NE-Sen: Heineman cracks the door open

[RogueBeaver]

Dunno why, since Bruning's fine and Nelson is probably retiring anyways.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/1211/Cornyn_McConnell_recruiting_Heineman.html

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

If he runs, Nelson's hopes are nearly completely gone. Heineman would wipe the floor with his fellow Republicans and beat Nelson by 8-10% in a best-case scenario for the Democrats.

[nkpatel1279]

Nelson-D ran for US Senate in 1996, suprisingly lost to Hagel-R by a double digit margin.
Nelson-D ran for the other NE US Senate seat in 2000, narrowly defeated Stenberg-R. Had Stenberg won, he'd be in the US Senate.

[Miles]

I'd say Nelson has about a 25% chance vs. Brunning and still less than 50% vs. Stenburg.
If Heineman runs, I'm fully expecting Nelson to retire.

[redcommander]

Awesome. Nelson would lose a la Blanche Lincoln against Heineman. Brunning, Steinberg, and Fischer would all make it somewhat competitive, but would still probably defeat him comfortably.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I think Nelson should drop out either way. He'll suck up resources from more reliable Democrats, like McCaskill, Warren, Baldwin, Kaine, and whoever wins in NM (I like Balderas and Heinrich).

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

I wish Nelson would step down and Bob Kerrey could jump in.  He's probably the closest to a competitive, somewhat progressive challenger from that state.

[DrScholl]

This was supposed to be one of the easy pickups and now they are begging someone else to get in.

[RogueBeaver]

This was supposed to be one of the easy pickups and now they are begging someone else to get in.

I think it's a pressure tactic to force Nelson out. If he bows out as expected, they stick with Bruning. If not, then they run Heineman.

[Stranger in a strange land]

I wish Nelson would step down and Bob Kerrey could jump in.  He's probably the closest to a competitive, somewhat progressive challenger from that state.

Kerrey would lose. He's been out of the state for almost 12 years, and his tenure as president of the New School was turbulent to say the least.

[RogueBeaver]

More news that Heineman is just pulling everyone's leg, he isn't serious about a run. You don't need a big name to take down Ben Nelson, just a medium one.