Former Congressional Candidate Will File for Senate Tomorrow
I just got off the phone with Scott Kleeb, who is headed East on I-80 towards the fight of his political life: "I'm going to Lincoln tomorrow to file for the United States Senate," he told me. "It's just the first step in what's going to be a long and hard fought campaign, but I will be taking that first step tomorrow."
This is the first time Scott has confirmed the rumors of the imminent launch of his campaign. Kleeb enters a Democratic primary contested by industrialist and former Republican Tony Raimondo, a battle to determine which one of them will compete in a decidedly uphill campaign against former Gov. Mike Johanns in November.
Speculation about Scott's potential Senate bid has been running through the blogosphere ever since his near-loss to Adrian Smith in Nebraska's extremely Republican NE-03 last cycle and the subsequent formation, one year later, of DraftKleeb.com, a grassroots effort that secured thousands of hours in volunteer pledges and captured the attention of local media.
In a wide-ranging interview with NNN, Scott explained his decision to run and offered his thoughts on the battles still to come:
"What was successful about our campaign last time was that it wasn't just about me, it was about getting people engaged again, getting people to take charge of their democracy." When he saw the success of DraftKleeb and the continued netroots excitement around a potential campaign "it showed me that what we built last time was for real... if I was going to run, I needed to know that there would be enough shoulders for me to stand on."
Scott also pointed to the success of Nebraska's first presidential caucus as a factor in his decision: "What the presidential election did here in Nebraska was remarkable" he said, pointing out that caucus turnout in Nebraska exceeded that in Washington later that day, despite Washington being a more populous and Democratic state. "It was great to have presidential candidates come to Nebraska, to have them learn about Nebraska issues... and we responded in great numbers."
Asked about his primary opponent Raimondo (who publicly explored a bid for the GOP nomination for months prior to changing parties): "I know Tony and I like Tony, but he will have to face a very fundamental question in this race, which is: 'why do you think you can beat Mike Johanns as a Democrat when you didn't think you could beat him as a Republican?'" |
