NE Governor race is revolving door

It gets interestinger and interestinger.

Or, as Alice more exactly phrased it, curiouser and curiouser.

If you enjoy chaos, your time has come.

You might want to keep an eye on Nebraska’s 2014 primary election reality show.

The Republican Senate contest is in the early stages of taking shape; the Republican gubernatorial contest is a scrambled egg. 

Shane Osborn, Ben Sasse and Bart McLeay are the GOP Senate candidates so far, and you’ve got to guess Osborn starts ahead with Sasse poised to make a vigorous run.  McLeay is mostly mystery so far.

No Democrats in that race. And it’s beginning to look like Brad Ashford, who just changed his voter registration from independent to Democrat, has his eye on the attorney general’s office, not the U.S. Senate.

Once again, Twitter is the messenger.

“I am registered as a Democrat,” Ashford tweeted. “In many ways, the Democrats today committed to moderate solutions are much like the Republicans I know.”

And then Democratic State Chairman Vince Powers followed: “Please join us in supporting Sen. Brad Ashford and encouraging him to consider running for Nebraska attorney general.”

So, the Democrats still do not have a Senate candidate.

OK, back to the scrambled egg.

There’s been traffic in both directions in this Republican gubernatorial race.

People come and people go.

The two big-name guys who were going to duke it out for the GOP nomination are gone. 

Rick Sheehy disappeared when he resigned as lieutenant governor under fire. Mike Flood, the former Speaker of the Legislature, withdrew when his wife, Mandi, was diagnosed with cancer, and months later he reaffirmed that decision by declining to return to the race. 

Last week, Charles Herbster joined them on the sidelines by withdrawing from the contest in the wake of his wife’s heart surgery. Herbster was not a big name like Flood and Sheehy, but he had the resources to become a big-time player, already having lured campaign wizard Carlos Castillo away from state government to manage his bid.

But this revolving door also brings people in as other people exit.

Beau McCoy’s sudden entry into the race minutes after Herbster departed the scene introduced a new dynamic into a contest that now includes three state senators with heavy hitter Pete Ricketts on the way.

McCoy is the guy on that list who’s closest to Gov. Dave Heineman, his priorities and policies.

Charlie Janssen is the early-bird candidate who’s already been out there for months, scoring points with hot-button issues like illegal immigration and gun rights.

Tom Carlson is the other Republican state senator in the race.

Ricketts will bring resources and name recognition and an accomplished campaign team to this battle.   

And that revolving door might not stop spinning there. 

McCoy is an interesting candidate at age 32. 

The youngest governor in modern times was Bob Kerrey, elected in 1982 when he was 39. Bob Crosby was 41; Norbert (“Nobb”) Tiemann was 42.

Nebraska Democrats will have a contested gubernatorial race featuring former University of Nebraska Regent Chuck Hassebrook and state Sen. Annette Dubas.

And that makes four members of the Legislature who will be seeking the governorship during the 2014 legislative session when big issues like future state tax policy and proposed Medicaid expansion hit the fan. 

Fun for Ernie and the media.

Not so much fun for lobbyists who already have the task of trying to deal with all the competing personalities and egos and ambitions and personal agendas and priorities that already are in play. 

* * *

Where are the Lincoln candidates?

Good question from a friend who points out that five of the last seven governors hailed from Lincoln.

Three of them later were elected to the Senate. 

There is not a single Lincolnite in the 2014 gubernatorial and Senate races thus far.

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http://journalstar.com/news/local/don-walton-governor-race-is-revolving-door/article_bbf0bd54-23a3-553f-88a9-c3a32a958089.html