Tuesday marks Election Day for various primary races. The most notable is of course the GOP US Senate race. Various state senate (Unicam), Regent and energy board (OPPD, NPPD, etc.) races will shape up with Tuesday’s vote, which is why the primaries are critical for you to exercise your right to vote.

Bold is not publishing a primary election voter guide. We will publish a voter guide for the general election and post that sometime in early Fall. We do want to get some thoughts out there on the primaries and some of the key races. Feel free to comment, send us edits, add your own feedback on other races…but please go vote!

Voter Info

To find your polling location, go to the Nebraska SOS site.

Polls are open 8am-8pm CT.

You do NOT have to have a photo id to vote since citizens voices were heard loud and clear and Sen. Janssen’s ALEC bill was defeated.

US Senate

Our prediction, Bruning 39 and Fischer 35…Stenberg and Flynn come in with low double digits.

Whoever makes it to the general to take on Kerrey, is “bruised and bloodied.”

There is no good choice when it comes to the GOP candidates if you care about the TransCanada pipeline, healthcare, education and wind.

All of the candidates have been vocal in their support of the TransCanada pipeline and none of them have stood up for the conservative value of individual property rights.

A landowner wrote us an email saying folks voting in the GOP Primary should just write in “No Pipeline” for US Senate and President since Romney and Nebraska US Senate candidates all support the pipeline.

Jon Bruning is getting slammed on the blogs and airwaves for making tons of money while serving the public. He has raked in close to $5 million while serving as Attorney General. Its a problem when you are serving the public and go into office with a modest income and come out a multi-millionaire. Bruning has endorsements of Huckabee, Santorum and half of the Unicam.

Deb Fischer, who lives in the Sandhills, supports the risky, export pipeline. One of her bills while she was a state senator gave oil companies the power of eminent domain. She is endorsed by “establishment” GOP like Rep. Fortenberry and half of the Unicam. Fischer has tons of support via yardsigns, but signs don’t vote and this could be just a signal of her good Comms/Field team. She is the “surging” candidate, but the surge should have started last month coupled with a new bad news story of Bruning if she was to overcome his lead.

PS: the GOP, during the general election, can not cry about Kerrey’s outside money since the Nebraska GOP Senate race is flush with outside Super PACs, rich donors and the like.

Unicam

We really care about four races (we care about all of them, but these are top on our mind right now). We think these are important to ensure moderate and progressive voices are in the Unicam because too often moderate and progressive voices are drowned out with a wall of “party-line” votes that are more about groups like ALEC or state senators listening to GOP leaders who they think they have to appease in order to climb the ladder.

Since the Unicam is “non-partisan” the way the primaries work is the top two vote getters go on to the general election in November. The person with the most votes gets the momentum heading into the general, so go vote!

LD 21

Ken Haar is the one state senator who pushed for a pipeline special session and continues to stand up for landowners, our water and property rights. We have no comment on his opponent since Ken is the leader on the issue we care about–the risky TransCanada pipeline.

LD 29 

We think Kate Bolz is the best choice in this race. She is working hard, she is young and she works for Nebraska Appleseed as a champion for working families. 

LD 39

Sen. McCoy is not the real mccoy. The way he treated landowners and citizens during the hearings on the pipeline bills was disgusting and unacceptable. Judy Domina is running against him. She is a fighter for families, especially those with mental illness and special needs.

LD 27

Colby Coash disappointed us big time with his cozy relationship with Ted Nugent. We also do not appreciate Coash saying he is for progressive healthcare and then sitting by as the Unicam makes it more difficult for families to get affordable healthcare. Kyle Michaelis is running against Colby. Kyle will bring a fresh and progressive perspective to the Unicam. He is young, smart and a thinker who will give us bills (written by him not ALEC) to move our state forward.

Regent

Regents determine the future of our university system and have a big impact on issue like stem cell research.

We have one person who know would make a great Regent bringing a business and renewable energy background–Tony Raimondo. Not only do we apprecaite his attention to new media and his website, but he is moderate on some issues, progressive on others and will bring a sense of trust with him for younger Nebraskans.

Energy Boards

Nebraska is the only 100% public power state in the country. Bold is making a commitment to be more involved in the various levels of energy boards and our Voter Guide in the Fall will have a large focus on these races.

For now we want to bring your attention to one candidate for OPPD, David Corbin. He is right our front with a commitment to wind and the bottom line is we need more elected officials serious about wind.