IDaiy Nebraskan Voters’ Guide
October29,1996_THE SENATE Page7
I? “Golden Age” is yet to come.
sergeant; Vietnam
5 Heart (two), Combat Infantryman's Badge,
(three)
slant to U.S. Rep. John Y. McCoilister, R
erans Administration, 1981-82; co-founder
Bolins, Hagel & Clarke, 1982-87; president.
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government, cut regulation.” He re
peats those three items — his mantra
—in that order every chance he gets.
He also talks about a return to per
sonal responsibility and a focus on val
ues. He favors a national missile de
fense system, the creation of block
grants to replace the federal Depart
ment of Education and a one-third re
duction in all regulatory agency bud
gets.
Hagel, when asked by a reporter or
a supporter, says he is running because
he thinks the country can do tetter, that
America’s golden age is yet to come.
But HageLsays if he is not elected,
he will take on the next challenge the
same way he has taken on all others in
his life, including the Senate race —
head on.
“All I can do is my best,” Hagel
said. “I am not afraid to lose. If I lose,
I lose. But I don’t think I am going to
lose;”
Photos by
Matthew Waite
CHUCK HAGEL talks with Congressman Bill Barrett and supporters in Daddy’s Country Cafe in Neleigh
during a three-day bus tour through Northeast Nebraska in early October.
-
CHUCK HAGEL listens in Grand Island while Sen. Don Nichols of Oklahoma endorses him for Nebraska’s
open Senate seat.
nagel leads from brotherhood to business
From The Associated Press
OMAHA — Chuck Hagel awoke
Christmas morning in 1962 to find that
his father had died suddenly of a brain
aneurysm.
At 16, he became his brothers’
keeper, helping his mother to discipline
and raise three younger boys.
Now, the perpetual big brother with
the easy air of confidence and chiseled
good looks wants to assume responsi
bility as a U.S. senator. If Hagel wins
his uphill battle against Democratic
Gov. Ben Nelson, he would be the first
Republican senator from Nebraska
since 1988.
It’s a bid even his “bleeding-heart
liberal” brother can support.
“Whether you agree with him or not
— and we disagree on a lot of things
— if he tells you he supports some
thing, you can take it to the bank,” Tom
Hagel said. A law professor in Ohio
who describes himself as a staunch
Democrat, Tom Hagel dodged booby
traps with his older brother in Vietnam
but argued with him at home.
“We used to get into violent argu
ments about politics,” Tom Hagel said.
Hagel scoffs at critics, including
Nelson, who imply he, is a political
carpetbagger come home to buy a Sen
ate seat. “It is the height of politics to
say you can’t represent Nebraska un
less you’ve lived inside its borders all
of your life,” Hagel said.
He has been criticized for failing
to give specifics on how he would save
30 percent by eliminating the federal
Department of Education or cut 25
percent from the Federal Aviation Ad
ministration.
Nelson scored points at the candi
dates’ second debate when he de
manded to know if Hagel would cut
student loans, funds to special educa
tion or other politically sensitive pro
grams.
His plan would save money, Hagel
countered, because money would stay
in the state, rather than coming back to
Nebraska via the federal government.
And, in a political leap of faith, he said
he believes the states would continue
to provide such programs.
He also acknowledged that his bud
get is not set in stone.
“America is not going to rise or fall
on Hagel or Nelson’s budget,” he said.
“All these budgets are road maps.
They ’re blueprints.”
Hagel camp
brings in
GOP leaders
By Brian Carlson
StaffReporter
In a race that both Democrats and
Republicans say will be crucial in de
termining which party controls the U.S.
Senate, GOP candidate Chuck Hagel
has received campaign support from
several prominent Republican senators
seeking to boost his campaign and push
for continued Republican control of the
Senate.
Nine Republican senators have vis
ited Nebraska to campaign for Hagel.
His opponent, Gov. Ben Nelson, has
brought in one Democratic senator.
Hagel said campaign visits from
such party leaders as Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, Ma
jority Whip Don Nichols of Oklahoma
and Arizona Sen. John McCain lend
him credibility and “place a fundamen
tal focus on what we need to do to get
this country turned around.”
He said Nelson has avoided outside
Democratic help because he is out of
step with his party’s philosophy.
It has become common practice for
party leaders to travel around the coun
try stumping for their party’s candi
dates. Republicans currently control 53
Senate seats to the Democrats’ 47, and
leaders from both parties are seeking
to enhance their party’s standing with
such campaign visits.
Republican Rep. Doug Bereuter,
who is seeking his 10th term represent
ing Nebraska’s 1 st Congressional Dis
trict, spent about a day and a half cam
paigning with Hagel this fall. He said
visits by party leaders generally do not
make a tremendous difference in elec
tion outcomes, but they serve a useful
purpose.
“It’s somewhat helpful, but not
overwhelmingly so,” he said. “It isn’t
the endorsement that helps so much as
the opportunity to energize the Repub
lican following.”
Robert Sittig, a University of Ne
braska-Lincoln political science pro
fessor, said Hagel needs to make use
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is not as familiar to Nebraska voters as
Nelson, a popular six-year governor.
“It’s becoming a kind of ritual,” he
said. “When a seat is open and you
have a candidate who doesn’t have an
established rapport with the people,
you bring in established party leaders
to lend him credibility.”
But Sittig said Hagel is wrong in
his assertion that Nelson’s decision not
to seek extensive campaign help from
national Democratic figures reflects
upon Nelson’s standing in the party.
He said Nelson, a popular state fig
ure who earned 74 percent of the vote
in the' 1994 gubernatorial election,
would view such visits as complica
tions In a campaign in which he has
consistently held a modest lead in the
polls.
In a state where a majority of the
voters are registered Republicans,
Sittig said, Hagel would probably be
leading were it not for the popularity
built up by Nelson in his two success
ful runs for Governor.
