Rancher upsets favorites for Nebraska GOP Senate nod

Debra S. Fischer, a rancher and state senator from Nebraska’s sparsely-populated sand hills, upset two better-known men with experience in statewide elections, yesterday to win the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate this fall. She will face Democratic nominee Bob Kerrey, a former governor and U.S. senator who has been a university president in New York. Fischer’s come-from behind campaign was waged on a shoestring - raising $395,000 compared with $3.5 million for establishment favorite Jon Bruning, the state’s attorney general - but with last-minute backing by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and from television advertising by a “super PAC” financed by Joe Ricketts, whose family owns the Chicago Cubs. Fischer came out on top with 41.1 percent, followed by Bruning with 35 percent to 19 percent for former State Treasurer and former Attorney General Don Stenberg, a “tea party” favorite who had the endorsement and financial support of Sen. Jim DeMint., R-S.C., and the Club for Growth. But Fischer had modest financial support from individual Nebraska farmers and ranchers in Nebraska, several of them giving $1,000 or more. She also had $2,500 from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, an unusual primary campaign contribution from any of the national producer political action committees that are tracked regularly by Agri-Pulse...more