Sen. Nelson To Endorse Obama Saturday Morning

[BeyondGeography]

http://www.ketv.com/news/15032306/detail.html

[jefferson_dem]

1. Good news!

A moderate-conservative Dem to be sure but the ObamaWagon is huge...and Nelson's support may help in "fly-over" country.

[sandnsea]

2. It'll help in OK, KS, ND,

I guess. I could live without it, frankly.

[David Zephyr]

3. How long before the smears of Senator Nelson begin.

And will the smears of Senator Nelson be retreads of hideous smears against John Kerry or Gary Hart?

Congratulations to Senator Obama.

[jefferson_dem]

4. 5...4...3...2...1...

:hide:

[fooj]

6. Voting records speaks for themselves. Sen. Nelson's is a beauty!

[Adelante]

30. You do have a point nt

[babylonsister]

17. You sure called that! nt

[Cha]

20. And this is probably on DU

somewhere because a friend told me about it at work today but just in case.. Governor Janet Napolitano endorsed Obama today. Yay!

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvzT8keHzVS3YjP8BJDDrf64A_AwD8U3SSNO1

[last_texas_dem]

41. Yes, but smears of Nelson have been pretty commonplace on here

for as long as I can remember. Seeing people on here actually praise Nelson is actually the weirder thing to come out of the endorsement. haha Congrats to Obama on another high-profile endorsement, though.

[depakid]

5. Now there's an endoresement that's bound to please the base!

Maybe Obama can give him a cabinet position to get him out of the Senate....

[JI7]

25. unlikely we can get someone better elected in Nebraska

he at at least gives us the numbers.

[jackson_dem]

7. Ben Nelson (DINO). The embodiement of everything Obama's loyal base despises

[HeraldSquare212]

dupe

[HeraldSquare212]

9. PS Jackson was a warmonger!

[sniffa]

13. and a genocider

[David Zephyr]

14. He wasn't a good man, but what's the point of that here?

?

[HeraldSquare212]

32. It was just a humurous, friendly dig at the poster

I suppose I should start using icons.

[David Zephyr]

33. Thanks for spelling that out for me. Duhhh.

I like jackson_dem, but I don't like Andrew Jackson. :)

[HeraldSquare212]

8. Nice! nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. Did Nelson really earn those purple hearts?

:eyes:

[Proud2BAmurkin]

11. Ben Nelson isn't he the a Leiberman clone?

?

[jackson_dem]

12. Lieberman looks like Dennis Kucinich compared to Ben Nelson

Nelson votes with the Republicans about as often as he votes with Democrats.

[jefferson_dem]

19. That Obama receives endorsements from Ned Lamont one day and Ben Nelson the other

says volumes about the breadth of his appeal. It's a beautiful thing.

[Cha]

26. Yeah, that's the key right there..

there'd be nobody good enough to support Obama for a certain element of society.

So by this time it's all about how many grains of salt one needs to take.

[Inuca]

27. Exactly n/t

[depakid]

28. A more accurate interpretation is that he's all over the map

and aside from the anti-Hillary sentiment, it's hard to gauge where he stands.

[Inuca]

29. No

I think that what unites people as different as Ben Nelson and John Kerry in their support of Obama is not so much their agreement with positions on specific issues, but rather they support his different approach to politics. Here is a quote from Kerry's speech yesterday that makes my point much more eloquently, please have a look http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2653385&mesg_id=2655373

Also, neither Kerry, nor Nelson, nor the other politicians that have endorsed Obama are not idiots (though they may be often called such in these neighborhoods). They know that openly supporting Obama is politically risky at this point. In spite of the media hoopla, I think that he is still the underdog for many reasons that I will not get into now. Supporting him is not the politically expedient thing to do, and I appreciate the politicians that have the guts and the vision to do it. And to my major surprise, the list includes Ben Nelson.

[depakid]

31. From Nelson's perspective, "a different approach" means caving to the far right

and betraying traditional Democratic values on issue after issue.

Nelson and his ilk work tirelessly to enable and legitimize Republican policies- and cross over (or fail to actively oppose) even the most egregious legislation and nominees.

Apparently, that's what's been meant by "bipartisanship" or "bringing people together."

Which is why people have cause for concern-

What we've seen and heard from Obama either indicates:

1. That he implicitly supports that pattern of behavior; or

2. He's evincing naivity as to nature of who and what we're dealing with these days.

[sandnsea]

36. It means finding common concerns

like weapons proliferation or budget transparency, and working on those. That's what he did with Lugar and Coburn. It's not rocket science.

[Inuca]

15. This is actually quite interesting and relevant

It says a lot that Obama's endorsements come from all over the dem spectrum. I prefer his republican colleague to Ben Nelson in many respects and I am almost sure that Lincoln Chaffee had a better dem voting record than him, but I think his endorsement is good news. Also, from wha I know, he is quite popular and influential in NE which cannot hurt.

[Nimrod2005]

23. Thank you......nt

[Nimrod2005]

24. Thank you......nt

[babylonsister]

16. That's a SHOCKER to me! Good news! nt

[frogmarch]

18. from wiki

which isn't always a good source, but read this about my senator, Ben Nelson:

Nelson's votes in the Senate have often placed him at odds with the leadership of his party. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has said that Nelson is probably the most conservative Democrat in the Senate. This perception is supported by a National Journal congressional vote rating from 2006, which placed Nelson to the right of five Senate Republicans (Gordon Smith, Olympia Snowe, Arlen Specter, Susan Collins, and Lincoln Chafee). Mary Landrieu was the only other Democrat to place to the right of any Republicans (she placed to the right of Chafee). <6> A similar 2007 National Journal congressional vote rating went even further, placing him to the right of eight Senate Republicans (the above five as well as Richard Lugar, Norm Coleman, and Mike DeWine), with Landrieu once again placing to the right of Chafee and being the only other Democrat to place to the right of any Republicans.<26>

Nelson was one of only two Democratic senators to vote against the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. Nelson is strongly opposed to replacing the income tax with a national sales tax, a position that finds favor with increasingly many conservatives. He has voted with Republicans on matters of bankruptcy reform, environmental protection, lawsuit reform, and trade. In 2004 he was one of only three Democratic senators to vote to invoke cloture on the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment; in 2006 he was one of only two Democratic Senators to vote that way.<27> He was the only Democratic senator to vote against a 2006 bill that would have extended federal funding for Stem Cell Research. He has, however, voted consistently against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He has also opposed President Bush's plan to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq. <7>. Early in Bush's first term he voted with the majority of his party against scrapping President Clinton's expansive new rules on ergonomics regulation for workers; many of his fellow conservative Democrats like John Breaux, Max Baucus, Blanche Lincoln, and Zell Miller voted with Republicans on the issue.

On July 12, 2007, Nelson broke with his party in a vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee, restoring funding to Vice President Dick Cheney's office.

[goldcanyonaz]

21. Congratulations to Senator Obama.

[frogmarch]

22. Ben Nelson is "pro-life" and opposes abortion nt

[sandnsea]

37. So is Harry Reid

Would John Edwards turn down his endorsement?

[frogmarch]

40. Oh, that's right. I'd forgotten.

I don't know what Edwards would've done with regards to a Nelson endorsement, but there was no chance that Nelson, who is to the right of 7 Congressional republicanz, would have endorsed an outspoken Progressive like Edwards.

NE Democrats appear to like Obama a lot, so in this state the Nelson endorsement won't hurt him.

[jlake]

34. Congratulations to Obama. Now he is just awaiting Bush's endorsement.

[Inuca]

39. Didn't he kind of endorse Hillary

a while back :-)?

[Infinite Hope]

35. Each new endorsement gives greater "cover" for future endorsements.

More elected officials will trickle into Obama's camp after several popular elected officials have paved that path with credibility.

[Barack_America]

38. Excellent news. A wonderful endorsement.

In light of this and *other* recent events, I wouldn't be surprised to see a flurry of endorsements follow.