Quote:
Originally Posted by sanrene
You go right ahead. All the pollsters have this solidly in GOP hands. In this environment, a career politician like Kerry, who doesn't even live in Nebraska has no chance....being a democrat/liberal also helps..his opponent.
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They have Fischer so far ahead right now because she's a complete unknown against a known with some negatives. Kerry still owns some businesses in Lincoln, and he was a very popular, moderate/conservative D governor and US Senator here (18 year career with both offices), but he left the state in 2001 to take a job as the President of The New School (a university) in New York City when he left office. That's his big negative--that he was out of the state for 10 years living in an urban area.
No one knows much about Fischer, really. We have a unicameral legislature (only one body), and it's the smallest in the nation with only 49 members--we only have senators and no state representatives, and they're nonpartisan seats--you don't run for them as a democrat or a republican. (We're the only state in the country with a system like this.) It's very low profile.
Nebraska Legislature - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
She ran as a dark horse against two very well known candidates with lots of baggage, and it gave her an opportunity to shoot forward. Lots of cash from Ricketts at the end for TV time was a huge factor too. She never really talked about the issues during her campaign--Bruning and Stenburg were duking it out in a really ugly campaign, and she just stayed positive and neutral. It was a "throw the bums out" race.
I'll be interested to see what she has to say in the general against Kerry, because she's going to be forced to talk about her stands on issues at some point. She's a rancher from Valentine (way up on the SD border in the middle of nowhere). Her state senate district is one of the most rural and isolated in the state. She may sail through this as a breath of fresh air, or she may not have what it takes to run a state wide campaign without making major mistakes--no one knows yet. I think she has a decent shot at winning it, but we're a long way from the general and a lot can happen in six months, especially since she's running against someone with a lot more experience, and whose big negatives are about leaving the state for work vs. negative things he did in office, or unpopular positions.
We'll just have to see what happens, but I think you're counting your chickens before they're hatched.
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