1 SUIT! j
NU with a vengeance
Nebraska made up for two losses to Colorado
last year with a three-game sweep of the I
__Buffaloes on Wednesday night. PAGE 7
HE
Hie movement movement
The Omaha Modem Dance Collective, a group
devoted to increasing Nebraska’s artistic visibility,
will hold its annual concert this weekend. PAGE 9
^ -
VOL. 98 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF .52
Western
By Brian Carlson
. Stoffwriter
Strong showings in Omaha and
throughout western Nebraska propelled
Mike Johanns to victory in the gover
nor’s race Tuesday.
Johanns, the Republican, won in 70
counties, while his opponent, Democrat
Bill Hoppner, captured the remaining
23. ,
Johanns won in Douglas County
with 68,601 votes to Hoppner’s 60,066.
In Sarpy County, another populous
county in the Omaha metropolitan area,
- Johanns earned 17,368 votes, while
Hoppner received 11,813.
Johanns claimed victory in every
county west of a line that runs from
Keya Paha County in the north to
Harlan County in the south and divides
the state just east of center.
Hoppner was victorious in
Lancaster County despite the fact that
Johanns has been mayor of the county
seat, Lincoln, since 1991. It wasn’t
enough, however, to overcome Johanns’
strong support in the majority of the
state.
Overall, Johanns won 55 percent of
the vote to Hoppner’s 45 percent, based
on Wednesday’s unofficial final results.
John Hibbing, a political science
professor at the University ofNebraska
Lincoln, said the election results, espe
cially the strong Republican showing in
the third congressional district in the
west, were typical of Nebraska electoral
results.
Hibbing said Hoppner’s call for
lower property taxes and opposition to
the market-based agricultural reforms
ofthe 1996 Freedom to Farm Act appar
ently failed to resonate with voters in
west-central and western Nebraska.
“I thought Hoppner might have
been able to make more inroads,” he
said. “I thought maybe property tax
concerns would dovetail with
Hoppner’s opposition to Freedom to
Farm, but it doesn’t look that way.”
Western Nebraska traditionally
votes Republican, and Hoppner’s cam
paign was unable to break this tendency,
Hibbing said.
Johanns won some decisive victo
ries in western Nebraska counties, whi
ning by 2-to-l margins in Scottsbluff,
Cherry and Keith counties.
Chris Peterson, Johanns’ press sec
retary, said western Nebraskans related
to Johanns’ conservative message.
“I think western Nebraskans really
want less government,” he said. “When
it comes to day-to-day life, they just
want government out of their way.”
Please see ROUNDUP on 2
__Source: Nebraska secretary of State 1
JonFrank/DN
ScottMcClurg/DN
TAMMY KEAR HOLDS a protest sign near 10th and P streets as a one-way street supporter signs a petition that will be brought
to the Lincoln City Council. About 10 protesters endured cold temperatures Wednesday afternoon for a second rally to garner
support to return P Street to one-way.
1:1 -j
r <1
By Dane Stickney
Staff writer
Despite cloudy skies and tempera
tures in the upper 30s, supporters of a
one-way P Street stood along the street in
another protest Wednesday. t
Demonstrators held signs that read
.- “Quit .City, Our Street” and “Which way?
One-way!” Other signs encouraged dri
Jo honk for the change.
protesters stood on P Street
between 10th and 11th streets fortm hour.
marking the second time in a month peo
ple have shown their discontent with the
two-way street.
Their goal was to collect signatures
and gain public support to return the
street to one-way traffic. Before
Wednesday’s demonstration, about 3,500
signatures had been collected.
They hope to present more than 4,000
to the City Council at Monday’s public
hearing on the P Street matter.
Jim Wrenholt is the informal leader of
the P Street petition drive, which includes
about 100 people who are dedicated to
making P Street a one-way street again.
Wrenholt, a Lincoln businessman,
said the Monday hearing at 1:30 p.m. is
important because it is the first public
hearing on the P Street situation.
“It is a public hearing, so anyone can
speak,” he said. “People need to be aware
that this provides an opportunity for them
to have a say on the situation.”
After the hearing, the City Council
will vote on the possibility of changing P
Street back to a one-way street.
Please see P STREET on 2
look for ways
to boost turnout
By Todd Anderson •
Senior staff writer
Following Nebraska’s lowest voter turnout for a general *
election in 20 years, state leaders are-searching for reasons as •
well as solutions to a national and local trend.
Nebraska Secretary of State Scott Moore said final unoffi
cial reports show 536,672 - 50.8 percent of registered voters -
made their way to the polls Tuesday.
The 1998 election year saw a record number of registered
_a_r___
VUIWIO 1UI IIVUIOOIVO,
at more than 1 million.
That high number,
Moore said, is a result
of experimenting with
Motor Voter legisla
tion, which is
designed to make reg
istration easier by
allowing Nebraskans
to sign up while they
apply for a driver’s
license.
For Nebraska,
which traditionally
has a higher voter
turnout rate tnan me
nation as a whole, Moore said that percentage is historically low
because the number of registered voters is so great
But die percentage and, more importantly, die total number
of voters, were die lowest since 1978, he said.
Chuck Sigerson, Nebraska Republican Party chairman,
said voters have been turned off by negative campaigning in the
past.
But, he said, the voters who complained of mud-slinging
campaigns have not made the decision to pay attention to recent
clean-election campaigns.
“Thpse are voices from the past who haven’t taken notice
Please see TURNOUT on 2
u
In this society that 's
changed so much, we
need to look at
different ways to get
people to vote.”
Scott Moore
Nebraska secretary of state
I ■ I. ■ — I. ii