Connealy: Let's Get Fired Up

Mar 23, 03:39 PM CST

Executive director urges Democrats to fire up for 2008

By Harold Reutter
harold.reutter@theindependent.com
Publication Date: 03/23/07

Nebraska Democrats should be circling Feb. 9, 2008, on their calendars, according to Matt Connealy, executive director of the Nebraska Democratic Party.

Connealy said next Feb. 9 is when Democrats all across the state will caucus to express their preferences for the Democratic nominee for president.

Connealy told Hall County Democrats Thursday night that many primaries in large, populous states will be conducted on Tuesday, Feb. 5, including the California primary.

But Nebraska Democrats will have the stage to themselves the following Saturday. That means headlines on the Sunday morning news shows could be about Nebraska.

“We may give a small bump,” said Connealy, who acknowledged most candidate attention will still be focused on the populous states with lots of delegate votes at stake.

However, he did note that Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson has talked about appearing in Omaha this spring, likely because of the new caucus system.

Connealy said the most beneficial aspect of the caucus may be its ability to bring Nebraska Democrats together to meet each other and talk about presidential candidates and issues.

In Hall County, the new system means separate caucuses will be held for each of the county’s 38 precincts.

Nebraska has been known as a one-party state dominated by Republicans.

But Connealy said he was pleased by many aspects of last November’s election. He noted that Sen. Ben Nelson was viewed as holding the second most vulnerable seat two years out from the election. But on Election Day 2008, Nelson won by a wide margin over Republican nominee Pete Ricketts.

Connealy said Democrat Scott Kleeb brought a lot of excitement to the 3rd District congressional race, even though he ended up losing to Republican nominee Adrian Smith.

Hall County Democrats learned Thursday night that Kleeb is now living in Hastings, where he is employed part time by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Kleeb also is negotiating for further employment in Hastings. He is engaged to Jane Fleming, executive director of Young Democrats of America, who will soon be moving to Hastings.

Kleeb is making speeches, but has not decided about making another run for public office.

Connealy told the Hall County Democrats that “Scott probably shouldn’t be making a decision about running for office now.”

He said it is the job of Nebraska Democrats to build the state party between now and the next election to make it easier for Kleeb to decide whether to run again for the 3rd Congressional District seat or any other political office that opens up.

Connealy said Democrats need to strengthen the party to make it easier for other Democratic candidates to run for election.

He said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has talked about Kleeb’s 2008 campaign. So has Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Dean is a proponent of a 50-state strategy to run strong Democratic candidates even in parts of the country where many more people are registered as Republicans than Democrats.

Connealy, a former Nebraska state senator, noted that party affiliation in his district ran about 60 percent Republican and 30 percent Democrat, yet he still won a legislative seat.

He was pleased with state Senate elections, where the party was able to pick up a net gain of Democratic seats, winning some races even in districts where party registration ran strongly in favor of the Republican Party.

Connealy talked about state tax issues, saying Democratic state senators are more inclined to favor property tax relief than an income tax cut.

Gov. Dave Heineman is pushing for an income tax cut.

Connealy said no tax is fun to pay, but he said that in Nebraska, property taxes are much more burdensome than income taxes.

Connealy contended the country faces a long list of problems after six years under President George Bush’s leadership and 12 years of Republican control of Congress.

Republican control ended with last November’s election.

Although recent headlines have focused on Democratic oversight hearings of the Bush administration, Connealy said, he is most pleased with the work that has gotten done with the new Congress.

He thinks the theme of Democrats who are willing to confront issues, rather than let problems fester, can be a good one for the party.

“Democrats are not wild-eyed radicals, especially in Nebraska,” he said.

Connealy said he believes the country will be ready for new leadership and a Democratic president in 2008. But he said it will take a long time to change some of the situations created by the Bush administration.

He said he thinks that even if Sen. Chuck Hagel decides to run for re-election to the U.S. Senate, Democrats have a good chance of winning the seat.

© The Grand Island Independent

– by eric | Send this to a friend

  1. As one of those Nebraska Democrats that IS a wild-eyed radical, and darned proud to be one, I offer this link as food for thought.

    ALL THE RAGE – There’s no denying it, we progressives are angry – by Paul Waldman
    — Brian T. Osborn    Mar 24, 10:18 AM CST #
  2. Every time I read an article about how progressive the party is in the State of Nebraska, the more proud I become to be a Democrat! I only hope that my enthusiasm premeates through out the state and encapsulates other Nebraskans as well.
    — Luke Peterson    Mar 24, 12:44 PM CST #
  3. This is the opening line in a letter to the editor in today’s world herald. Leaving aside what one thinks of Sen Hagel, a former National Committeewoman has admitted that the vast majority of Republicans do not tell the public what they believe, in other words, that the vast majority of the GOP elected officials deliberately mislead the public. I wonder how many people will recognize that a former party officer has just trashed the current GOP, and hit it very, very hard. Here is the opening line:


    ” Defending Hagel
    U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel is honest enough to publicly state what he be­lieves, and he is one of very few Re­publicans who will do so.



    Pat Dorwart, Sidney, Neb. ”
    Republican National Committeewoman, 1992-2004 ————————————————
    She is saying that the vast majority of Republicans are not honest enough to publicly state what they believe. Remarkable. Too bad she waited until after the election to tell her fellow Nebraskans what she knows about her fellow republicans.
    — vince powers    Mar 25, 03:40 PM CST #
  4. who do we have for candidates outside of Kleeb and Fahey speculation? Esch gave Terry a run and Moul was beaten soundly by an extremely vulnerable Fortenberry. Are either going to run again? And would they have a chance of beating the same opponent? Do we have anybody else that could win and just not show well? Would all dems be willing to support (and show up to vote) for somebody who could actually win?
    — Kevin Rangle    Mar 25, 11:11 PM CST #
  5. 24 hrs later my post does not appear?
    — Kevin Rangle    Mar 26, 11:07 PM CST #
  6. I think Esch will run again. Moul probably will not. We need a fundamental change of approach in the 1st District – start using JE4C and Kleeb as a model for a real grassroots campaign.

    I think the Esch campaign’s approach would work very well in Lincoln – but the level of energy it requires probably couldn’t sustain itself in the more sparsely populated areas of the 1st district. Kleeb provides a great model for those areas. Whoever runs in the 1st would do well to draw from those races – and not the “raise a bunch of money and spend it all on (bad) advertising” approach that has failed us so many times before.

    Esch had a lot of trouble getting free media, and didn’t have the money for a whole lot of paid media. The perception that he couldn’t win – one fed in part by this party’s leadership – caused local media to all but ignore him. That won’t be an issue this time around. I have every confidence that Esch can beat Terry in 2008 if he runs again.

    To your last question: By definition, someone who could actually win as a Democrat has to be able to get support of Democrats. (See Kate Witek for a great example of this.) I don’t think our bench is as weak as others think it is. We just need to look outside the traditional political circles. Kleeb and Esch are great examples of that. More candidates like them will help to rebuild our party.
    — Dave Sund    Mar 27, 08:24 AM CST #
  7. Dave Sund:

    I hope for our sakes Jim Esch does run again. You are so right about the media coverage, this next election will bring Jim more media coverage then he could ever imagine and that is because some reporters I speak with on a regular basis are still talking about him and his kick butt election night party. In regards to our parties support, it sucked last election and many people were upset about that. We need to be wild eyed an in force to liberate Nebraska, i’m game are you?
    — Rob Daniel    Mar 27, 05:40 PM CST #

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