Flynn joins Jon Bruning in the Nebraska race for U.S. Senate

Pat Flynn, 48, founder of the investment firm Flynn and Associates in downtown Schuyler will announce his U.S. Senate candidacy on Tuesday. In our humble opinion, this appears to be more of a public relations and business development move than a serious political effort.

Meanwhile, current Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel remains open to:

a). running for a third term as senator
b). running for the president of the United States of America
c). running for vice president with Democrat Joe Biden
d). voluntary retirement
e). forced retirement
f). some of the above
g). all of the above

J.A.R. comments about the US Senate races

J.A.R. comments about the situation in Nebraska:

Because Hagel looks unlikely to seek reelection, even if he does, there's a credible Republican challenger in Jon Bruning (who also raised credible sums last quarter), and it's a very red state in a presidential year.

More competition? Hal Daub is testing the waters in Nebraska

Sensing that something is happening in Nebraska politics, former City of Omaha Mayor Hal Daub continues to travel the state and "listen to the people."


read::: Daub Says Folks Tell Him U.S. Should "Stick with it" In Iraq

The Hal Daub running for Senate record -

1. failed to gain the GOP nomination for Senate in 1988.

2. won the party's Senate nomination in 1990. He lost the general election to Democratic incumbent J. James Exon by a 59%-41% margin.

The Senate 2008 Guru blog reports ...

Nebraska: Republican Hal Daub is making the rounds as he considers a Senate race. I don't know how well it's going. He stopped in Columbus, Nebraska's tenth most populous city (between 21,000 and 22,000 residents), for a two-hour issue discussion (we're not talking a 20-minute grip-and-grin) and only got "about 35" people to come. It's not quite so early in the process anymore. Perhaps his crowds should be bigger than three dozen at this point.

Leavenworth Street - the talk of Nebraska politics: Hagel: I'm not a flake

The Leavenworth Street blog examines some comments Nebraskan Senator Chuck Hagel made to the New York Times recently.


Leavenworth Street - the talk of Nebraska politics: Hagel: I'm not a flake

Hagel in a Hell of a Battle

“Cut & Run” Senator Chuck Hagel, who is still considered a possible GOP candidate for president next year, should probably be focusing a little more on his Senate re-election campaign.

read::: Michael Illions at the CWA-NJ blog

Nebraskans Receive $1.9 Million in Ameriquest Restitution

July 12, 2007 -- (Lincoln, Neb.) Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning and the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance announced today that 2,403 Nebraska consumers are eligible for $1.88 million in restitution from Ameriquest Mortgage Company and its related companies. The payments result from a $325 million national predatory lending settlement reached in 2006.

THOMPSON SENTENCE TO BE APPEALED TO STATE SUPREME COURT

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning asks for a review of the sentence of a child molester.

KOTA News

Hagel, Warner Announcing Exits Soon?

The two common strengths of my guests at lunch July 3 were 1) they know Republican politics in their respective states well and 2) they concluded that the Republican senators from those states, Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and John Warner (Va.), will announce sooner rather than later that they will not seek re-election in ’08.

“[Hagel] is doing some stupid things lately,” one source told me ...

read::: Human Events

Chuck Hagel: GOP hijacked; no run for president as an Independent

Chuck Hagel loves to meet the press. Today he said the following to a national television audience.

"But I have no plans to change parties or run for president as an independent."

Later (hedging): "You try to keep as many options open for yourself in life as you can. And you try to be in a position where you've got some opportunities."

"I also have said and said this when I first ran for the Senate after I got elected in 1996 that 12 years, two terms may be enough and that's another option."

"And then if there might be a place for me along the presidential road somewhere to try to have some influence and change the course of this country, then I'll look at that. But the decision needs to be made soon and I'll make it soon."

In May, Hagel said Republican Party had been led astray by some and it might be time for an independent presidential ticket.

To Hagel, the GOP is longer the party of "Eisenhower, of Goldwater, of Reagan," but instead has been hijacked by "single-minded, almost isolationist insulationists, power-projectors."

Hagel was interviewed Sunday on "Meet the Press" on NBC.

Hagel: "Ah…no. I think that was unfortunate."

Hagel: Libby shoulda gone to jail

U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel was asked on Omaha's KMTV whether he agreed with President Bush on the commutation of Scooter Libby’s thirty-month sentence. Hagel’s answer:

"Ah…no. I think that was unfortunate."

read>>> Leavenworth Street blog


MSNBC's Chuck Todd commented: "I used to joke that I thought Hagel was doing a great job campaigning to be the Democratic VP nominee. Maybe I should stop joking."

Jon Bruning Statement on the Hagel Town Hall Meeting

This week Senator Hagel spoke before 300 people at a "Town Hall Meeting" at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. Hagel said he thought the Iraq war would prove to be the greatest foreign-policy mistake in U.S. history.

"We're in a mess, we're in a huge mess," Hagel said. "We've got to get out of the mess, but we've got to do it the right way."


Jon Bruning reacted to Chuck Hagel's comments:

ON IRAQ:
Actions speak louder than words. Regardless of what Sen. Hagel says, conservative Nebraskans are frustrated that he has repeatedly voted with Harry Reid and the Democrats in favor of strict timetables for early surrender. They’re also frustrated with his comments that this country is engaged in an all-time “foreign policy blunder” and that the administration is “playing ping-pong with American lives.”

While I agree that diplomacy and international mediation are needed to help ease the burden on our troops, Senator Hagel’s plan does nothing to defeat the terrorists in Iraq or stop the sectarian violence that has slowed our progress. Security must be established before diplomacy can succeed. We must give General Petraeus a fighting chance to complete his mission before we talk about redeployment from Iraq.

ON IMPEACHMENT:
Conservative Nebraskans were outraged with Senator’s Hagel’s suggestion that impeachment was a viable option for President Bush. When asked today how he would hold the administration accountable, Senator Hagel changed his tune and said that wasn’t his job. The voters won’t forget his careless remarks and will hold Senator Hagel accountable.

ON IMMIGRATION:
I was surprised to hear Senator Hagel suggest today that border security has nothing to do with immigration reform. Illegal immigration costs taxpayers billions of dollars every year, and many continue to break our laws by flooding over our southern border. Border security is an urgent priority and must be a part of comprehensive immigration reform.

Jon Bruning is off to a strong financial head start

It more than appears that Nebraska and friends of Jon Bruning have stepped up to support his challenge to Senator Chuck Hagel. It has been reported that Jon Bruning has raised over $700,000 to date in his race for U.S. Senator.

“Raising the money needed to challenge an incumbent is very difficult. But our campaign to defend America and restore conservative leadership to the U.S. Senate has generated tremendous early support from Nebraskans. We’ve worked hard, we’ve discussed the issues people care about, and the response has been amazing.”
- Attorney General Jon Bruning

Southwest Nebraska News: Bruning Campaign Tops $720,000 in Receipts

KTIV: Bruning Says He's Raised $721,200 For Senate Campaign