Bob Kerrey is Ready to Throw His Hat in the Ring in Nebraska

Just in time for the election filing deadline this week, The Washington Post has word today that former Senator and one-time Democratic presidential candidate Bob Kerrey will be running in Nebraska for his old seat in Congress.

Just in time for the election filing deadline this week, The Washington Post has word today that former Senator and one-time Democratic presidential candidate Bob Kerrey will be running in Nebraska for his old seat in Congress. This news comes after an apparent change of heart from his stated decision not to run earlier this month. Talking Points Memo notes, "This is good news for Democrats, who felt that with Kerrey they have a chance of maintaining the seat being vacated by retiring Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson." But that "good news" may be only for those who don't remember the most recent (bad) news Kerrey made during his post-politics stint as president of The New School in New York: In December 2008, there was a faculty vote of no confidence and student sit-ins, and his poor relationships with professors and anti-union stances. That last one's not exactly the kind of thing Democratic voters are likely to forgive, but then Nebraska is one of the country's more conservative states, so Kerrey's New School reputation might not be a problem.

Should Kerrey win, this potential Senate seat will be an added chapter to a long electoral career, which includes serving as Nebraska's governor in the 1980s and representing Nebraska in the Senate from 1989 to 2001, as well as a run against Bill Clinton for the Democratic party's presidential nod in 1992.