LINCOLN - Attorney General Jon Bruning said today he will form an explatory committee for a possible campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2008.
Bruning, a Republican, said he will not run if Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., decided to seek re-election to a third term.
“I’m not a candidate,” Bruning said. “This is all about preparing for a ground game.”
We’ve long assumed this to be the case. But still, it comes as a bit of a surprise that he is doing this so soon after Hagel’s non-announcement. I’ve given up trying to guess what these things mean. But I’d put it at pretty good odds we’re looking at an open seat for U.S. Senate in 2008.
And lest we forget, Hal Daub, two-time Senate loser, former mayor of Omaha, and Republican power-player, also expressed serious interest in the race today. Oh, that we could see Fahey vs. Daub again. I might enjoy that.
Yes, the misspelling of “exploratory” is on the Omaha World-Herald’s site. I am not a copy-editor, and prefer to let their misspelling stand.
See, this is why Fahey (or whoever) needs to start “running” now. Start raising the money, get the network going, and fire up the grassroots support. Bruning has now set the precedent for running on the contingency that Hagel doesn’t, so the democrats can just follow suit. If you wait until Hagel announces, the Republicans will have a huge head start.
Fahey can afford to wait. The Republicans are going to be fighting each other for the nomination until May 2008. Fahey can wait until fall because he knows he has the nomination if he runs.
I agree with Dave,
Fahey will have no problem raising money and support. He can afford to wait let the Republicans duke it out.
Talking about your non anouncements Bruining has been running for Senate even before his re election to the AG office. Did he really have to waste our time telling us what we already know?
Maybe the GOP establishment strongly sugessted that Hagel not run for Re election and maybe all of his posturing is so that Bruining can get a good start without the spector of Hagel over his head. (just thinking out Loud)