To say this past weekend had a bit more drama than necessary certainly wouldn't be going too far, in our collective opinion.
The media - especially the conservative punditry - unnecessarily attempted to build suspense for Herman Cain's big announcement on Saturday, that he was suspending his bid for the Presidency. Anyone who has ever been in a serious relationship knew that after Cain met with his wife when he got home on Friday, he'd be leaving the Presidential race - or his wife would likely be leaving him.
The conservative alternate reality also got all worked up over a Saturday night television event that was anything but a debate. The Fox-hosted spectacle had three state attorney generals, six GOP candidates for President, more bull than a rodeo, and more failed attempts at humor than Saturday Night Live.
The saddest bit of right-wing wing holiday dreaming over the weekend came from Nebraska, however, via the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny.
Zeleny, in an article published Friday afternoon, noted that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have been not-so-quietly begging Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman to do what Heineman already has said - more than once - he would not do: challenge Democratic Senator Ben Nelson for the U.S. Senate seat in Nebraska, in 2012.
Sadly, Gov. Heineman may indeed change his mind about running for Senate, after promising he wasn't going to do so - a process that Republicans call lying when Democrats do similar things.
We're unsure if Heineman is serious, or if his statement to Zeleny about McConnell and Cornyn's entreaties is simply a follow up to the low-level, perpetual grudge match between Nelson and Heineman. That battle saw another round last week when Nelson knocked Heineman for taking a $5 million federal grant to help set up insurance exchanges for the Affordable Care Act - something that Heineman has been dragging his feet on doing.
Aside from the hypocritical nature of Heineman's actions, or the obvious desperation of the Republican Party in begging Heineman, the facts remain the same now as they were when Paul drew the cartoon and we wrote the commentary in November of 2010 - when Heineman officially announced he would NOT be running for the seat Nelson now occupies in the U.S. Senate.
We understand the polls say Nelson's race in 2012 - if he decides to undertake it - will be brutal and ugly, no matter what.
It will also be incredibly expensive. In a year when the campaign war chests of both major parties will be stuffed full of money from who knows where, campaign spending will be tighter than ever. For a Republican party that increasingly looks to be in an ugly political financing situation nationally, doing something that would likely waste a huge amount of money, while not generating a certain or even likely win isn't a fiscally responsible investment of campaign contributions - whether from the party directly, or those supporting the GOP line.
If the Republican leaders are truly fiscally responsible, they'll let Heineman go, and let the Democrats slug it out against current Nebraska Attorney General - and likely GOP nominee - Jon Bruning.
To be or not to be? We bet Democrats and Republicans alike will find out before mid-January.
