The plot not only thickened in the 2008 Senate race Wednesday night, it threatened to spin out of control. Attorney General Jon Bruning is ready to enter the 2008 Republican primary whether Sen. Chuck Hagel seeks re-election or not. Bruning confirmed his intentions in a statement released Thursday morning. Hagel’s recent vote supporting a timeline for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and his recent criticism of President Bush provide “significant reasons” to enter the Senate race, the attorney general said.‘); aCampaigns = new Array(); aCampaigns[477] = 100; aAds = new Array(); nAdsysTime = new Date().getTime()/1000; if ((nAdsysTime >= 1149224400) && (nAdsysTime = 1166508000) && (nAdsysTime = 1166508000) && (nAdsysTime = 1169445600) && (nAdsysTime = 1175144400) && (nAdsysTime
“Senator Hagel voted with the Democratic leadership against President Bush on the most important issue facing our country,” Bruning said.
And with that, it’s on. I had strong feelings that Bruning was going to challenge Hagel, but no real confirmation. Now, Bruning is using all of the reasons why Republicans distrust Hagel to explain why he is running for Senate. Make no mistake, Jon Bruning is running against Chuck Hagel. Things just got a whole lot more interesting, folks.
Walton speculates further on Bob Kerrey’s intentions, based on a poll that’s been going around (I think someone told us about this Monday night.) Kerrey insists he’s not running, and based on the fact that he’s still living in New York, I’d say that’s right. Still, I wonder who is polling Bob Kerrey here in Nebraska… They must have their reasons.
All of this news comes on the heels of Mike Fahey giving his strongest indication yet that he will seek a third term as mayor of Omaha if he does not run for Senate. He doesn’t plan to make a decision until later in the year.