Nebraska
Fischer shoring up GOP base against Osborn in Nebraska U.S. Senate race • Nebraska Examiner
BELLEVUE, Nebraska — Even as outside polling shows a competitive race for U.S. Senate in ruby-red Nebraska, Republican U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer remains adamant that her challenge from nonpartisan industrial mechanic Dan Osborn is a media-driven fabrication.
Fischer said reporters “wanted to see a race,” so they created one. Nebraskans, she said, know her record of getting results on national defense issues, funding roads, bridges and broadband and fighting profligate spending.
“He may put up these maps that he loves to show and ads and things that he’s been all over the state, and I supposedly have been nowhere,” she said of Osborn. “He’s being … disingenuous. I am always out in the state … listening to Nebraskans.”
Fischer’s frustrated tone belies her annoyance at needing help from local and national Republican groups to fend off the Omaha union leader. Osborn has had help from some national Democrats, Libertarians and local Legal Marijuana NOW Party members in his upstart campaign.
Fischer brings reinforcements
On the last weekend before Election Day on Tuesday, Fischer brought in reinforcements including Arkansas’ Sen. Tom Cotton, her seat neighbor on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Army veteran contended during a Saturday visit that Fischer had seen a tough race coming all along.
Some Republicans have questioned whether Fischer’s campaign grew complacent, despite the GOP’s 2-to-1 advantage over Democrats and a significant bloc of nonpartisan voters.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which typically focuses spending in swing states, has taken the unusual step of investing millions to help Fischer in right-leaning Nebraska.
On Sunday, Fischer rejoined a statewide barnstorming tour with Nebraska’s all-GOP congressional delegation aimed at shoring up Republican support for Fischer and 2nd District GOP U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, who typically faces close races in the Omaha area.
At a stop Sunday in Omaha, U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb, a longtime friend of Fischer’s, described Osborn as a “fraud that’s being perpetrated on Nebraskans” and said the state’s voters needed to put him out of a job Tuesday.
He was referencing Osborn’s decision to pay himself from campaign funds during the race.
Osborn, at rallies of his own Sunday in Omaha and Lincoln, pledged to serve only two terms in the Senate if elected, calling term limits “an anti-corruption measure.” He reminded voters that Fischer had pledged the same and was running for a third term anyway.
Fischer told the Examiner that she learned the importance of seniority in the Senate after serving and that the state has benefited from her experience.
Fischer said there was nothing she would have done differently about her race. She largely ignored Osborn for months, sitting on a campaign war chest while he built unexpected momentum and raised funds. Fischer’s allies said she missed a chance to define her challenger early in ads.
“I’d like to know who they are,” Fischer said of her campaign’s Republican critics.
Cotton defended her Saturday, saying, “Deb was working hard, taking no votes for granted, cautioning people about the playbook that (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer was running.”
Osborn’s rise
Osborn, an Omaha union leader who has drawn blue-collar crowds from Scottsbluff to Omaha, surprised many with his sharp TV ads and willingness to anger leaders in the Nebraska Democratic Party to reinforce his relative independence.
He courted the endorsement of Nebraska Democrats for months before saying immediately after the primary that he didn’t want any party’s backing. Some of his supporters also joined third parties and worked to prevent them from nominating other candidates for the ballot.
Some of his supporters indicated this was an organized strategy. If third parties ran candidates on the general election ballot, that could split the vote more, instead of having a contest between Fischer and Osborn alone.
Osborn has built his brand with support from organized labor and progressive donors who suggest that a nonpartisan label could make popular progressive policies more viable in red states.
Fischer has called Osborn’s campaign “a political science experiment,” a jab that Osborn has embraced. He has told supporters at many of his town hall stops that many of the best ideas in American governance started that way.
Mistakes by Osborn supporters
Fischer has capitalized on late mistakes by some outside groups and people considering helping Osborn now that they’ve helped him make it a contest, including a super PAC that typically backs Democrats and Schumer.
Fischer’s campaign pointed to a text from the left-leaning super PAC saying he would align with Democrats in the Senate if he is elected. Osborn has said he won’t caucus with either party if elected, a stance he reiterated in a recent sit-down with the Nebraska Examiner.
He has said this will give him leverage enough in a divided Senate to get the committee assignments Nebraska needs. Fischer has called that naive and said he would not be treated well by either party. She also contends he would caucus with the left.
“Her opponent, though, is a little bit different kind of guy than I’ve seen,” Cotton said of Osborn. “I’d say it’s a curious kind of independent who is using the Democrats’ fundraising machine to raise millions of dollars from out of state.”
Money flows in
Osborn has benefited from roughly $20 million in outside spending on his behalf, either supporting his bid or bashing Fischer, campaign finance forms show. GOP-aligned outside groups have come in with about $9 million for Fischer.
The two campaigns have each raised nearly $8 million, as well, record hauls for Fischer and for a first-time challenger not named Pete Ricketts, Nebraska’s junior senator who put millions of his own money into his first Senate race in the mid-2000s.
Osborn’s campaign in October reported raising $3.3 million, a record quarter for any modern Nebraska Senate race. Fischer raised nearly $1 million in the same period. Osborn’s campaign said he had raised another $3.1 million since the start of the fourth quarter.
Much of that came as a slew of national and internal polls from both campaigns started showing a closer-than-expected race, and a handful showed Osborn with a slight lead. They showed Osborn receiving significant support from some Republicans.
Fischer campaign responds
Fischer’s team cut an ad recently with former President Donald Trump. Her campaign started airing and sharing the ad digitally in conservative circles to help consolidate her support from the GOP base, which moved numbers her way.
Most local political observers still expect Fischer to win, perhaps by a wider margin than national polling shows. But some leave open the possibility of a close finish or even an upset, and that has motivated Democrats and nonpartisan voters who want to break the GOP hold on the state’s delegation.
Fischer is running ads on Osborn’s statements backing a legal path to citizenship for immigrant workers if they have lived in the U.S. for decades. The ads say he supports giving Social Security benefits to people who are in the country illegally, pointing to a recent interview he gave.
Osborn says the ads are twisting his words. He said he is talking about Nebraskans’ friends and neighbors who pay into Social Security through their paychecks and get no benefit. They’ve helped shore up the system for other workers and should have a legal path to citizenship, he said.
“It’s the fact that our immigration system is broken,” Osborn said. “People that have been living here, working here, that are not criminals, they’ve raised families in communities. It’s fixing the immigration system so they can get legal status.”
Osborn talks issues
Osborn, a Navy veteran, said Fischer ran for the Senate saying she was going to fix the immigration system and then was part of the group that tanked a bipartisan immigration bill because Trump urged them to do so.
Dan Osborn, nonpartisan
“We’ve got to start somewhere,” Osborn said. “If it fell short, it fell short. But at least the American people will know that Congress is doing something. This is one of the most ineffective Congresses in history.”
He says he would support policies that make it easier for people to join unions and to advocate for better pay and benefits. He says he won’t take special interest dollars and won’t let donors influence his decisions.
He touts his union support from the AFL-CIO and the United Auto Workers, which held a major rally for him in Lincoln that turned heads when Republican State Sen. Mike McDonnell, another Omaha labor leader, joined him on stage and applauded his bid.
Fischer pushes back on rancher attack ad
Fischer has some union support as well, particularly from public safety unions representing state and local police officers and troopers and firefighters and paramedics. She also amplifies her backing from farm and ranching groups.
U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb.
Fischer took issue with Osborn’s push to call her a “fake rancher.” Her family owns a ranch near Valentine, Nebraska, where she was a school board member.
Her campaign rallied last week in Herman, Nebraska, with the Nebraska Farm Bureau, the Nebraska Cattlemen and a number of her farm and ranch supporters who argued that she has listened to their needs and is a voice they want on the farm bill.
Both candidates sat down this spring with the Examiner’s political podcast, Picking Corn, and talked about a number of issues, including the need to support allies like Israel and Ukraine with American weapons.
Both said they want to protect American service members. Fischer talked again this weekend about how she worked with Bacon to secure funding for a new runway at Offutt Air Force Base, as well as flood repairs and flood-fighting levees.
Both Fischer and Osborn said they want the next farm bill to include improved versions of crop insurance.
Osborn has talked about the need to raise the cap on income subject to the Social Security tax, so millionaires and billionaires would pay more into the program. Fischer has said she would cut the federal tax on Social Security benefits.
Douglas County Commissioner Jim Cavanaugh, a Democrat, said Osborn was the right candidate “to preserve and improve Social Security” and criticized Fischer for previously discussing the potential of raising the Social Security retirement age for younger workers.
Fischer has said that retirees rely on the program and that it needs to be protected.
Bacon and Fischer’s other defenders repeated a hook from her stump speech, that Fischer is a work horse and not a show horse.
Osborn has said her campaign is kicking a dead horse and needs to be put out to pasture.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
Nebraska
'This is actually a cool place': Tourists spent record $4.6 billion in Nebraska last year
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Is Nebraska a new tourism hot spot?
A new report from Visit Nebraska shows a major increase in travel, providing an economic boost.
Last year, out-of-state visitors spent $4.6 billion in Nebraska, an all-time record.
And since 2019, the number of overnight hotel guests has doubled, with 76% of them coming from out of state.
What happened in 2019? Visit Nebraska began a new marketing strategy that included ideas such as finding out what locations it should be promoting and focusing on attracting out of state visitors.
“Truly it’s just because people have been invited to the state in a way they understand, in a way that makes sense,” said John Ricks, executive director of Visit Nebraska, also known as the Nebraska Tourism Commission.
SEE ALSO: Nebraska tourism slogan is no more. ‘Everything has a shelf life,’ official says
Ricks says the preconceived notion of Nebraska being a flyover state isn’t true. The commission just had to let people know what the state offers.
After talking with out-of-state visitors, it learned what barriers were keeping people from the Cornhusker State.
“There’s just a simple awareness problem and a familiarity problem,” Ricks said.
SEE ALSO: Nebraska Tourism receives second national award for ‘not for everyone’ campaign
We asked users of the Now Local News App, some who live here and some who don’t, what their favorite spots are in Nebraska.
“I think that going out to western Nebraska is my family’s favorite place to go,” Melanie Dawkins said. “I don’t think enough Nebraskans make it all the way out there, like to the Panhandle.”
Kimberly Grace, who lives out of state, said she likes visiting the Stuhr Museum at Grand Island.
“You can learn about the pioneer days, and they have houses that they put on the land where you can go to visit.”
SEE ALSO: Rooms fill up in Lincoln, one of Airbnb renters’ top college football destinations
Ricks says to keep this growth going, it’s always going to be about getting the word out.
“The more people we make aware, the more people who are discovering that, ‘Hey, whatever I heard in the past isn’t true, and this is actually a cool place.’”
According to Ricks, despite the 2023 numbers just getting released, this year’s numbers are already beating last year’s by over 10%.
Nebraska
Wisconsin and Nebraska are both seeking bowl eligibility and an end to their losing streaks
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Bowl eligibility goes to the winner. Wisconsin is looking to extend its bowl streak to 22 seasons, third-longest in the nation. Nebraska has lost four straight after a 5-1 start and is looking to go to a bowl for the first time since 2016, the longest drought in the Power Four. The Badgers, losers of three straight, have clinched bowl eligibility the last two years with wins over Nebraska.
KEY MATCHUP
Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola vs. Wisconsin pass defense. Raiola will be playing his second game with new offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen as the play-caller. The freshman has struggled against Big Ten opponents. He’s thrown just three touchdown passes and been intercepted eight times over the last six games. Wisconsin has one of the best pass defenses in the conference and has allowed just three TD passes in six games.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Wisconsin: QB Braedyn Locke, like Raiola, has struggled and will have a new offensive coordinator following the firing of Phil Longo. The Badgers have scored a combined 33 points during their three-game losing streak, with Locke completing 49.4% of his passes (49 of 99) with two TDs and four interceptions.
Nebraska: DE Ty Robinson, a sixth-year player, will need to be his best in his final home game going against a Wisconsin offensive line that has allowed just 11 sacks. He’s one of the most disruptive defensive linemen in the Big Ten, with 10 tackles for loss and six sacks.
FACTS & FIGURES
Wisconsin has won 10 straight meetings with Nebraska, including all nine since the Freedom Trophy was introduced in 2014. The Badgers are 11-1 against Nebraska since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2011. … Nebraska is 0-8 under second-year coach Matt Rhule when trying to win a sixth game to become bowl-eligible. … Badgers have allowed only two plays of 40-plus yards, tied with Ohio State for fewest in the country. … Wisconsin’s Tawee Walker is averaging 97.3 rushing yards per game in his six Big Ten starts.
Nebraska
Detective speaks out about Nebraska teen’s 1969 murder case
(WOWT) – Stabbed at least a dozen times, the body of 17-year-old Mary Kay Heese was discovered along a country road in 1969.
In an update to an exclusive First Alert 6 investigation, the detective who helped solve the decades-long cold case is speaking out.
“It’s been a dark cloud over Wahoo for a long time. There’s a lot of people who remember that,” Saunders County Attorney Investigator Ted Green said.
For nine years, Detective Green has learned much about the victim’s life and how it came to an end.
“She fought some, there was a struggle,” Green said.
The suspect, Joseph Ambroz, was 22 years old in 1969 and paroled from prison for about six months when he came to live with his mom in Wahoo.
“I still don’t understand how she got in the car because that wasn’t Mary Kay’s personality,” Kathy Tull, the victim’s cousin, said in an interview.
Detective Green believes a party grove was the destination.
“And she’s just thinking its ok a couple of guys I know from the restaurant and we’re going out for a ride,” Green said.
Green reveals that Mary Kay likely got in the car with the suspect and another young man who was with them.
“He committed suicide in 77 so if he wasn’t an active participant or just didn’t realize what was going to happened all of a sudden it just happened,” Green said.
A tip line set up by the victim’s cousin led to a lake west of Wahoo where the suspect’s car may have been dumped in 1969 where dive teams found a large metal object.
“It’s everybody’s hope the golden nugget you hope had been there. But there’s evidence I can’t discuss that there’s something there,” Green said.
Evidence that remains in the lake because Green got estimates of up to $400 to pull it from the muddy, murky water.
But Green said he has plenty more evidence, including an autopsy after exhuming the body of the victim with a forensic pathologist from the Offutt Military Identification Lab adding expertise.
“There’s DNA available, its just I’ve got to go off of we have available to us,” Green said.
Though forensics will play a part in this case, it appears solved the old-fashioned way.
“This is a case that didn’t have anything glaring but had small pieces along the way. This is all gum shoe, all gum shoe work,” Green said.
Green would not respond when asked if he has found a murder weapon.
The 1969 murder of a small town high school Junior led to hundreds of interviews and tips over 55 years, and the investigation narrowed from ten suspects to one.
“Well been able to exclude everybody mentioned as a suspect way back when except for this guy,” Green said.
Even though the suspect is in custody, the case is not closed.
If you have information on the murder of Mary Kay Hesse, call the Saunders County Attorney’s Office at 402-443-5613.
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