Nelson (NE) Looking Safe
Sen. Ben Nelson, who should be among the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbents, currently has an 18 point lead over his nearest rival, Pete Ricketts. The lead is a combined result of Nelson’s ability to position himself as easily the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, Elizabeth Dole’s inability to convince a top tier challenger, i.e. either Gov. Heinemann or Rep. Osbourne, to enter the race, and President Bush’s baffling selection of then-Governor and likely challenger Mike Johanns as his Secretary of Agriculture. Count this as another missed opportunity for the GOP. Fortunately, Nelson’s relative conservatism makes him a potential candidate for a party-switch during his next term.
What is also notable is that this is another case in which a highly recruited, self-financing candidate has failed to mount a winning campaign. In the last election, the NRSC went after Pete Coors in Colorado, an untested candidate who was going to self-finance his campaign, instead of helping former Rep. Bob Schaffer. Coors did not self-finance his campaign and lost a race that should have been won against now-Senator Ken Salazar. To be fair, Ricketts has invested a few million dollars in the race, but the result looks to be the same. One can’t help but wonder what could be if the GOP got its act together.