Bereuter beats Combs, will serve ninth term
By Tim P—fon _.
Senior Editor
U.S. Rep. l>oug Bereuter said he hadn't had
this much competition since he first cam
paigned for office 16 years ago.
This year, Bereuter had to fight off the
aggressive campaigning of Democratic chal
lenger Patrick Combs to win his ninth term in
office on Tuesday. Bereuter captured 62 per
cent of the vote with 77 percent of the district’s
precincts tallied. Combs won 38 percent of the
vote with partial returns in.
Bereuter praised Combs’ work during the
1st District congressional race.
“That’s the most effective competition I’ve
seen since my first campaign,” Bereuter said at
his election party at the Ramada Inn in down
town Lincoln. “He campaigned hard.”
Bereuter said the country was turning to the
Republicans, as shown by the party’s newly
won control of the Senate and House of Repre
sentatives.
“It’s a little anti-Clinton, go Republican
pride,” he said.
Combs conceded defeat in a phone call to
Bereuter a little after 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Even though Combs put up some competi
tion, Bereuter did nothing unusual to win his
ninth term, his campaign manager, David
Shively, said.
“We’ve kind of done the same thing we’ve
always done this year,” Shively said.
Damon Lee/DN
Doug Boroutor, Incumbent lot Congressional District representative,
speaks to suppniters at the Lincoln Itamada Inn shortly after receiving
a concessionary call from Democratic chaHar^sr Patrick Ceaibo Tuesday
night.
By Julia Sobczyk
Staff Reporter “ "
Patrick Combs lost the race for the 1st
Congressional District, but he said his cam
paign was a personal victory.
“I’m proud of our campaign and the people
who ran it because of how we ran it,” Comte,
the Democratic candidate, said. “It was a clean’
positive race.”
Combs said he called the winner, incum
bent Doug Bereuter, to congratulate him.
Although Combs was defeated, he still la
beled the campaign a success.
“I came in second, and I’m proud,” Combs
said in his concession speech. “I gave voters a
choice, and I entered the race to provide voters
with that. Voter turnout proves that I have
succeeded.”
The campaign also gave Combs political
experience, ne said.
Comte said he was proud of the way his
family, friends and supporters came together
for the campaign. They started from scratch,
he said.
When the race started a year ago, Combs
said he knew he would be up against heavy
competition from Bereuter.
“A year ago, people said we didn’t have a
chance,” he said. “Success is ours because we
had a clear vision of the future.”
Many who worked on Combs’ campaign
were friends or family members. Comte’ fa
ther, Woody , said he gave a lot of time to his
son’s campaign.
“I put out brochures, signs and used word of
mouth,” he said. “We had a motor home he
used for about 40 parades.”
The elder Combs said that although he was
inted with his son’s defeat, he still was
“I think he did a great job his first time out,”
he said. “He’s a young fellow, and he’s got
some great ideas. I’m sure he’ll be out there
again.”
Christensen picks up win in close race
OMAHA (AP) — In the tight
est race of the state, Republican
Jon Christensen defeated Demo
cratic incumbent Peter Hoagland
by a few hundred votes.
With 99 percent of the vote
counted, Christensen led Hoagland
by 1,443 votes in the 2nd Congres
sional District, which includes the
Omaha area. Christensen won
89,970 of the votes over
Hoagland’s 88,533.
“We re excited to be the
people’s representative,”
Christensen said. “Hard work, right
timing, anti-incumbency and
(President) Bill Clinton” led to the
win, Christensen said.
With the re-election of Repub
licans Bill Barrett and Doug
Bereuter, Tuesday marked the first
time Nebraska has had an all-Re
publican House delegation since
1988, when Rep. Hal Daub, R
Neb., resigned from his 2nd Dis
trict seat to run for the U S. Senate.
Daub lost in the primary of that
race.
Christensen’s win also was part
of a national Republican surge that
saw the OOP claim control of the
Senate and win more House seats
than in any year since 1956.
Hoagland, running for a fourth
term, thanked his supporters and
called Christensen to congratulate
him.
‘Tonight is a night of pride for
our democratic system,” Hoagland
said.
Trevis Keying/DN
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Secretary of State Allen
Beermann said that with absentee
ballots still out in some counties, it
was too soon to know if the margin
would narrow enough to require a
recount.
One person in the Hoagland
crowd cried for a recount.
“I’m not sure what the statutory
requirements are for a recount, but
let's not worry about that right
now,” Hoagland said.
The close race was marked na
tionwide as an example of the nega
tive campaigning this political sea
son. At one point, both candidates
took lie-detector tests to try to
counter charges levied by the other.
During the campaign,
Hoagland, 52, accused Christensen
of negative campaigning and of
being “a member of the radical
righr whose views were too ex
treme for the district.
Christensen, 31, has called
Hoagland a “manipulative liar.*'
He portrayed the Democratic in
cumbent as an entrenched liberal
who was willing to increase taxes
and encumber businesses with
regulations and red tape.
But the candidates’ strikingly
opposite views offered voters a
clear choice.
Christensen opposed controls
on gun ownership; Hoagland fa
vored controls. Christensen oj>
posed the 1994 crime bill;
Hoagland voted for it. Hoagland
opposes cutting the capital gain*
tax; Christensen wants the tax
eliminated.
Christensen opposed abortion
except to save the life of the mother,
Hoagland said opposing abortion
even in cases or rape and incest
was too extreme.
Barrett
trounces
Chapin
OMAHA (AP)—Voters sent Rep.
Bill Barrett back to Congress on Tues
day for a third term.
Barrett garnered 79 percent of the
vote in Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional
District, which covers the western
two-thirds of Nebraska.
Democratic challenger Gil Chapin
had 21 percent of the vote, according
to returns from 65 percent of the
precincts.
But even as Nebraskans returned
Barrett for another term to Congress,
they voted for term limits. Barrett
said citizens were upset with the sys
tem but wanted to retain incumbents
they believed were doing good work.
Barrett said he won the race be
cause of his hard work as a congress
man.
“I think my voting record is con
sistent with what people out here
want,” he said.
Chapin crossed thinly populated
distances in his battle against the
well-known incumbent. About
525,520 people live in the 62,663
square-mile district.
The GOP has held the House seat
for 34 years. Republicans outnumber
Democrats 56 percent to 35 percent
among registered voters in die dis
trict.
