NE-Sen: Johanns Making With The Hatch Act Violations

Earlier this week, Henry Waxman's team at the House Oversight Committee detailed, in a scathing report, multiple instances of the Bush White House organizing taxpayer-funded trips for government officials into swing districts to seemingly help threatened Republican incumbents. In 2006, Department Secretaries and agency heads were all of a sudden jetsetting all over the country, giving grants or talking up the positive effects of policies in regions that just happened to coincide with the swing district lists.

One of those department heads was Mike Johanns, who in 2006 was the Secretary of Agriculture. He jaunted along to appear at 38 separate stops that year, with such upstanding public servants as:

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

Doolittle and Renzi have been indicted, Wilson is under questioning in the US Attorneys scandal, and Pombo was as corrupt as they come. In short, a pretty ignominious list.

Now, this would mean little, considering that the penalty for violating the Hatch Act (engaging in political activity as part of official government business) is removal from office, and Johanns is no longer the AgSecretary. However, he is running for the US Senate in Nebraska this year, against Democrat and netroots favorite Scott Kleeb.

Last night, Johanns was confronted with these charges at a debate, and he admitted to the wrongdoing.

Last night's Senate debate in Grand Island gave Mike Johanns his first opportunity to defend himself from devastating new allegations that he used taxpayer funds in 2006 to travel across the country campaigning for Republican candidates.

The Lincoln Journal-Star reports on Johanns' response:

As U.S. secretary of agriculture, Johanns attended 38 events recommended by the White House Office of Political Affairs headed by Karl Rove, according to the committee report.

Most of the travel costs for Rove-generated events were paid with federal funds, the report stated.

Answering a question posed by a panelist.., Johanns said he believes it would be "a great idea" to ban the use of taxpayer funds by the White House for such activities.

In case it isn't clear, this still-erupting scandal has the potential to remake Nebraska's 2008 Senate race.

Yes, it's quite clear. Johanns is basically calling himself guilty of participating in an illegal Rovian scheme. If there's one person you don't want to be tied to in this election, it's George Bush. And if there's another, it's Karl Rove. Scott Kleeb has a real opening.

I like Scott a lot. I've had the opportunity to meet him at a couple events, and he has some of the best Internet people around working for him. I really hope he can pull this off, especially because his race could mean a filibuster-proof majority for the Democrats in the United States Senate.

Republicans Losing All Hope Update

Yes, you're going to see a thumpin' provided by Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama in West Virginia today. But there are some other notable elections being held across the country today, including one that could really send Republicans into a tailspin.

In Nebraska, the Senate primary to replace the seat held by Chuck Hagel features a Democratic contest between former Republican Tony Raimondo and netroots hero Scott Kleeb. Here's Kleeb's closing ad, which has a whiff of Obama's message to it:



Jane Fleming Kleeb, the candidate's wife, is posting all day from her MTV blog about the race. Kleeb is a strong candidate and a nice guy who could actually make Nebraska competitive. At the least he should beat self-funding Republican in sheep's clothing Tony Raimondo.

But the big race is in Mississippi, where Democrat Travis Childers may end up beating Republican Greg Davis in a special election. This is a very Republican seat, and a loss here would really signal the disgust with which the entire country sees the GOP. The country is nearly united in its belief that the country is seriously on the wrong track, and Republicans are very late to the game in recognizing this. Indeed, even while they are desperately trying to rebrand the party as offering "change you deserve" (is that a threat?), a slogan that's actually already used for an antidepressant, the Republicans are trying to win in Mississippi by using the same old tired techniques of demonization.

Hoping to hang on to a Congressional seat in a tight special election here on Tuesday, Republicans in this mostly white and very conservative district are trying to make the vote more a referendum on Senator Barack Obama than on the candidates themselves.

In advertisements and speeches, Republicans have repeatedly associated Travis Childers, the white Democrat threatening to take the seat away from the Republican Party, with Mr. Obama. Republicans say Mr. Obama’s liberal values are out of place in the district. But for many Democratic veterans here, the tactic is a throwback to the old and unwelcome politics of race, a standby in Mississippi campaigning.

Former Gov. William Winter, a Democrat, expressed shock at the current campaign.

“I am appalled that this blatant appeal to racial prejudice is still being employed,” said Mr. Winter, who lost the 1967 governor’s race after his segregationist opponent circulated handbills showing blacks listening to one of his speeches. Mr. Winter went on to win the governor’s office 12 years later.

The new branding is just a cover for this conduct, which is way too explicit. Republicans have no ideas to move the country and simply want to tell voters the horrors of what the Democrats would present. I'm convinced that's not a victory strategy given what we face in this country right now, and we'll see if I'm right tonight in MS-01.

(The other part of that WaPo poll shows Obama up 51-44 over McCain, and this is right at the beginning of him actually campaigning in the general election. 44 is the high-water mark for McCain, in my view - he hasn't gotten very far past it in any national poll.)

NE-SEN: Scott Kleeb

During this year's Yearly Kos I had the opportunity to spend some time with Nebraska's Scott Kleeb. A bunch of us took some netroots candidates out for a celebratory dinner downtown, and Kleeb kept saying to a bunch of us "One more drink, one more drink" and we ended up hanging out all night. He's a sharp guy, smart, and unafraid to tell you what he believes. In other words, nothing like a normal politician. A lot of candidates were handing out biographical material or buttons at Yearly Kos. Kleeb brought trees. Nebraska pine trees, symbolic of his interest in environmental issues and the kind of policies that have aided western Democrats in recent years.

Kleeb is being drafted to run for an open seat in the US Senate in Nebraska. He got about 47% of the vote in a Congressional race last year, so the smart move may just be to try again. But with the other possible candidate on the Democratic side saying no to the race, this could be Kleeb's moment. Here's Jonathan Singer:

There's a lot of buzz in Nebraska over Kleeb, and the effort to draft Kleeb into the Senate race is gaining steam. As someone with a proven track record of winning votes in the most Republican region of the state, Kleeb would be a strong candidate in a Senate race -- a race that the Republicans are already worrying enough about to send President Bush in on behalf of former Governor Mike Johanns.

So if you want to send a signal to Kleeb that you'd like to see him run in this key open seat race next fall, head over to DraftKleeb.com or make a small but meaningful contribution to his campaign account through ActBlue today.

The state of the Senate races are such that Republicans will be playing defense all over the map. At least 5 races are already top-tier (Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, New Hampshire, and Minnesota), with another 5 or even 10 in the second tier. There are going to be a few races where Republicans will just let their candidate be and hope for the best. Nebraska, one of the reddest states in the union, will be one of those places. And Scott Kleeb can win.