Peter Ricketts in Nebraska
Posted by Moonage on 13 Aug 2005 | Tagged as: 2006 US Senate Races
Ameritrade executive Peter Ricketts was poised Thursday to enter the 2006 Republican Senate race after resigning his post at the online brokerage firm. Ricketts announced he would leave his company position effective Aug. 26 to "explore an opportunity in public service."
Now, where I see this thing getting interesting in Nebraska is that the current Senator there, according to Issues2000, is:
Ben Nelson is a Moderate Populist Conservative
Now. That wouldn’t be so odd, but Nelson is a Democrat. Think about that for one second. Let’s see how he fits in with the powers that be of the Democrat Party right now. Remember, these are not my opinions, but those of issues2000, who has extensively polled each person’s voting record:
- Hillary Clinton is a Liberal Populist
- John Kerry is a Libertarian-Leaning Liberal
- Ted Kennedy is a Hard-Core Liberal
- Barbara Boxer is a Hard-Core Liberal
- Dianne Feinstein is a Populist-Leaning Liberal
- Howard Dean is a Hard-Core Liberal
It just goes on and on. Nelson is a philosophical fish out of water right now. Other than losing more power base, I can’t see the above mentioned people getting too excited about this race. I can see where they even present problems for Nelson. I mean, would the "moderate populist conservatives" in Nebraska who have been voting for Nelson really want a bunch of liberals stumping in their state? Would it really help Nelson? I really don’t think so.
The Republicans in Nebraska are rolling out qualified candidates in droves:
Now, I am not a fan of purely political positions jumping into races, I have seen it fail miserably more often than succeed. However, I can see a lot of political experience in those two. If they fall back on their party experience and make this an anti-Nelson primary with the best man winning, Nelson’s got some problems. What Ricketts lacks in political experience, the other two have in droves. They can do a lot of damage and set the primary winner up for an easier, more positive general race. Which IMO, would suit Ricketts perfectly.
I’ll be keeping a close eye on Nebraska. It could be very interesting.
No Comments »
