Reuters: Politics: Nebraska rancher takes narrow lead in Senate primary

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Nebraska rancher takes narrow lead in Senate primary May 16th 2012, 03:50 Omaha, Nebraska | Tue May 15, 2012 11:50pm EDT Omaha, Nebraska (Reuters) - Rancher and state Senator Deb Fischer took a narrow lead over Attorney General Jon Bruning in the Nebraska primary election for the Republican Senate nomination on Tuesday, according to election returns. The winner will face Democrat Bob Kerrey, former senator and governor, Kerrey in a race that Republicans are counting on winning to help them seize majority control of the Senate this November. With more than half Nebraska's election precincts counted, Fischer had about 39.5 percent of the vote to Bruning's 36.7 percent. State Treasurer Don Stenberg was third at 19.4 percent. Bruning, 43, was the acknowledged front-runner since announcing days after his re-election as attorney general in 2010 that he would seek the Senate seat. His main challenger during most of the campaign was Stenberg, 64, who was making his fourth try for the Senate seat. Fischer, 61, trailed the other two in both statewide organization and fundraising but benefited from several high-profile endorsements late in the campaign, including one from former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. The winner faces Kerrey, a former Nebraska governor and two-term senator, who returned to the state from New York earlier this year to enter the race. He easily won the Democratic primary. Kerrey was president of The New School in New York City from 2001 to 2010 after stepping down from the Senate. The race to replace retiring Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat, is in the national spotlight because Republicans have high hopes of picking up a Republican seat in the Senate out of Nebraska. Democrats now hold a 53-47 advantage in the Senate. Forty-eight percent of Nebraska registered voters are Republicans compared with 38 percent Democrats. Fischer's surge came during the last two weeks of the campaign when she ran a humorous ad featuring two Angus bulls on her ranch in the Sandhills, and picked up endorsements from Palin, former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain and Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry. The Super PAC of Chicago Cubs owner and former Omaha businessman Joe Ricketts paid for an "Anyone but Bruning" television advertising attack last weekend that hammered the attorney general on ethics issues. Bruning faced campaign criticism for investing in banks and businesses while serving as attorney general. He has defended the investments, saying they were passive and that he did not make any management decisions in the companies. Fischer's late push came after about 59,000 people voted with mail-in ballots at a point in the campaign when Bruning was seen as the likely nominee. Late polls showed that Republican voters were shifting to Fischer as Bruning's image took hits. (Editing by Greg McCune and Lisa Shumaker) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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