Breaking News:

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied Elkhorn’s request that the annexation be frozen, shattering any remaining hope Elkhorn had of staving off annexation.

“I have always been confident that the City of Omaha’s annexation of Elkhorn and the additional sanitary improvement districts would succeed,” Mayor Mike Fahey said in a statement. “We will provide the citizens of the annexed areas with the same high quality city services currently delivered to the citizens of Omaha.”

Which, of course, is an excuse to bring back the classic:

Related Posts:

Welcome To Omaha… Elkhorn (1/12/2007).

Omaha vs. Elkhorn: An Annexation Altercation (2/24/2005).

Chuck Hagel spent some time at Bellevue University today, and inevitably got the question about his political future:

Sen. Chuck Hagel acknowledged today that many people already seem to assume he is intent on running for president in 2008.

“I get that reaction,” Hagel said after making brief remarks and answering audience questions at Bellevue University. “I just take it as a compliment, appreciate that they would have that much confidence in me to kind of assume that.”

The Nebraska Republican talked to reporters before addressing the audience of roughly 200, but did not hint at when he would make any announcement, saying only it would not come while he’s in Nebraska this week.

“We’ll make that decision one of these days, and I’ll let you know,” Hagel said.

Hagel’s been giving these kind of vague timelines for a while now, saying “a couple weeks” every couple of weeks on when he’s going to announce his decision. But he still hasn’t been raising any money, which is as real an indication as we can get of where his political intentions ultimately lie. Though his rhetoric and his positioning seem to be pointed toward a presidential bid, the money seems to show that he’s not running for anything in 2008. And his dodging of the presidential question is a way to keep himself relevant before he announces his retirement later on this year. We heard some rumors to this effect late last year. But again, it certainly would not surprise me if he decided to run for President.

With Mike Fahey being recruited by Democratic leadership to run for a possible open seat, Republicans will have to come up with a strong candidate for their nomination. But what seems to be shaping up is an all-out Republican fight - draining resources and resulting in a battered nominee and a fractured party. Hagel’s retirement presents an opportunity for the ultra-conservative wing of the party to exert its influence. Without a strong “establishment” candidate to unite the party machinery behind, Jon Bruning - a critic of Hagel and a supporter of Heineman’s opponent Tom Osborne in the primary - would have to be the favorite for the Republican nomination. Other rumored candidates, such as Lee Terry, Jeff Fortenberry, Hal Daub, and even Pete Ricketts, would make it an entertaining display to say the least.

The Republican Party, as it did in 2006, badly wants former Governor Mike Johanns to run, and avoid a costly nomination fight. Johanns would be the one candidate that would clearly have the implicit backing of the Hagel machine, since it is his machine, too. So far, there is little indication that Johanns is considering a run, while Bruning has basically all but announced. But it’s still early, Johanns could be convinced, and this may be part of the reason for Hagel’s delay.

As soon as Hagel makes his decision, we’ll see the field start to fill out, and I’d expect Fahey to run if Hagel retires. We’ll see how it all shapes out in the next couple of months.

This weekend, we will be going down to Lincoln with NYD to help out Chris Beutler in his race for mayor. (See the calendar for more details). Until he was term-limited out last year, Beutler spent 24 years in the Nebraska Legislature serving the people of central Lincoln.

He’s been a champion of campaign finance reform in this state, leading the charge and helping Nebraska enact a public financing system that attempts to level the playing field for our elections. He led the charge to hold Regent David Hergert accountable for his violations of campaign finance law.

Chris Beutler has been a progressive force in this state for almost 30 years, and he would be a great mayor for the city of Lincoln.

His Republican opponent, Ken Svoboda, is one of the most toxic personalities in Nebraska politics, who in the campaign for City Council in 2005 benefited from deliberate attempts at character assassination against Democratic candidates Terry Werner and Dan Marvin. He’s at it again, and the primary isn’t until April 3.

Svoboda started running for mayor the very minute he won his race for City Council in 2005, perhaps even before that. He’s been part of the problem for years in Lincoln, and now pretends that he can be part of the solution. Lincoln does not deserve to be subjected to the kind of “leadership” that Svoboda promises. Chris Beutler will provide the leadership necessary for Lincoln to grow and prosper.

What happens in Lincoln affects us all. A strong city of Lincoln helps Omaha, and helps the state of Nebraska. A strong Democratic mayor helps the Democratic Party. And the status quo is simply not acceptable any longer.

So, let’s help out our friends in Lincoln and give Chris Beutler the push he needs to win in May.