LINCOLN (AP) — The Nebraska Democratic Party has added Gov. Dave Heineman's call for a special budget-cutting legislative session to its list of soft spots in the Republican's record that they hope to exploit heading into next year's election.
Shortly after Heineman announced Wednesday that he plans to call a special session next month, state Democratic Party Chairman Vic Covalt called it a “confession that Heineman mismanaged” the budget process last spring.
Five months after his budget was passed, Covalt said, “We have a crisis. ... What kind of leadership is that?
“It is time for a change,” he concluded.
But so far the Democrats don't have a candidate to propose change, and it could be months before one is announced. Covalt said it is even possible the party may wait until the state party's convention in July to announce a gubernatorial candidate.
Covalt's Republican counterpart, Mark Fahleson, said, “You do that after someone's died” and you're scrambling to get another candidate.
“It's Oct. 9 and you haven't even heard a whisper of anyone challenging Gov. Heineman,” he added. “I'm confident the Democratic Party won't field a credible candidate.”
Covalt acknowledged that the party doesn't have a candidate lined up now but scoffed at the idea that it's getting late. The campaign season has become much too long and expensive, he said, and candidates risk spending money and energy unnecessarily.
“Would I prefer to have someone out there now?” Covalt said. “I'd prefer to have the right candidate out there.”
A couple of people have expressed interest in running, he said, but he didn't know how far their interest goes.
The Democrats have struggled in recent years to groom people in their party for higher office, a fact Covalt acknowledged. He took over a little less than a year ago.
At that time, state Democrats were riding a wave of enthusiasm and political change they hoped would carry them into the 2010 elections. President Barack Obama won an electoral vote from the Omaha area's 2nd Congressional District — the first time a Democrat has done so since Lyndon Johnson carried the state in 1964.
And for the first time since Gallup began tracking the political leanings of Nebraska adults in the early 1990s, when Bill Clinton was president, more people identified themselves as Democrats or leaning Democrat than as Republicans or leaning that way over the first six months of 2009.
If they struggle to get candidates for governor and other statewide offices, Democrats risk losing any momentum they've gained.
Heineman called Covalt's assertion that a special session was a sign of mismanagement “unfortunate ... partisan games” and pointed out that Democrats in the officially nonpartisan Legislature voted for the budget.
A report that showed state tax revenues falling below projections by $40 million in September prompted Heineman to call for the special meeting of lawmakers so the two-year budget that was passed in May can be cut.
The special session is slated to start the first week of November.
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