NE-Primary Night Results

[Moooooo]

NE GOVERNOR - DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Glenn R. Boot Jr.
David Hahn

NE GOVERNOR - GOP PRIMARY
Dave Heineman (Incumbent)
Dave Nabity
Tom Osborne

NE US SENATE - GOP PRIMARY
David J. Kramer
Don Stenberg
Pete Ricketts

[Sam Spade]

West Virginia also has a primary this evening.

[nini2287]

Have there been any more NE GOP Gov. Primary polls?  I remember seeing one awhile back that showed Osborne leading something like 48-36 over Heineman, who really should have run for Senate.

[Sarnstrom]

Have there been any more NE GOP Gov. Primary polls?  I remember seeing one awhile back that showed Osborne leading something like 48-36 over Heineman, who really should have run for Senate.

A poll just came out today:

OMAHA, Neb. -- On the eve of Tuesday's Nebraska primary, a poll shows Gov. Dave Heineman leading the Republican governor's race.

Omaha public opinion research firm MSR Group released its final poll numbers on Monday. It shows Heineman with 45 percent, Rep. Tom Osborne with 41.9 percent and Dave Nabity with 7 percent. Seven percent of voters reported still being undecided. The poll surveyed 600 likely GOP voters.

The candidates are making a last-minute push, using the media, making personal appearances and sending supporters door to door. One of the primary areas of focus is not the population centers of Lincoln and Omaha, but instead the vast landmass of the Third District. The campaigns said support from the west will be key to the win.

On Monday, supporters for Osborne were blanketing neighborhoods in Omaha, trying to gather last-minute support. They said the final 72 hours are critical.
 

"Because not everyone has made their decision, so every vote matters and is important, so if we can just get a few votes today it's helpful to everything we've done so far in the campaign," said Osborne supporter Teresa Bolas.

Heineman supporters were also out knocking on doors. They said they know the race is close.

"It gives us more incentive to work even harder to get that final push out and get us over the edge and lead us to victory on Tuesday," said Heineman supporter Steve Myers.

The candidates themselves have spent much of the last 72 hours concentrating on the Panhandle and other western areas of Nebraska.

"I was on nonstop to District Three radio stations from about 7 in the morning till 11," Nabity said on Monday.

Nabity is spending his time on the radio and phone.

"I'm calling to put the close on you to vote for me as the next governor of the great state of Nebraska," Nabity said.

Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Mark Quandahl said as much as 44 percent of total voting in Nebraska is done in the Third District.

"Historically, the people in the Third District, the western part of the state, turn out for elections more in larger numbers than the rest of the state," Quandahl said. "The person who has the most votes at the end of the day wins and this is a very close race."

Right now, state estimates show that about 26 percent of Douglas County voters are expected to show up at the polls on Tuesday, and about 32 percent statewide.

http://www.ketv.com/news/9179007/detail.html

[Archangel_Mikey]

My mom switched parties to vote in the gubenetorial primary, and voted for Heineman.  Nabity's racist towards the Indians, and Osborne has his God-like status to help him.  My school principal voted for him.

As for the senate seat, Nelson's gonna win it.  Ricketts, what an idiot.  Most of his adds ended with his mom saying "You forgot your hat, Pete".  Stenberg's a loser (he lost to Nelson in 2000) and Kramer is the one I'd vote for if I was voting in the GOP primary.

[Sarnstrom]

For Nebraska election results: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2006/by_state/NE_Page_0509.html?SITE=NEOMMELN&SECTION=POLITICS

For West Virginia election results:
http://www.wdtv.com/election2006/

[Moooooo]

Looks like Heineman is going to knock off 'god'.

I remember a while back people talking about Osborne like he couldnt lose.

[Moooooo]

41% Reporting

Heineman, Dave (i)   GOP   62,231   50.38
Osborne, Tom   GOP   54,689   44.27
Nabity, Dave   GOP   6,606   5.35

[Moooooo]

45% Reporting

Ricketts, Pete   GOP   57,087   47.01
Stenberg, Don   GOP   43,827   36.09
Kramer, David   GOP   20,513   16.89

[Keystone Phil]

I didn't get interested in this primary but I will say that I am rather happy that Heineman seems ready to pull out a comfortable victory, making this a real upset.

As Nick said, there was a time when no one thought the political and sports icon of Nebraska - Tom Osborne - could be beat. It's not that I don't like Osborne but I just felt bad for Heineman. Here comes this popular former football coach turned Congressman who is challenging the incumbent just because he can (unless there are some differences that Osborne has with the Governor that are reasons for his campaign).. Now everything seems to be turning against him. With 53% reporting, Heineman has 51% to Osborne's 44%.

[Jake]

Osborne had privately announced he was running before Johanns was appointed to the Cabinet. Then we got an incumbent, so it's not really like Osborne was entering the race just to spite Heineman.

[Sam Spade]

If Heineman holds on, it would be a signal to me that McCain does not have ultra-strong national support within the GOP.

What's been big going on here behind-the-scenes is Chuck Hagel's endorsement of Heineman, which was countered of recent times by McCain coming in and endorsing Osborne.  If McCain could go and affect the primary results against the chief state GOP point man (Hagel) at present, it would show a really strong presence for McCain within the GOP that could make him the perennial nominee going into 2008 (he is still the favored, however).

Those who care about the immigration issue should know that Osborne was in favor of Bush's guest worker plan (not a large deal to me), but more importantly, was in favor of the children of illegals getting in-state tuition fees.

For this reason, (as there were no other huge differences between the candidates) I supported Heineman.  Still do.

Anyways, Heineman's won this one.  It's over.

[Sam Spade]

Also, Ricketts has won the primary.  Probably the strongest candidate out of three, as he can spend his own money to his heart's content, though he'll most likely lose.

[Archangel_Mikey]

Looks like Heineman is going to knock off 'god'.

I remember a while back people talking about Osborne like he couldnt lose.

I t

Looks like Heineman is going to knock off 'god'.

I remember a while back people talking about Osborne like he couldnt lose.

I thought that too, until recently.  Though Osborne carried Lincoln and Omaha, Heineman won the rural areas for one reason: he was opposed to a bill that would have abolished elementary-only school districts which are very common out west.

[Sarnstrom]

Osborne looks like a sore loser:


Here's a county results map:

Red: Heineman
Blue: Osborne
Nabity won no counties

[Keystone Phil]

Osborne looks like a sore loser:

I'm guessing that was at a unity event? I'm not surprised he looks so pissed. He was supposed to cruise to victory, remember? He also lost his House seat so it's not so good for him these days.

Osborne had privately announced he was running before Johanns was appointed to the Cabinet. Then we got an incumbent, so it's not really like Osborne was entering the race just to spite Heineman.

I did not know that. I thought he was considering it while Johanns was still in and decided to jump in afterwards even after Heinneman declared his candidacy.

[CARLHAYDEN]

If Heineman holds on, it would be a signal to me that McCain does not have ultra-strong national support within the GOP.

What's been big going on here behind-the-scenes is Chuck Hagel's endorsement of Heineman, which was countered of recent times by McCain coming in and endorsing Osborne.  If McCain could go and affect the primary results against the chief state GOP point man (Hagel) at present, it would show a really strong presence for McCain within the GOP that could make him the perennial nominee going into 2008 (he is still the favored, however).

Those who care about the immigration issue should know that Osborne was in favor of Bush's guest worker plan (not a large deal to me), but more importantly, was in favor of the children of illegals getting in-state tuition fees.

For this reason, (as there were no other huge differences between the candidates) I supported Heineman.  Still do.

Anyways, Heineman's won this one.  It's over.

A very perception post.

Remember just a few months ago when McCain tried to intervene in the Republican primary for a Congressional seat in southern California?  The McCain slimebag was decisively rejected and local Republicans told McCain he should but out/

Further, the immigration isssue is a big deal around the country.  Osborne was acting as arrogant on this a Bush. 

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Somehow I have a tough time buying that immigration is the #1 issue in NEBRASKA. What next, are results in Alaska and Vermont going to show that voters there care about immigration more than anything else?

[Sam Spade]

Somehow I have a tough time buying that immigration is the #1 issue in NEBRASKA. What next, are results in Alaska and Vermont going to show that voters there care about immigration more than anything else?

Well, it was a big issue in this race.  This does not, of course, mean that it will be a big issue in other races.  The simple fact is that this is one area where the two candidates disagreed and it got magnified to the political stage due to debate in the Legislature and the national political situation.  This may or may not happen in other places and it may only happen in primaries.

The other big issue, which also shows in the results where Heineman destroyed Osborne in the rural areas, was in Heineman's opposition to rural school reorganization (where he vetoed the bill in the Legislature) and in Osborne's inability to deal with the issue.

The Lincoln Journal-Star in its recap of the race, highlights the issues that I'm talking about in its analysis of what happened on election night:

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2006/05/10/elections/2006/may/doc446141c0eec15506554528.txt