Sen. White moves toward race with Terry

Game on!

State Sen. Tom White of Omaha plans to begin raising money for an expected challenge of U.S. Rep. Lee Terry in a race that’s already gaining national attention from Republican and Democratic headquarters.

White said he will create an exploratory committee, the first step before the launch of a full-scale campaign. The exploratory committee allows White to raise cash while wooing supporters.

White, 52, is a civil rights attorney and longtime Democrat who has served three years in the Nebraska Legislature. He plans to make a final decision later this year about running.

He says the time is right for Democrats to reclaim the House seat they lost in the so-called Republican Revolution of 1994. He said the party needs to capitalize on President Barack Obama winning an electoral vote in the 2nd Congressional District.

“The Obama people are still here. The people who were energized by his campaign, the people who filled the convention center (for an Obama visit) are still here, the people who came to the caucuses are still here,” said White.

Terry, 47, a Republican and six-term congressman, declined to comment Saturday on White.

Terry has faced tough challenges from Democrat Jim Esch in the past two elections.

Last year, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee poured $746,000 into the effort to unseat Terry, while the National Republican Congressional Committee spent $519,000 to help Terry.

Terry’s supporters say he is in a better position than he was last year, when Obama motivated the Democratic base to turn out in droves.

“I don’t see the political environment as bad in 2010 for Republicans as it was in 2008,” said David Boomer, Terry’s former campaign manager, who plans to run Terry’s 2010 re-election effort.

Although the election is 16 months away, the race is already generating buzz.

Several national political publications and Web sites, including Roll Call, have written about the race. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee already has started running advertising against Terry in an apparent bid to soften him up for an election fight.

The reason for all the interest?

Terry is one of 34 Republican congressmen who serve in districts where Obama won in November.

Democrats also believe Terry is vulnerable after bruising fights against Esch in 2006 and 2008. They say that White makes for a more formidable challenger than Esch, who was a political newcomer with a thin résumé.

“Esch was an unknown, inexperienced commodity who almost upset Terry. Tom White has a distinguished private and public service record,” said Barry Rubin, a former Nebraska Democratic Party official.

Republicans counter that the political winds are in Terry’s favor and that he is a battle-hardened veteran with a formidable grass-roots machine.

Conventional wisdom holds that off-year elections favor the minority party. Republicans gained 62 seats in Congress in 1994, two years after Democrat Bill Clinton took the White House.

If history is any indication, Democrats may not have the luxury of targeting Republican incumbents, Boomer said.

“Democrats may be playing defense, and they may find they will need to use their money to defend incumbents rather than knock off Republicans,” he said.

It also could be tough to motivate the Democratic base, especially since Obama will not be at the top of the ticket, said Randy Adkins, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Adkins said that, typically, a lower voter turnout favors Republicans, who turn out in disproportionately higher numbers than Democrats.

“I’m not convinced that 2010 is Tom White’s best time to run,” he said.

White said the growing influence of Democrats in Omaha bodes well for his candidacy.

Omaha recently kept the mayor’s office in Democratic hands, and Democrats hold a 10,000-voter registration advantage in the city.

However, the 2nd District is more than Omaha. It includes part of Sarpy County, which is heavily Republican.

Overall, it’s a swing district. Republicans hold a 12,000-voter edge in the 2nd District, but the real power may rest with independent voters, who account for 22 percent of registered voters.

Both White and Terry will have to woo these nonpartisan voters.

White believes he is the candidate to make the pitch as an anti-abortion, pro-death penalty politician.

“I think my profile fits the political district pretty well,” White said.

He said he has the ability to work with Republicans and Democrats, saying he passed five bills this year in the GOP-controlled Legislature.

White grew up in Columbus, Neb. He and his wife, Barbara, have two children.

He is a graduate of the Creighton University School of Law and son of former Chief Justice C. Thomas White, who was appointed to the Nebraska Supreme Court by then-Gov. Ben Nelson.

Contact the writer:

444-1309, robynn.tysver@owh.com

« Metro/Region

Share