The Nebraska Democratic Party has announced that Senator Bob Kerrey will be the keynote speaker at the annual Morrison-Exon Dinner June 23rd in Omaha. This was one of many rumors floating around last week that caused me to reassess my take on the Democratic field. Now, it’s not always accurate to divine someone’s intentions from a prominent speaking role at a party fundraiser, but this seems to suggest strongly that Kerrey’s ready to jump back into Nebraska politics – namely, in a run for Senate.
I’ve made no secret of my preference for Mike Fahey (Ryan at the NNN has a great write-up on why Fahey’s a good candidate), but should he decide to seek reelection as mayor, then Kerrey would be a formidable candidate – likely the favorite against Bruning. And it’s hard to ignore the fact that he has about $400,000 cash on hand, too. Senator Bob Kerrey, serving alongside Ben Nelson? Not bad.
In other Senate news, Tony Raimondo has said that he will seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate should Chuck Hagel decide against running for reelection. This pretty much falls in line with our thoughts last week, that Raimondo was positioning himself for a run should Hagel decide against reelection. Basically, the only candidate we’ve ruled out in the Senate race for the Republicans so far is Lee Terry. I would not be surprised to see Jeff Fortenberry throw his name into the ring if Hagel decides against running, either.
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