Uh Oh:

Nelson, a popular moderate in largely Republican Nebraska, said Obama has "the greatest potential to ending the bitterness and poisonous atmosphere in Washington." Nelson said Obama's victory speech in Iowa was an effort to reach out to Democrats, independents and "enlightened Republicans," and that Obama epitomizes what Nelson has tried to do in Washington. Obama is the "prototype of what we need today," Nelson said.

Again, the national implications for me are not positive for Obama, they are negative. I am glad that Ben Nelson is a Democrat and coming from Nebraska, I doubt we could get someone better, but Nelson's views are NOT what I want for the Democratic Party. Remember, Ben Nelson endorsed Joe Lieberman as an INDEPENDENT in the Connecticut Senate race in 2006.

Ben Nelson's desires for the Dem Party are diametrically opposed to my own. But Obama's seem in sync with Nelson's. That is very troubling.

We all are expecting this to happen in Nebraska.  

Monday, September 10th, 2007: Chuck Hagel announces his retirement at the end of this term.  

Next 2-3 Months: Three Republican Senate candidates announce and fight each other over who gets to be the nominee.  (State AG Jon Buning, Former Governor Mike Johanns, Former Omaha Mayor Hal Daub).  
One Democrat Announces (Former Governor and Senator Bob Kerrey)

There is a lot of Arguing back and forth as to whether appreciate the candidacy of Bob Kerrey or not... And while looking up some information about Bob Kerrey, I came across a diary post by "kos" on Dailykos.  

Update:

Here's the list of swing votes who might side with Nelson and the corporate lenders over debt-ridden students:

Alexander (R - TN) Bayh (D - IN) Carper (D - DE) Coleman (R - MN) Collins (R - ME) Hatch (R - UT) Landrieu (D - LA) McCaskill (D - MO) Murkowski (R - AK) Nelson, Ben (D - NE) Nelson, Bill (D - FL) Roberts (R - KS) Tester (D - MT) Webb (D - VA)

Call their offices and urge them to vote YES on S. 1762, and NO on the Nelson-Burr Amendment. The Capitol Switchboard can be reached at (202) 224-3121.

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Last week, most student organizations rejoiced as the Democrats shepherded the Cost of College Reduction Act through the House of Representatives.  The Bill represented the largest increase in student aid since the G.I. Bill.  It accomplished this in part by cutting excess government subsidies to corporate lenders, who were fattening their wallets on the backs of debt-ridden students.  Republicans tried unsuccessfully to kill the bill in the House.  The Gavel had an excellent post about that fight and the bill's passage.

The Senate version of the bill - The Higher Education Access Act of 2007 - is set to provide $17 billion in student aid to college students and recent graduates, among other provisions to further protect students.  But Ben Nelson (D-NE), whose home state is also home to Nelnet, one of the biggest corporate lenders, is trying to weaken the Senate version of the bill and return $3 billion of that to the lending industry so they can continue to line their pockets on with corporate welfare.

What I'm hearing is that the cloture votes on Iraq and the DOD reauthorization are going to fail, and the Higher Education Access Act of 2007 will be brought to the floor instead, with voting to be scheduled for today or tomorrow.  Right now, Republicans supposedly have 3-6 Democrats willing to side with lenders on the Amendment, so they are likely to see it pass.  

Here's what you can do:

Looks like the Cochran amendment was defeated and the withdrawal language stays in the bill, for now. That's a big deal.

My earlier cynicism notwithstanding, kudos to Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, and the Senate leadership!  I'm told that we lost Pryor, held Nelson, and gained Smith and Hagel. I'll update as soon as I confirm.

Update (Chris): The vote is up on the Senate Roll Call page now, so it is confirmed. Senator Feingold, the first Senator to come out in favor of a timetable, and who once again has turned a majority of one into a voting majority in the Senate, just issued the following statement:

Today marks an important step toward ending the war in Iraq . For the first time, the U.S. Senate will pass binding legislation requiring the President to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq . While this is long overdue, it is a big step in the right direction and it brings us closer to ending our involvement in this disastrous war.

The only Democrat who voted to strike the withdrawal language was Mark Pryor. I don't care what state he is from--that is the sort of issue that could cause you to lose either a primary or a general election. There isn't a state in the country that currently has a majority in favor of the war, or against this bill. Even moderate Republicans are split.

Dear Dr. Chair Governor Dean,

Thanks for sticking to your guns with the 50 State Strategy that resulted in new business cards being printed for Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid.

I am writing today to join with Harry Reid, Max Baucus, Jon Tester, Jeff Bingaman, Byron Dorgan, Kent Conrad, Maria Cantwell, Tim Johnson, Ben Nelson and nearly 50 members of the House of Representatives in respectfully asking you to give Denver the 2008 Democratic Party Convention.

Thanks for your consideration.

A Kossack piece leads me to an illuminating Senate vote on Wednesday.

At issue was an amendment to HR 4954 the SAFE Ports Act containing the text of S 3875, the Real Security Act.

S 3875 contains the Dem leadership's proposals for dealing with homeland security, Iraq and related matters, and the amendment was offered by Harry Reid.

A Hill piece today goes beyond anecdote and innuendo under hed Dem angst as unions split money.

In the lefty sphere, labor is the biggest dog that didn't bark in the night. Compared to Mike McCurry, say, it's got pitifully small space here in the last few months that I've been paying attention.

One reason (I'll put it no higher than that) may be the ambiguous relationship between labor and the Dems today. (It could also have to do with the AFL-CIO/CtW split, the bitter Sweeney/Stern rivalry, the persistance of labor rackeetering, or any number of other things.)

The first of two juicy tax bills is heading to the Oval Office.

In the event, the GOP passed the bill without the need to call any of the Dem usual suspects off the bench.

But they came anyway!