Barrett, Ken Haar, Dan Marvin, Nancy Intermill, Barbara Baier.

And Mayor Chris Beutler and Sen Bill Avery talk about Amendment one.
All very good reading if you want to be well informed about important issues and
learn who your candidates are, this election year.

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ALSO after the debate, Nebraska for Obama is holding a meet and greet with Jane Kleeb
(Scott Kleeb’s wife) at ZEN’s lounge 122 N 11th St (roughly 2 pm to 5 pm ).
Other notable Democrats will be there, and I have heard a rumor of a “Special Guest"..
YOU SHOULD COME TO IT!!!!

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The Omaha Reader has a good story up about Jim Esch and Richard Carter, who are running
for Congress against Republican Lee Terry, who is darn scared right now that he might lose,
especially if his complete lack of doing anything at all over his 10 years in office gets
talked about by the voters.

http://www.thereader.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1204764429&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3&

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Nebraska for Obama had a PA election night returns watch party at Libations on Tuesday,
and those that attended were lucky enough to get to meet Max Yashirin, the bright
young man running against Jeff “The Hairdo” Fortenberry for Congress.

Max’s campaign got a big boost when Former Senator and Govenor Bob Kerry signed on
to help as Campaign financial manager.

All I can say about Max is that he is down to earth, honest and hard working and Nebraska
would be much better suited with him representing us rather than Jeff Fortenberry who
is ranked as one of the most Ineffective Congressmen in Washington. Max is a Veteran that served in Iraq with the US Marine Corps also, so he has an insiders view if the Iraq war.

You can read more about Max - here http://www.maxcongress.com/

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Finally - here’s a message from Vic Covalt, (worth repeating)
the Lancaster County Dem Party Volunteer Coordinator.

Hi Fellow Democratic Activists:

As you know, the real work of our New Democratic Party is to help elect great candidates to public office for better government. Here is a chance to help continue the movement of the caucuses. We need help with getting out the vote for the Primary Election on Tuesday, May 13, 2008.

The Lancaster County Democratic Party sent more than 10,000 applications for vote by mail ballots to Democratic voters throughout Lancaster County. With the many pieces of mail people receive, it is essential that we find volunteers to make follow up phone calls. The follow up calls will only be going to identified democrats reminding them of the mailing. If it was lost or misplaced, then encourage them to stop by the Election Commissioner’s office for another one, or to remember to go to the polls. We will get you a list of candidates and script to follow.

You can make calls from our new offices at 2215 C Street from 6-8 pm on Monday, Wednesday or Thursdays. Or we can send you a list to you so you can call from home.

If we get enough volunteers, it will reduce the number of calls each of us will be making in our neighborhoods. So please say you will help by sending me a reply to this email. (Your “Reply” is very important, as I want to make sure these emails are getting through.)

The post-Primary Party will be held at Dugan’s Pub at 440 So. 11th St. I hope to see you there!

And come to the JJ Exon Senate Debate between Tony Raimondo and Scott Kleeb on April 26, 2008 at 1 pm. A free reception for LCDP paid members will be held at noon so guarantee your spot by coming early. ($40.00 for non-members; Memberships are $30 and may be purchased at the door).

Let’s Continue the Conversation.

Vic Covalt
LCDP Volunteer Coordinator

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AND FINALLY - don’t forget!!! The May 13th Primary is VERY important!!
You get to vote for local people, and bond issues as well as Amendment one.
COme on people, get fired up!!! AND VOTE!!!

Enjoy the nice weather..

Paul

Here’s Scott Kleeb’s TV ad that will be running in Lincoln, Omaha and
the tri cities starting tomorrow. Thanks to the NDP for linking to them.

Next up Tony..

And then we have our new Chickenhawk award winner Tony Raimondo with his new
and improved ad…

Nice suit, red tie… and customary right wing Bush supporter Flag lapel
pin like all good GOP war supporters.

Wow, strong message, all patriotic and such… right up until you remember this
guy was supporting GWB and all his associated GOP agenda blunders, including the war up until a few months ago.

Sorry Tony using the flag and some fake troops as a prop,
won’t wipe away your own history of supporting the war, and George Bush’s policies.
You STILL look pretty darn Republican to me…

Perhaps someone will be kind enough to tell your little mercenary campaign manager Eric Fought that this ad stinks like a skunk in church.

Mainly for this reason, Tony has no history of serving his country in the Armed Forces
nor has anyone in his family served. Politicians that wrap themselves in the flag
and use troops as props yet never carried a rifle themselves, well veterans call em Chickenhawks…. Pro war for everyone else to go fight and win, well except them and their kids.

I have a few other points about Tony, follow along after the jump..

Read more! »

Yeah there is sniper fire going on alright…

Coming out of hillary’s OWN MOUTH…

Better duck everyone… another hot incoming round
of GROSS and BALD FACED LIES just whizzed past your neck.

God forbid, one of these should actually hit you and you
start believing her crap.

The best way to FIX Washington…. ridicule these
Elitist, lying bags of wind for what they REALLY are.

There’s lots of spin, and finger pointing going on right now about Obama
talking about people in PA being bitter.

Regardless of the various points of view and pokes all the vairous sides have taken in this latest BS media encouraged dustup is this one true piece of truth.

Today all over America there are many people that are bitter about the people in Washington DC that no longer seem to listen to the people of this country or care about them.

As for me, well yes I am bitter for those same reasons, and then some.

BUT, Instead of sitting and stewing about it, I decided to get engaged in changing the status quo. Stopping the never ending “More of the same” politicians we seem to get every election cycle.

So that’s it….. for here, and in PA and everywhere else in the United States.

You can sit there and be bitter, or you can vote for and support change.

Scott Kleeb continues to travel all over Nebraska meeting people, and building support from the grass roots, he spoke at a bowling party sponsored by Lincoln for Obama last night
at Madsen’s in Lincoln. As always Scott spent a lot of time just speaking one on one with the Obama supporters here listening to their views on what is important to them.

Everywhere he goes people are truly warming up to Scott as he plainly shows them
(in Person) that there is a different kind of candidate out there.

So I would call Scott’s chances still up and rising.

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His opponent Tony Raimondo however has a different view of campaigning for Nebraskan’s votes. Tony whipped out his checkbook and bought himself a slick new ad running on TV
in the Lincoln and Omaha area, showing him as a wonderful businessman and leader.
It’s a well done ad on the surface, right up to the point where you figure out that all
the people he shows in the ad are employee’s of HIS company, and a lot of them are
REPUBLICANS, who can’t vote for him in the primary. I have another view of Tony up on another Blog here on Blue… go there for more info. The Comments from the Journal Star’s comment section on his ad pretty much sums up Tony’s run…

Surprise, another bored businessman with a sense of entitlement, running TV ads. Really, who would vote for this guy? He has to realize he has no shot.

” If it talks like a Republican, works like a Republican, and has always been (until a few months ago) a Republican, I am pretty sure it is a Republican, irregardless of what it wants to call it self. I hope my fellow Democrats see right through you, Tony. I don’t care if he is friends with Ben Nelson, Mr. Raimondo will not represent the interests of NE democrats if elected. “

I am calling this farse the “Ricketts Campaign Part II” because just like back in 2006
we have a guy with a ton of money but no substance asking people to vote for him.

Ok so for Tony we call it down, mainly for the above reasons and the fact that it will
take more people than he employs to get him a win, and that’s about all the supporters
he has in Nebraska right now.

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Lee Terry is running scared of his Democratic opponents Jim Esch and Richard Carter.

http://newnebraska.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=881

Considering Lee’s record of doing nothing in DC all these years is coming home to haunt him.
And the fact that he won his last race by a thin margin, and the state and nantional GOP
party is providing him with darn little help, yeah Lee is worried.

Dave has a really good read on Lee:

Lee Terry is frightened that he might lose this race. He’s frightened because in his 10 years in office, he has done nothing for the people of Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. He has taken the people of Omaha, Bellevue, Papillion, and LaVista for granted. He has shown a complete lack of leadership, and indeed an aversion to the responsibility of leadership.

I had an opportunity last year to speak with Lee Terry in one of my political science classes. He was asked by one student what was different about being in the minority as opposed to the majority. His response was telling; A quote that I wish I had documentation for, because it so encapsulates his philosophy of government. “Being in the minority,” he said, “frees you from the responsibility to lead.”

The responsibility to lead. Fitting for a five-term Congressman without any legislative accomplishments. No wonder he’s scared.

Both Jim Esch and Richard Carter look to have a great chance to send Lee packing home from DC in the fall.

Between the two, I would call an edge in this race for Jim Esch since Rich is a relative
unknown while Jim has more name recognition. Either one would be an excellent replacement for Mr. Terry who’s record is plainly pretty lame.

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Let see who else should be scared…

Well first up there is Mikey Johanns, who’s record of actually doing anything in DC as AG Secretary except steer big bucks to the Agribusinesses is non existant.
But WAIT!!! Mikey was ninth in line to be president (GOD FORBID)..

http://newnebraska.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=846

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Jeff Fortenberry is probably the most comfortable of the current GOP incumbents
as his Democratic opponent Max Yashirin is pretty much an underdog starting from
the ground up, while Jeff “The Hairdo” has a well oiled machine.

Jeffy has actually
gotten out the last couple of years and held town halls and spoken to Local Nebraskan’s
about the issues before going back to DC and voting the party line, so he at least has
the appearance of representing the best interests of the people that elected him.

But then again, here’s to hoping he keeps that 1980’s Bouffant hairdo he sports, that alone will cost him 10 points in the race….

But then again… hold on.. Fellow Veteran and all around great guy Bob Kerry
just jumped in to help Max run a good race against Jeffy..

http://journalstar.com/articles/2008/04/09/news/local/doc47fd60fd48487158408628.txt
(And Jeff’s campaign teams response was probably, “UH OH"….)

Time to worry Jeff…. this isn’t 1980 and people don’t want more of the same.

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And then the last Good old Adrian Smith from the 3rd district, who’s miserable record on
every issue important to Nebraska Families will make him TOAST in his next run, because he won’t have George Bush to come stump for him like happened last time.
I have been told Adrian isn’t smart enough to be scared, but we will have to wait for another day when he has to run again, to judge for ourselves.

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Oh and John Bruning should be worried too, since all the press he has gotten lately seems to be not making him look very good.

He isn’t planning on running on his record is he?
http://journalstar.com/articles/2008/04/04/news/politics/doc47f6892322eb5579665335.txt

http://journalstar.com/articles/2008/04/09/news/local/doc47fd5b0fc279f053269110.txt

Here’s a relevant comment about John…

” Uhmm…the Nebraska Supreme Court struck down the State’s method of execution because it violated the NEBRASKA Constitution. Thats the NEBRASKA Constitution Jon not the US Constitution.

Nice bit of chest thumping Jon. Whatever grade you got in Constitutional Law should be lowered about 4 points. “

Markos from Daily KOS has an insightful column up at Newsweek, which everyone should read.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/130606/page/1

That article and a couple more below are all related… follow along for a minute.

Mark Penn gets fired by Hillary, well except she is still paying him to be
and advisor, so he really isn’t fired, well except for the sound bite part of it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/06/mark-penn-resigns-from-cl_n_95323.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/huffpo-headline-mark-penn_b_95333.html

more and more it seems Hillary is surrounding herself with people that are lacking any
moral compass, if there was something that would describe them best it would be a
line of dialog from the movie “Bad Santa” where Billy Bob Thornton’s Midget sidekick
tells him in a moment of clarity “Man, your soul is dogshit".

And finally the story that Condoleeza Rice is campaigning HARD for the Vice President
slot with McCain… We can only hope they are that dumb and accept her.
Because she is another great pointer right back to the failed Bush years.

What!! Bush failed? Well what about the great booom times Georgie brought us?

Read this and make up your own mind…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hale-stewart/the-bush-boom-was-a-compl_b_95278.html

As always, Bonddad comes armed with real data and graphs to cut thru the BS put out
by the talking heads .

And final roundups of other good news over the last few days.

Iraq is still a mess, But the Army Leadership is finally getting tuned in to the fact
that 15 months tours in a never ending war has broken the Army, so this coming summer, tours for the troops are going down to 12 months long.

And when Gen Petraeus testifies about Iraq next week he is going to be grilled hard by
Obama, Hillary and John McSame….

Expect McSame to softball him like a brother… Hillary and Obama, well not so much.

The following is an email recieved from VoteVets.org:

Robert Lopez served 8 years in our military, fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan as a tank commander. He was told he’d get his whole education bill paid for when he got out of the service. Mr. Lopez has fought and sacrificed for our country but like so many others, Mr. Lopez has faced the bleak reality of a government that has turned its back on its veterans.

That is why Senators Jim Webband Chuck Hagel proposed the new GI Bill, which would bring back WWII-style standards of providing vets with full tuition, room and board. And thatis why 51 senators have signed on, including 9 Republicans like John Warner,giving this GI Bill tremendous bi-partisan support.

But it isn’t enough. Faced with unprecedented filibusters, the only way to ensure Senate passage of the GI Bill is to get 60 co-sponsors. So far, John McCain has refused. The same McCain who insists he supports our troops. The same McCain who is voting lockstep with the Bush administration (who have also resisted this bill). We need to get John McCain to do the right thing – to sign now and signal to other Republican leaders that we should be strongly behind our vets.

Sign the petition to John McCain!

The original GI Bill transformed American history, providing education for returning soldiers. Not only was this our nation’s moral duty for the unbelievable sacrifices of our World War II veterans, it helped create America’s middle class and spurred decades of economic growth for our country.

Why then is John McCain silenton passing a new GI Bill for our “new greatest generation"?

Robert Lopez thinks John McCain ought to stand in his shoes to know how difficult it is to be a vet and have topay staggering education costs. This is your call to arms. Pass thevideo along and implore your friends to sign the petition.

Click here to watch thevideo and sign the petition today!

VoteVets.org, WesPAC and Brave New Films feel passionately about giving our veterans the support they rightly deserve. Our government owes our troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan the opportunity to receive full educational benefits. These patriots have fought hard for our government; it’s timeour government started fighting hard for them.

Sincerely yours,

General Wesley Clark, Robert Greenwald, and Jon Soltz

Yeah, John uses the troops for his personal political gain and then when it’s time to “put your money where your mouth is” he takes the cheap way out. Unfortunately, McCain displays the Republican Partys’ absolute neglect and abuse of our military which has become prevelant under the repug administration we have been forced to stomach for seven years.

The McCain excuse, with his tongue in cheek, was to say; “We don’t want to make it too benefitial to get out of the service, We could be faced with a serious retention problem".
No, it’s much easier to send the same young men and women over and over again using the backdoor draft called Stop-Loss.