2010: Not Tom White's Year

State Senator Tom White is a grown man. He's made a really nice living as a plaintiff's attorney, socked away a lot of cash in domestic and international investments, raised a nice family, and was elected to the Nebraska Legislature in a heavily-Democrat district. But one has to question his judgment or, perhaps, arrogance, when he decided to listen to his young political sycophants and announce that he would challenge Congressman Lee Terry in 2010, of all years.

Historically, the party in the White House, and especially where they control the executive and legislative branches, loses seats. I should know. In 1994 my wife and I spent every spare moment we had campaigning to elect a Republican to replace the late Rep. Peter Hoagland. Then, like now, the Democrats controlled the White House, the Senate and the House, and arrogantly decided their job was to rule rather than govern. The voters spoke, the Republicans gained 54 seats in the House and the Democrats lost control of the House for the first time in 50 years.

The recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts are evidence of the storm that is approaching for Democrats. The national political press continues to downgrade Tom White's chances against Congressman Lee Terry, a guy who has served as a check-and-balance on the Pelosi Congress. That is especially true now that we are learning that White deceptively inflated his fundraising and failed to acknowledge that he's at a point now that he has to loan his campaign money (story can be found here).

It is important to note that, according to the Nebraska Secretary of State records, Congressman Lee Terry remains unopposed and Tom White has not filed to run against him.

Hmmm.

Could it be that the reason why uber-liberal Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)--Speaker Nancy Pelosi's right-hand man--came to Omaha recently was to convince White to stay in the race?

Regardless of whether White officially files or not, the reality is clear: any contribution to Tom White's campaign is wasted money. He will not and cannot win in 2010, and every day he has to regret letting his hubris get the better of him rather than following the logic he learned in law school.