Posted on 04/02/2014 11:55:01 AM PDT by cotton1706
ELMWOOD, Neb. (AP) Compared with the acrimonious primary campaigns elsewhere, the race for the GOP Senate nomination in Nebraska sounds like two nice guys running for local Rotary Club president.
"We owe a debt of gratitude to all of you who have worn the uniform," candidate Ben Sasse said during a recent debate, motioning to Shane Osborn, a Navy veteran best known as the pilot of an American spy plane forced down by the Chinese military in 2001 and its crew held for 12 days.
Minutes later, Osborn pledged "to support whoever wins" the four-way primary on May 13. But make no mistake, Nebraska is a new front in the bitter national struggle inside the Republican Party between established leaders determined to maintain control and right-wing insurgents trying to change the party's direction.
Behind the public geniality, party powerbrokers including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies have quietly backed Osborn and steering the majority leader's donors his way. Tea party groups are endorsing Sasse.
For Osborn, the extra help resulted in at least $73,000 in contributions last year from political action committees that regularly give to McConnell, including heavyweight UPS, according to Federal Election Commission records. And in January, a former McConnell chief of staff held a fundraiser for Osborn in Washington, D.C.
Sasse, the president of Midland University in Fremont, has received several times that amount from a group trying to unseat McConnell, plus support from some prominent tea-party figures.
The heavy outside influence is a change from previous elections, when party leaders largely left the choice to voters. But the ugly jousting between the factions in Congress and the party's losses in 2012 ended that practice.
The party's fault lines are evident here.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Good for the candidates. Unfortunately, the senate minority leader of the party prefers to act like a democrat and has united his lobbyists against conservatives.
Either would be vastly better than the majority of those in the Senate today, not to mention the infamous Ben Nelson who fooled enough Nebraskans that they’d look like the cool people if they’d support a moderate/liberal Republican. That’s why I think - and hope - Sasse pulls this one off.
Ben Nelson - the last vote for 0bamacare. May he rue the day.
Old line republicans have the same problem as democrats.
They become so obsessed with the party that they put the nation and the constitution last.
They're not obsessed with the party, they are obsessed with the power and with the power comes money.
"For the love of money is the root of all evil:"
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