Two gubernatorial
hopefuls withdraw
_ .
By Brian Carlson
Assignment Reporter
Citing family and financial
reasons, two state officeholders
who had considered bids for gov
ernor have announced they won’t
run for that office in 1998.
State Treasurer Dave
Heineman and Secretary of State
Scott Moore, who each have
expressed their desire to one day
be governor of Nebraska, both
decided 1998 wasn’t the year to
make a bid.
Heineman said he opted not to
run in order to spend time with his
son, Sam, a seventh-grader. While
Heineman has been able to bal
ance ms current duties wnn iami
ly time, he said, the responsibili
ties of the governorship could be
too burdensome at this point
“It would be exceptionally dif
ficult to go out and run and be a
good governor and continue to
fulfill my responsibilities to my
12-year-old,” he said. “I have
expressed my desire that I would
like to be governor of this state,
but now is not the time.”
Heineman said he was “90
percent certain” he would seek re
election as state treasurer in 1998.
Moore, who said he intends to
run for re-election as secretary of
state in 1998, said financial con
straints kept him out of the guber
natorial race.
“I’ve said that a potential can
didate would have to raise half a
million dollars,” he said. “I don’t
think I have that capability at this
point.”
A potentially hotly contested
primary wasn’t a factor in deter
ring Moore, he said. But with a
head start in fund raising and
campaign organizing, he said, the
announced Republican candidates
clearly had an advantage.
State Auditor John Breslow,
2nd District U.S. Rep. Jon
Christensen, Lincoln Mayor Mike
Johanns and former Tecumseh
Mayor Lavern Bartels all have
announced they will seek the
Republican nomination for gover
nor.
Moore said the GOP field is
probably complete barring the
sudden entry of a candidate will
ing to spend a great deal of per
sonal wealth. He said he expected
a well-contested May primary.
“I don’t see a front-runner at
this point,” he said.
Heineman said he thought the
GOP field was set.
“I believe the current field is
the field that Republican voters
will have to choose from,” he said.
In August, when 1st District
U.S. Rep. Doug Bereuter
announced he would not run for
governor, he mentioned
Heineman and Moore as poten
tially strong GOP gubernatorial
contenders. Bereuter also men
tioned state Sen. Dave Maurstad
of Beatrice, who considered a bid
for governor before choosing
instead to run for lieutenant gov
ernor in 1998.
Mold strongly considers
run in governor race
By Brian Carlson
Assignment Reporter
Maxine Moul is “coming
closer” to a decision on whether
to run for governor of Nebraska
and expects to announce her
intentions in about two weeks,
she said this week.
Now the state’s director of
economic development, Moul
was Ben Nelson’s running mate
in Nelson’s successful 1990
gubernatorial campaign. She
served as lieutenant governor
from 1991 until October 1993,
when she accepted her current
post.
“I’ve been visiting with peo
ple across the state to get a feel
ing for what things it’s important
for a gubernatorial candidate to
address,” she said.
As economic director, Moul
said, she has been in touch with
Nebraskans’ most pressing con
cerns. Economic development,
school funding and property-tax
relief are of critical importance
to Nebraska voters, she said.
Moul said her best experience
as lieutenant governor was her
opportunity: totpresiderotvefilfre
Legislature and develop a work
ing relationship with the body.
“I have a good understanding
of the legislative process,” she
said. “I think it’s critical for a
governor to understand that
process, work with that process
and work with the state sena
tors.”
Two Democrats have
announced candidacies for gov
ernor: Lincoln businessman Bill
Hoppner and former state Sen.
; Jim McFarland of Lincoln. Steve
j '
«
I have a good
understanding of the
legislative process”
Maxine Moul
Nebraska economic director
Bennett, a Kearney podiatric
physician, also has expressed
interest.
Deb Hardin Quirk, chair
woman of the Nebraska
Democratic Party, said Moul’s
experience and connections
would be helpful in a potential
campaign.
Like Hoppner, she has the
advantage of having run a
statewide campaign before,” she
said, referring to Hoppner’s nar
row loss to Nelson in the 1990
Democratic primary. “Also,
through her function as director
of economic development she
has develops gftQtaS&SfftCffftHb
the state.” • ~
Potential candidates’ deci
sions are personal, with no undue
pressure from the state party,
Hardin Quirk said. But she said
Moul would add to an already
strong Democratic field.
“She would strengthen the
choice Democrats have to make
in the primaries,” she said. “The
two candidates we have running,
and Maxine Moul ... any one of
them would make a better choice
than any of the four Republican
candidates combined.”
Professor’s project pays
■ A land-cover map helps
scientists study climate
changes and wins the John
Wesley Powell award.
By Amy Keller
Staff Reporter
Scientists all over the planet
have a new view of the world
because of UNL Professor Jim
Merchant.
Merchant, an associate profes
sor at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln, was one of the creators of
the first map to show the vegeta
tion and land cover of every square
kilometer on earth. He works in the
university’s Center for Advanced
Land Management Information
Technologies.
•KX__a__*_J iL . T _ f_
lctcivcu iuc jsjuu
Wesley Powell award this summer
for his co-leadership in the project.
The John Wesley Powell award
is given annually to an educator
who “shows unique leadership in
expanding awareness of the U.S.
Geological Survey.” Merchant has
been working with the U.S.
Geological Survey for 20 years,
spending the past seven working
on the land-cover database.
Merchant said that when he
found out he had won the award, he
was “pleasantly surprised, very
flattered and honored.”
He was asked by the Earth
Resources Observation Systems
Data Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., to
participate in the project.Merchant
and the other team members con
structed the map by taking a year’s
worth of information from a satel
lite and placing it on the computer
ized database.
The map shows every area of
the earth and the lanCeq&prijjtt
each area, whetlrefrff islc£ Toclcp
soil or vegetation such as plants
and trees. It classifies more than
400 types of vegetation.
Scientists worldwide can use
this map to study the impact of
global climate change on the earth,
as well as the effects of tropical
devastation and deforestation. The
map could also help meteorolo
gists with weather forecasting.
Merchant said other global
maps of this type exist, but none of
them are detailed enough to be as
helpful to scientists as this map is.
“Jim’s credentials and the work
he did made him very deserving,”
said Tom Loveland, who co-led the
project with Merchant. “He’s a
delightful soul to work with.”
Loveland is a Remote sensing sci
entist at the EROS Data Center.
Loveland, who has known
Merchant for 20 years, said
Merchant is enthuSfostic-dnd:“a
motivating fofcd’ln &fecdrnplishing
' the unprecedented * V
Limin Yang, a senior scientist
at EROS, said he worked with
Merchant when he was a graduate
student at UNL, and that
Merchant’s influence played a big
part in his employment at EROS.
Merchant provided opportuni
ties for students to work on the
land-cover map with him, Yang
said, and he learned from the expe
rience.
Yang said he helped nominate
Merchant for the award and that he
thought Merchant deserved it.
“The main thing I see is his
dedication for 20-some years. Ever
since he was a graduate student, he
has been dedicated and very
involved with the U.S. Geological
Survey.”
Merchant has been a professor
at UNL since 1989, before which
he was a professor at the
-University nf Kansas. i -
He was'notified that he won the
award iVMay and received the
award in a presentation at the
EROS Data Center on Aug. 29.
The electronic map can be
accessed on the World Wide Web at
http .//edcwww. cr. usgs. gov/la nd
daac/glcc/glcc. html.
Sandy Summers/DN
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR James Merchant shows off some of the maps he has
worked on by using satellite technology. Merchant recently won an award
for his contribution ton U.S. Geological Survey of global water, land and
biological resources. The digital map will be used to study the impacts of
climate changes and global warming.
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