Nebraska Senate: Back to Republican Favored After Kerrey Decision
February 29, 2012 · 3:26 PM EST
Former Sen. Bob Kerrey’s last-minute reversal to get into the Nebraska Senate race is reason to re-evaluate our rating.
In the last week’s edition of RPR, we moved the Nebraska race to Safe for the Republicans based on the lack of credible Democratic candidates, but we also wrote that Kerrey, 68, would have caused Republicans to devote some time and energy to the race.
Since he has reconsidered, we’re moving the race back to Republican Favored.
Kerrey shouldn’t have any trouble raising money and has name identification, but he’s still a conventional Democrat, who has spent the last decade living in New York City, now running in a state that President Obama will probably lose by 20 points. In addition, Republicans are already passing around video of Kerrey from 2009 saying, “It isn’t just because I live in Greenwich Village now. The longer I live here, the further to the Left I get on health care.”
This is a Democratic open seat, vacated by retiring Sen. Ben Nelson, and one that Republicans must win it to get back into the majority. They seem prepared to do whatever they need to in order to a elect a Republican to the Senate in Nebraska.