Posted on 03/12/2014 8:29:28 AM PDT by cotton1706
Former naval pilot Shane Osborn continues to lead anti-Obamacare candidate Ben Sasse in the Nebraska GOP senate primary, but the race is “wide open” and Sasse is gaining ground, according to a new poll of likely voters conducted by Breitbart News/The Polling Company.
Osborn, also the former State Treasurer, is ahead 35-24 percent, the poll found. 30 percent are undecided and none of a handful of other candidates break single digits.
In a memo explaining the results, pollster Kellyanne Conway wrote Sasse is "poised to challenge the presumed frontrunner" because he polls better – 52-31 percent – with people who have an opinion about both candidates. Sasse also leads 40-32 percent among those who have merely heard of both candidates. Osborn has wider name recognition, allowing Sasse more room to grow his support.
Both candidates appear to have an easy route to the Senate seat if they win the May 13 primary, the poll found. "Republican primary voters in Nebraska are free to choose the nominee they want to win, not the one the Establishment wizards says 'can win,'" noted Conway.
The poll surveyed 600 Nebraskans likely to vote in the Senate election--400 of which identified as Republican – between Feb. 25-28. The poll had a margin error of +/- 4.9 percent for the Republican subgroup.
The poll finds that candidates will have to campaign hard on economic issues to court the Republican vote. 43% of voters cited economic issues "like taxes and government spending" as the most important; GOP primary voters cited opposing Obamacare as their greatest concern. Currently, Osborn is winning the vote of those who strongly oppose Obamacare 35%-28%, though Sasse's background in public health policy may turn the tide as voters read up on the election.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
“Osborn, also the former State Treasurer,” = establishment aparatchik
I’d favor Sasse in this race, and it looks like he has a really good shot.
How is T.W. Shannon’s campaign coming in Oklahoma?
In a two man race, being against one is tantamount to being for the other.
Look up Ben Sasse for fine chocolates
Is there a run-off if one doesn’t get 50% majority?
“We will crush them everywhere.” — Mitchy Poo
Not really. Shane’s a stand-up conservative. He believes in giving it back to the people, and practiced that as State Treasurer. He’d go to great lengths to track people down who were owed money by the state, and make sure they got their money.
See post #10. Maybe Mconnell know his endorsement is the kiss of death.
All things being equal, at least Shane is a decorated Naval Aviator.
Sasse is untested...he could end up like Rubio, a young politician swayed by the power and influence.
True, but McConnell’s guy definitely cant be trusted
Be sure to listen to the video on the link below.
After the Senate Conservative Fund (SCF) endorsed Matt Bevin, the Tea Party challenger to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), McConnell has reportedly gone on a rampage against SCF allies and the conservative candidates it has endorsed.
Most recently, McConnell reportedly directed his anger at Nebraska conservative Senate candidate Ben Sasse, whom the SCF has endorsed in the open primary.
According to National Review, on November 12, “Sasse walked into Mitch McConnell’s office to clear the air” and let him know he never intended to oppose McConnell’s leadership, but McConnell was having none of it. The outlet notes that McConnell’s incident with Sasse in his war with SCF is “notable” because “it involves an attractive, promising candidate in an open primary as collateral damage in the intramural fight.”
Josh Holmes, McConnell’s top adviser, “privately told friends afterward it was the most uncomfortable meeting he’d been in”; Sasse reportedly turned to Holmes when he walked out of meeting and said, “That didn’t go well!”
McConnell reportedly “lit into” and grilled Sasse about “exactly when Sasse had first interacted with Matt Hoskins, the hard-charging executive director of SCF” who is “working to elect McConnell’s primary challenger.” The SCF was started by former South Carolina Senator and current Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint, who feuded with McConnell because he backed candidates—like Marco Rubio and Rand Paul—that went up against McConnell’s handpicked candidates in Republican primaries.
McConnell reportedly asked Sasse about the YouTube video (embedded below) that was highlighted on the Drudge Report in September in which Sasse said it was time for “every Republican in Washington, starting with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, to show some actual leadership.”
In that video, Sasse also ripped Washington’s permanent political class, saying that elected officials are not kings and the American people are not “peasants.” He said there is not “one set of rules for the Washington elite and another for the masses” and called on McConnell to show leadership and give up his Obamacare subsidies. The outlet also reported that “the bad blood between Sasse and McConnell escalated” when Sasse met with National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) political director Ward Baker.
McConnell, along with the Republican establishment like the NRSC, is mounting an organized effort against conservatives and Tea Partiers. For instance, McConnell, as Breitbart News reported, said he would like to punch the SCF “in the nose” on a conference call with donors of Karl Rove’s political group on October 30. McConnell has taken steps to put his words into action; National Review reported that “pressure from McConnell allies convinced SCF’s bookkeeper, Lisa Lisker, to part ways with the group,” even though “Lisker has previously worked for Republican candidates locked in tense primary elections without incident.” McConnell has been accused of “bullying” the bookkeeper.
Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin, in response to McConnell’s hostile words, told Breitbart News, “Why would Senator Mitch McConnell want to ‘punch in the nose’ the millions of patriotic moms, grandmoms and veterans who stand up for America through the Tea Party and groups like the Senate Conservatives Fund?”
“The people supporting SCF are the same people going to Tea Party meetings and rallies across the country. We elect our representatives to represent us, not to threaten us with physical violence during secret meetings with Karl Rove’s friends,” she told Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle. She added that “everything” the Tea Party said “about Obamacare turned out to be true.”
She continued, “If they’ve got so much fight in them, then where were they when we needed them to stand up and fight against Obamacare?” Martin also emphasized that the “Tea Party Patriots shares Senate Conservatives Fund’s goal of holding establishment Republicans accountable, and specifically, we shared the goal of defunding Obamacare.”
McConnell has not endorsed Sasse’s primary opponent in the race, but Sasse is being considered “collateral damage” in a fight he never wanted in McConnell’s and the Republican establishment’s broader war on conservative Tea Partiers and specifically against SCF.
Oops. Here’s the video. It’s at the bottom of the page.
I’m not sure you mean Shane? I don’t see where he even McConnell even mentioned Shane, just Sasse.
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