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-UE
and the trollface award goes to...
Bob Kerrey.
This requires a bit of explanation.
Generally speaking, if you wanna run for something in an upcoming November election, you gotta file to run by a certain deadline. In Nebraska, there's this weird little rule about that, saying, if you're holding elected office, that deadline is February 15, but if you are not, the deadline is March 1.
Incumbent governor Dave Heineman (R) is a rather popular governor. He is also an incumbent.
Bob Kerrey (D) was a rather popular senator and governor back in the day. He hasn't been in elected office for about a decade now, though (left office in 2001).
Current senator Ben Nelson (D) announced one day that he's retiring at the end of this term. That is, he's not running for re-election. Speculation immediately looks to Kerrey to see what he'll do. He says he won't run. February 15 comes and goes. People ask him again, he says he won't run.
On February 29, he files to run for U.S. Senate. Well, that's too late for even the Republican-controlled legislature to do anything about it through legal shenanigans.
Comments
I think there's a bit of explanation of why this matters missing here. Why would he hold off? What does he gain? Is it that it means that filing at this late date means that nobody who's holding office right now can run against him?
Who else is running?
Well, no one who hasn't yet filed can run against him now. The point was that Dave Heineman might have jumped in to run against him had he announced his intention before February 15.
My last sentence was that Kerrey filed so late that there wouldn't even be enough time for the Republican-controlled legislature to rewrite the law to let Dave Heineman through before March 1.
So by waiting this long to declare his intention to run, he may have kept high-profile Republican opposition (most likely in the form of Dave Heineman) at bay.
Now, unfortunately, Kerrey's doing this kinda screwed the guy who was already running as a Democrat, University of Nebraska regent Chuck Hassebrook. Hassebrook, for what it's worth, has stated he'll stay in the race for now.
So why was Bob Kerrey allowed to run if he wasn't currently holding elected office?
Because everyone can run. Holding elected office is not a requirement for running for elected office!
Stupid rule, though.
And, frankly, anyone who'd have run just because someone else decided to run didn't deserve the post in the first place. Why didn't Heineman run for it when he could have?
I mean, why was he allowed to file later than Feb 15 if he wasn't currently holding elected office.
That's the point. If you are holding office, than you can't file after February 15. If you're not, you could. He wasn't holding office, so he was able to file on the 29th. The person who would jump in to oppose him was holding office, so at that point he couldn't.
Unless I'm misreading this, that is.
Oh, I got it backwards. Whoops.
> Why didn't Heineman run for it when he could have?
Probably because he sees the Republican brand being trashed by Tea Party Republicans and the Republican presidential candidates, and he doesn't really want to run. However, if a strong Dem were to get in, the NRSC (National Republican Senate Committee) would be banging down his door to get him to run.
I'm pretty sure the trollface award goes to either Rupert Murdoch or as long as he has breathe in his body, Piers Morgan.
There are multiple recipients. :P