Sen. Giese potentially leaving

Sen. Bob Giese has decided to run for his fathers seat as Dakota County Treasurer. A seat his father has held for 32 years. Sen. Giese has been a City Councilman and Mayor of South Sioux City and is currently a State Senator. He is a proven winner and he is a democrat, however if the Senator wins this county seat the Governor will appoint his replacement. The Governor will find the best Republican to hold this seat. The democratic party cannot be happy about this since they are trying to gain seats in the Unicameral. Bob Giese was seen as a rising star for the democratic party. The state democratic party is extremely dysfunctional right now they need to win something on the statewide or Congressional level. Yes they have the Mayoral seats of the two largest cities in the state. They also have a majority on the Omaha city council. But when it comes to statewide candidates they are woefully shorthanded. Even for county candidates outside of southeast Nebraska the democrats are few and far between. Sen. Tom White running against Lee Terry for CD2 his seat is open this year in the Unicameral. This just does not seem to be a smart political strategy as a whole on the party. But that is assuming that the democrats act like a political party.

Bayh is out

U.S. Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana has decided to retire. The latest polls show Bayh up 20+ over any republican in the field and has $13 million in his war chest. Which is enough to scare off the most ambitious challenger. This is a golden opportunity for republicans to pick up a rust belt seat. Republicans have a great chance to reassert themselves this year in Senate races. Mike Castle is a probable pickup in New Hampshire. Mark Kirk has a great chance of winning President Obama old Senate seat in Illinois. Mike Hoeven is the clear front runner in North Dakota. With Bayh retiring Indiana is a prime pickup target. Winning four Senate races outside of Dixie especially potentially two in the rust belt with Illinois and Indiana could give Republicans a big tent look again instead of a regional angry party. This is only good for the party Northern conservatives are different than dixie republicans. They will give the party more Edmund Burke and William F. Buckley than Pat Robertson which is good for independents.

NE-2

This is an interesting race with Tom White and Lee Terry fighting to represent the Omaha district. Now some interesting things have happened when it comes to Tom Whites online activity. It seems that everything online for TomWhite2010.com is being paid for by his legislative campaign committee. This is interesting because Tom Whites campaign handler for his legislative seat was Ian Russell. Russell then went on to work for Tom White in the legislature a currently still does. Russell now owns the company who updates and maintains Tom Whites congressional campaign website. This seems to violate several laws of the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission. Tom White is trying to save money on the campaign and being the challenger it is understandable. However White has to spend money from his congressional treasury not his legislative account for a run for Congress. It looks like Ian Russell is once again play fast and loose with the rules and campaigns for democrats. Lets remember Russell was the head of the Nebraska Democratic Legislative campaign committee that year the democrats lost seats overall. The best backlash against the Russell-White faction will be a Lee Terry victory then Tom White and Ian Russell will both be out of a job.