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What seems like five minutes after Tuesday’s election, we heard from newly re-elected Governor Dave Heineman that he was not interested in running for the United States Senate seat currently held by Ben Nelson that will be up for re-election in 2012. Certainly, considering the almost continuous sparring between the Governor and Senator Nelson over the years, but most especially since the health care debate heated up last year, many speculated Heineman was considering a future run against Nelson.

Further speculation was abbreviated by the announcement of Nebraska’s Attorney General, Jon Bruning, that he was forming an exploratory committee to consider a run for the seat.

While many of us most assuredly have avowed that Ben Nelson needs to be shown the door in 2012, I believe some caution is in order. It’s incredibly early in the game and I, for one, would like to see a slate of potential candidates from which I can choose, not just one. We are currently doing some research on Jon Bruning’s background and intend to report more here when available. In part, this decision is motivated by the level of interest in election information we saw on this site in the two weeks leading up to November 2, in part by a comment from a site visitor interested in candidates, and finally, by some information of which we were already aware.

Until further research has been conducted, I will only remark we have taken a preliminary look at Attorney General Bruning’s campaign contribution reports on the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure website. A great deal of money was raised, much of which was from outside of Nebraska.

Until we produce more information here, I would submit that we should all ponder the advice of…Mommas everywhere. “My momma told me, ‘You better shop around’” seems like wise advice two full years in advance of election. We don’t have to be sold on the very first one…the very first candidate.

For the perhaps younger or more pop culture savvy among us, I submit a recent version of this advice:

For the more, uh, distinguished readers, or even the musically diverse and eclectic, I submit the original:

Both are a great listen – the advice, wise.