Free Republic

Young people brought to the country illegally as children but allowed to stay under a federal program will be granted driving privileges in Nebraska. Senators voted 34-10 to override Gov. Pete Ricketts' veto of LB 623 Thursday morning. Ricketts argued that the bill is wrong on principle and overly broad. "The enactment of LB 623 at this time is an expansive and unwarranted grant of an important state identification document to an overly broad group of illegal immigrants," Ricketts said.

After Nebraskans Ben Sasse and Pete Ricketts, both of whom were endorsed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, won the GOP Senate and gubernatorial nominations, respectively, on Tuesday, Palin's political action committee, SarahPAC, rolled out a video that highlighted some of her other endorsements for this election cycle. Sasse crushed his opponents and won by 27 points, but Ricketts won by just over 2,000 votes, and Palin's endorsement may have made all the difference. A Harper Polling poll in February found Jon Bruning with a 19-point lead over Ricketts, who said many Nebraskans on the fence went over to his...

On Friday, former Alaska Gov. Palin went to Nebraska and endorsed businessman Pete Ricketts for governor in the state in which her endorsement has proven to be the gold standard. Palin joined Kay Orr, Nebraska's former Republican governor whom Palin called the "original Mama Grizzly," to endorse to endorse Ricketts, whom Palin called the clear principled commonsense conservative choice in this race whose positions are clear: "he opposes amnesty and taxpayer funded benefits for illegal immigrants in any form and always has." Palin said the "alternative is woeful dependency on an inevitable sinking ship I call 'Liberal Lunacy.'" Palin has...

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) would start his 2012 reelection race in a weak position if Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning wins the primary, according to a new poll. The survey by Republican firm Magellan Strategies put Nelson 6 points behind Bruning in a general election. But pitted against Don Stenberg, another Republican in the race, Nelson is in a statistical tie. He bests Nebraska state Sen. Deb Fischer (R) by 6 points. Another cause for concern for Nelson, who has not yet announced whether he will seek reelection, is his 36 percent approval rating, which dwarfs the 51 percent who...

Breaking news: Don Stenberg and David Kramer have conceded the GOP Senate primary, making Pete Ricketts the nominee who will face Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson in November

Earlier this month, my wife Sue and I embarked on a 2-day 12-city tour across Nebraska to formally announce my candidacy for the United States Senate. Prior to this month’s tour, I spent the past 5 months traveling the state listening to Nebraskans. The overwhelming message I heard was it is time for change in Washington – and I couldn’t agree more. The leadership of the national Democratic Party has been captured by the “blame America first” crowd who want to take America in the wrong direction. Unfortunately, at the same time, many Republicans in Washington have abandoned basic Republican...