Just in case you worried that I wasn’t going to have anything to talk about this summer…

LJS:

Attorney General Jon Bruning said Thursday he’ll not be deterred from a 2008 Senate bid by the fundraising power of Sen. Chuck Hagel or the “strong-arm tactics” employed by his political operatives.

“I’m as close as I can get to running without making the final decision,” Bruning said in a Lincoln interview.

“And I’m getting closer every day.”

Hagel, he said, is out of touch with the views of most Nebraskans on critical issues like the war in Iraq and immigration reform.

But, he suggested, that may be because the senator has “lived in Virginia his entire adult life except for a couple of years” when he worked in Omaha.

“When he’s done with politics,” Bruning said, “Hagel will live in Virginia.

“When I’m done, I’ll live in Nebraska and be putting around on some golf course in Lincoln wearing a goofy hat,” the attorney general said.

It’s hard not to find this entertaining. Mostly because, in between the lies, distortions, and outright personal attacks, there’s a nugget of truth here and there. Chuck Hagel has lived in Virginia while serving in the Senate, he rarely steps foot in Nebraska anymore. It doesn’t make any of his other charges stick, (Hagel may be out of touch with Nebraskans, just not when it comes to Iraq), but it’s great to see the Republicans use the same lines on Hagel.

Bruning’s basically accusing Hagel of strongarming Republican donors and attempting to scare him out of the race. Well, what the hell did you expect, Jon? Surely, you anticipated this. The good news for you today is that the Nebraska Democratic Party’s polling basically confirms the results of your poll - Hagel’s incredibly vulnerable. The bad news: so are you. And the further you run to the right, you risk alienating the rest of Nebraskans who are just plain fed up with the Bush administration’s policy in Iraq.

So, bring it on, Jon. We’ll be waiting for you. I relish the opportunity to kick your ass.