From the New Nebraska Network:
Last week's DKos Political Wrap-Up included a short mention of this "winnable district" that provided President Obama a historic victory - for the first time splitting Nebraska's electoral college votes. In that same election, six-term Republican Congressman Lee Terry survived his closest race yet by only 4 points against a 32 year-old challenger without any experience in elected office. With that record, Terry's obviously in the crosshairs for a 2010 defeat if Democrats can only find the right candidate.
The previous report stated that it was "unclear" whether the top Democratic recruit, Omaha State Senator Tom White, would enter the race. But, this weekend, we're seeing very strong signs that White will challenge Terry and just might make Nebraska's 2nd District one of the definining Congressional battlegrounds of the 2010 election.
The Lincoln Journal-Star reports:
State Sen. Tom White strode Saturday night to the brink of a 2010 bid for Republican Rep. Lee Terry’s House seat. White focused on Terry with the intensity of a laser beam during a speech to 350 Democrats, portraying the six-term congressman as a tool of the GOP House leadership.
Terry has "morphed from George Bush’s rubberstamp into a proud, card-carrying member of the Party of No," White told the traditional Morrison-Exon Dinner audience....
In a pre-dinner interview, White said he plans to decide next month whether he’ll enter metropolitan Omaha’s 2nd District House race.
"I’m close to making a decision," he said. "It’s fair to say I’m seriously considering entering the race."
Just in case that report leaves any skepticism about White's intentions and his commitment to entering the 2010 race, the following report from this weekend's Congressional Quarterly appears to answer those questions quite definitively:
Six-term Nebraska Republican Lee Terry appears certain to be targeted by Democratic strategists in his 2010 House race, given his close escape in his 2008 general election rematch with Democrat Jim Esch in the state’s 2nd District....
And while two-time challenger Esch, a lawyer and businessman, is unlikely to make a third try for the seat, the sudden burst of partisan competition in the 2nd District appears likely to produce a serious challenge to Terry by Democratic state Sen. Tom White, a member of Nebraska’s unique unicameral legislature since 2006....
Not long ago, the idea of Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District appearing on the Democrats’ target list would have seemed far-fetched....But that was before Esch, who was 30 years old and had no previous political experience when he first ran, trimmed Terry’s victory margin from 25 percentage points in 2004 to 9 points in 2006, and then to 4 points in the 2008 rematch.
And that was also before Obama’s campaign put on that huge voter turnout push and succeeded in winning the 2nd District vote — peeling off one of the five electoral votes in Nebraska....
In Douglas County, which includes Omaha and the bulk of the district’s population, the big Democratic voter registration efforts in 2008 enabled the party — for the first time in 14 years — to exceed the number of registered Republicans. The GOP voter rolls actually diminished by nearly 9,700 over four years, according to the county election commission.
Exciting stuff for a traditionally "red state", wouldn't you say? This is a race we should win, and this is the candidate who can win it.
In three years in our state legislaure, Tom White has been its strongest voice demanding corporate accountability, fighting for government transparency, and defending the interests and values of working-class Nebraskans. Putting that record and those values on the 2010 ballot should give voters the choice they deserve between the same warmed-over Bush-era policies from Lee Terry or finally having a real voice in Washington D.C.
Make no mistake about it, right now, Lee Terry is on the defensive. The people have lost faith in his ability to lead. And, his party has lost faith in his ability to win. Terry spent months last year begging for national support while his standing with voters was in a virtual free-fall (1, 2). The National Republican Congressional Committee's late infusion of half-a-million dollars attacking Esch was enough to save Terry in 2008, but that's no guarantee he can count on another political bail-out in 2010.
In the last two elections, Jim Esch essentially ran stealth campaigns that exceeded any reasonable expectations for a candidate with so short a resume. Esch's strong performance despite the experience question proved just how hungry 2nd District voters were for a fresh voice and some actual leadership.
Should he run in 2010, Tom White offers all that and more. Except, this isn't going to be an under-the-radar match-up. This is shaping up to be the race to watch in Nebraska politics.
I hope we in Nebraska can count on the Daily Kos community and our friends in the progressive blogosphere to help us finally bring down Lee Terry. We played a small part in changing the country in 2008, but we're still hungry to do so much more. With your help, we can make that blue dot in last year's presidential election the beginning of a new age in Nebraska politics.
Thank you, and please stay tuned to this very important race.