How much of a Bushie is Nebraska's Republican Senate candidate Mike Johanns? Enough to be one of Rove's roving team of administration officials who campaigned for Republican incumbents on the taxpayer's dime.
Johanns was Bush's Ag Secretary in 2006, and made a whopping 38 "official government" trips to help elect Republican candidates in 2006.
Just check out some of the leading lights Johanns was campaigning for, according to documents released by Waxman's committee:
- 4/21/06 Marilyn Musgrave, Colorado, Taxpayer Expense for Official Event
- 7/7/06 John Doolittle, Auburn CA, Taxpayer Expense for Official Event
- 7/7/06 Richard Pombo, Elk Grove CA, Political Event
- 11/1/06 Heather Wilson, Albuquerque, NM, Taxpayer Expense for Official Event
- 11/2/06 Rick Renzi, Casa Grande, AZ, Taxpayer Expense for Official Event
That's quite the track record. Musgrave/Doolittle/Pombo/Renzi are four of the 20 most corrupt Congressman in 2006, according to CREW. Quite a track record.
Johanns is a relatively popular former governor of Nebraska. Now, Nebraskans don't like to pay taxes any more than any other group of Americans. They're probably not going to be too excited at the thought that their taxes were being used for their former governor and would-be Senator to go off and reelect the likes of John Doolittle.
But are Nebraskans going to find out about this? Only if Scott Kleeb can tell them about it. Now, the DSCC could help with that a lot, with a minimum of expenditure. Nebraska isn't a terribly expensive media market, they have yet to commit anything to Kleeb's race, and obviously have money to burn.
What better way to sink the final nail into the coffin of Karl Rove's Republican party than to deny Mike Johanns this Senate seat? The DSCC should be playing to really win now--the Holy Grail of 60 is all of the sudden not looking so out of reach. They can afford to run the board--invest everywhere, including Nebraska. What have they got to lose in this environment? They've got the money to do it, and in Scott they have a very credible candidate--he proved that in 2006.
Going into Nebraska makes a lot of strategic sense beyond the Senate race. Obama has decided to make a play for the 2nd CD, opening three offices in Omaha in the last month or so. The DCCC is going in heavily for Jim Esch, who has a very real shot at beating the Republican incumbent. If the DSCC went in with as little as $100K, they would reinforce the Democratic message triple-fold in the eastern part of the state, where Scott is less well known than in the west, where he ran in 2006.
But we can help, too. And repudiate Rove and the "permanent Republican majority" to boot. We've talked about throwing them an anvil, breaking their backs, and crushing their spirits.
Let's do it in Nebraska.