Nebraska Democratic Party: Obama to Deploy Staff in Nebraska

Obama to Deploy Staff in Nebraska

Jun 09, 01:10 PM CST

This from Steve Hildebrand, Deputy Campaign Manager for Obama for America:

Today, I am proud to announce that our presidential campaign will be the first in a generation to deploy and maintain staff in every single state.

The network of volunteers and the infrastructure built up during the historic primary season—on behalf of all the Democratic campaigns—have given us an enormous and unprecedented opportunity in the general election.

We need to register new voters and bring people back into the political process. We need to reach out to Independents and Republicans who know that our country cannot afford another four years of George W. Bush’s disastrous policies.

As soon as we get details about Senator Obama’s presence in Nebraska, we will pass them along.

– by Eric Van Horn | Send this to a friend

I’d like to know where the Omaha office will be, and where to buy signs, etc.
— Nancy Jacobs Jun 09, 03:12 PM CST #
Nancy:

We will supply those details as they become available.
— Eric Van Horn Jun 09, 03:16 PM CST #
I’m sure it will be in Omaha or Lincoln where the Superdelegates live. Why would he travel the western part of the state.
— Rick Jun 09, 03:17 PM CST #
Oh my God! RICK! Do you really think the rest of us are going to follow you on your headlong pursuit of self destruction? Obama will be the candidate of the democratic party despite all your ranting and we will support him. You can do as you please.

Of course Obama’s office will be in Lincoln or (most likely) Omaha. That is where most of Nebraska’s people are and the money is. I highly doubt he’ll be setting up an office in Danbury.
— ed charrington Jun 09, 08:00 PM CST #
Rick, don’t you have anything better to do than gripe and whine? You remind me of a small child who has lost his lollipop.
— Charles Jones Jun 09, 09:37 PM CST #
To Ed and Charles,
I wasn’t whining. I was just stating the facts. The western part of the state is always forgotten when it comes to politics.
Charles,
Don’t you have something better to do than criticize others?
— Rick Jun 10, 08:28 AM CST #
Rick, it has nothing to do with Obama “forgetting” western Nebraska. It has to do with allocation of resources. There are more voters and more Democrats in Omaha and Lincoln, and Obama spending money in western Nebraska would be a ridiculous waste of resources. Given that a Democratic Presidential candidate has never sent staff to Nebraska in my lifetime, we should be happy that Obama’s going to have a presence in Nebraska at all.
— Trevor Fitzgerald Jun 10, 10:00 AM CST #
I understand the economics of the political process. It’s all about the money and not the people. Let’s us desinfranchize some of the voters but not all of the voters. It just proves my point that Lincoln and Omaha are always the cities that count. There is not one Super Delegate that lives outside the limits of those two cities. The central and western part of the state deserve representation also.
— Rick Jun 10, 10:19 AM CST #
The superdelegates are elected at the NDP State Convention. Having been to the last three State Conventions, I can attest to two facts which have resulted in Third District Democrats not being elected to superdelegate leadership positions: 1) Few candidates from the Third District running; 2) Poor attendance at conventions from Third District counties. This was even true in 2006, when the convention was held in the Third District.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand your frustration. But claims that voters are being disenfranchised or that the system is automatically biased against the Third District are unfounded.
— Trevor Fitzgerald Jun 10, 11:11 AM CST #
Trevor, I took the liberty of changing “NYD State Convention” to “NDP State Convention” in your comment above.

I also want to correct one thing: “superdelegate” Frank LaMere lives in South Sioux City.

Thanks for keeping things respectful.
— Eric Van Horn Jun 10, 11:18 AM CST #
Rick, I live in “outstate” Nebraska and agree that we are often underrepresented. But we often vote against our own best interests by electing folks, like Adrian Smith, who follow the Bush agenda, whether or not it benetits the 3rd Dist.

My solution to being underrepresented is to become active in the Dem. Party. Until Jan.they didn’t know I existed; but today they DO know who I am. I have been in their office, called and e-mailed, and volunteered to Chair the caucus.

I was a John Edwards supporter. I felt he had the best ideas and solutions. When he dropped out, I aligned with Obama. Rick, there are no “perfect” candidates; only candidates that are close to our values. The alternative is McCain. As a veteran, I cannot support someone that feels the war in Iraq should go on indefinitely. Chuck Hagel spoke truth about the war, at odds with his party. I disagree with Chuck on many things, but one very important thing, the war in Iraq, he is spot on.

One question for Clinton supporters; Why does she still owe millions of campaign debt?
— Charles Jones Jun 10, 11:28 AM CST #
Just out of curiousity, were the other responses from this blog topic removed for some reason?
— Marian Jun 10, 11:36 AM CST #
Nancy, you don’t have to wait for the Obama office to open up to buy signs, etc. – you can get them online at www.barackobama.com
— Trevor Fitzgerald Jun 10, 11:40 AM CST #
Marian, since the comments on this blog were opened up a few months ago, the only comments that have been deleted have been spam advertisements. You may be thinking of a very similar thread here.
— Eric Van Horn Jun 10, 11:59 AM CST #
Eric,
As I recall South Sioux City is just north of Omaha which is still in the eastern part of the state. There just needs to be a system where all voters are represented regardless of the participation of the voters in those districts. Most of third district is rural so people are working hard and properly can’t attend the state convention.
— Rick Jun 10, 12:28 PM CST #
Charles,
To answer your question Hillary had to rely upon hard working people to support her and not lobbyist money and Oprah’s money to finance her campaign.
— Rick Jun 10, 12:30 PM CST #
Rick, though unemployed now, I have been a wage earner all my life. Obama’s campaign was not financed by Oprah or lobbyists; it was financed by thousands of folks like myself who donated on the web, small sums, but gave repeatedly. I have donated several times, but never over $200 at a time.

Hillary had fewer folks financing her campaign that early on hit their legal limit, leaving her little choice but to borrow to fund her campaign.

Rick, I don’t want to irritate you, but rather see you overcome your anger and help all of us unseat the corrupt, self serving Republicans that have put this country in one hell of a mess, and run up a debt that future generations will be strapped with for decades, making it difficult to finance education, replacement of infastructure and maintain our current quality of life.
— Charles Jones Jun 10, 01:34 PM CST #
Charles,
You are far from irritating me. I am disapponited and frustrated at that democratic nomineeing system. How can a candidate that won the big states that we need in the fall and won most of the primaries in the last part of the campaign by large margains lose the nomination. The Super Delegates were supporting Obama as he was losing. I don’t get that. Why vote for someone that was losing. Oh, my young daughter or son likes him so I will vote for him. That doesn’t make sense. I thought the Super Delegates were in place to help choose the best candidate not the American Idol winner. So Obama was selected and not elected. Even Harry Reid acknowledge that the nomineeing process is flawed and needs fixing. I know that’s
water under the bridge. But until I can come to grips with the democratic candidate I can’t support him. I know the Republicans have the country in one hell of a mess. Believe me I know. When Bill Clinton left office we had a surplus and we now have a major debt. I know we need a new administration but I can’t support Obama. I know he’s the nominee but in good faith I can’t support him. There are a lot of things I don’t like about him. The media has made him out to be the second coming of Christ. That’s what scares me.
— Rick Jun 10, 03:38 PM CST #
Thanks Eric V. I was about to denounce your censorship!

I think there was a huge difference in the groups who donated to Obama vs. Hillary but for reasons other than described above … the upper middle class and wealthy Obama supporters—- along with the young constituencies of Obama’s campaign sent money in great quantities to Obama via the internet. A few of Hillary’s main support groups – blue-colar workers, senior citizens and some immigrant groups—didn’t have the access and skill (not to mention the money) to do this as well. And still, she virtually tied him in number of supporters. He outspent her because he could … I’m not convinced it helped him that much to be able to do so. His latest move to denounce PAC monies for the DNC so that regulary people can finance the electoral process … sounds good on the surface but it still limits the poor and the uneducated and older Americans from this activity. I get a little tired of people telling me he won because he ran such a great campaign and Hillary didn’t. Considering the imbalance of money and media … she ran a fantastic campaign in many ways.

Charles, you are right about the mess we are in. I don’t, however, think it was all Republicans who put us here … it was a devious group of people who put GW in the White House by convincing two major groups to vote for him—- the rich and the religious (I know this is generalizing too much). I can’t help but feel that a similar phenomenon has happened with Obama’s victory – only this time it was some different groups who got convinced. It still required a series of manipulations as I see it – as opposed to people having made a decision based on substantive differences between the candidates.

I know, why bother – it’s a done deal. Analysis, I think, helps us be better informed and make decisions down the road.
— Marian Ingwersen Jun 10, 03:44 PM CST #
Mr. Van Horn, what can we do to help the process of getting an office set up and/or making obama’s presence felt in NE? I know alot of things are undecided as of now, but please let us know when you have an idea of how we can help. Thanks
— Aaron Jun 10, 04:01 PM CST #
On what planet is South Sioux City considered “just north” of Omaha?

That’s one hell of a commute, Rick.
— Dave Sund Jun 10, 07:37 PM CST #
Dave,
I was relatively speaking that South Sioux City is north of Omaha. I didn’t say how far. My point being that all the Super Delegates live in the eastern part of the state.
— Rick Jun 11, 08:09 AM CST #