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Both parties need this Senate seat. The Republicans need it because they must defend a highly disproportionate number of seats already if they have any hope of regaining their majority status in the Senate and right now prospects for that are dim and dimmer. The Democrats need the seat because they need to add on to their one seat majority as they build towards something closer to the 60-vote majority they need to scuttle any further Republican efforts to filibuster anything and everything.
So the stakes are high for everyone, more for the GOP, as they already succeeded in derailing former Omaha Mayor and Congressman Hal Daub's 10 day Senate campaign in an effort to clear the way for Johanns and save campaign dollars for "Rockin' Bob."
However, current Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning may have something to say about the contest. He is the darling of the religious right and has been campaigning across the state for a few months. Bruning claims his internal polls are quite different from the supposed polling from the insiders in Washington which shoved Daub out of the race.
Who knows? Two years ago you would have been hard pressed to find anyone in the state who would have bet against Tom Osborne in his quest for the GOP nomination for governor. We know how well that eventually worked out. Bruning may hope for a redux of David and Goliath and thus emerge as the surprise winner in the GOP primary.
Lightening seldom strikes more than once so Bruning probably shouldn't be concerned he may be burdened with explaining his rather shallow knowledge on any given subject as the GOP Senate standard bearer. If he is the GOP pick, hand the seat to Bob Kerrey and save the ad dollars.
However, if the contest is a Johanns-Kerrey bash, this much I guarantee: You will tune out the campaign ads long ahead of next November.
Oh, and by the way, for everyone still trying to figure out Pete's last name, it's Ricketts.
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