Money fuels Nebraska primary and GOP divide

In yet another of those 2014 “bellwether” votes to determine which end of its party national Republicans favor ahead of midterm elections in the fall, Nebraska’s GOP voters Tuesday night will pick a nominee to replace retiring Republican Senator Mike Johanns.

Already, over $8.5 million has been spent on the race, according to the Sunlight Foundation, with over $3 million of that money coming from groups outside Nebraska.

The majority of outside money had gone to back Ben Sasse, president of Midland University, who is considered friendly to the tea party wing of the party. Sasse has received endorsements from tea party darling Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, along with the David Koch-funded FreedomWorks and the rightwing Club for Growth.

Shane Osborn, a military veteran and former state treasurer, is seen as closer to the GOP’s mainstream establishment, a fact given credence by the support of a Super PAC closely linked to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who faces his own tea party challenger in Kentucky next week. McConnell has drawn fire from the rightwing of his party for a perceived reluctance to move the party further, uh, right.  

Recent polling suggest a close win for Sasse, but the increasingly negative showdown with Osborn has coincided with a late surge for largely self-funded challenger Sid Dinsdale, who hopes to channel the 2012 Senate primary win of Deb Fischer, a tea party dark-horse who went on to become Nebraska’s junior (and, in next session, senior) Senator.

The departing Johanns, a former Nebraska governor and G.W. Bush administration Agriculture Secretary, has long been seen as a reliable supporter of the national Republican leadership. Johanns decried the out-of-state spending in an interview last week with the conservative Washington Examiner.

“People are sick of outside groups, they’re sick of the negative ads, they’re sick of the attacks, they’re just sick of the whole thing,” he said.

Outside money or no, the early 2014 races have not proven the same boon for tea-inclined challengers. Every GOP incumbent in last Tuesday’s primaries in Indiana, North Carolina and Ohio emerged victorious. Will tonight’s winner shed more light on the state of the ongoing tug-of-war within the Republican Party? Perhaps. But the question of whether big money will help solve the party’s identity crisis or fuel it will likely remain unanswered.

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