The Republican party is in trouble. Big trouble. And this is from a state that is supposed to be redder than blood, if there’s such a thing.
Barack Obama had a huge advantage in money. Ignore the fact that he backed out on his promise to accept public financing. The money gave him serious advantages in the swing states, and it’s one reason that Indiana, Virginia, and North Carolina; all GOP stalwarts, went blue.
But Republicans are in danger of losing Nebraska. There is a changing demographic up here, and the Democrats were able to get an impressive ground game and volunteer effort that just surprised me beyond all belief. The Obamabots knocked on my door twice, Scott Kleeb and Jim Esch (Democrat Senate and 2nd Congressional District candidates, respectively) knocked on my door, and they all called my home as well. Heck, I was contacted by Obama’s Omaha campaign office on my cell phone. I personally thought it was a prank at first.
In terms of Republican contact, there were a few internal poll calls to my home. The only knock I had on my door was on Sunday evening at about 6:00pm. I asked the worker what took so long in getting on the ground, and he had no clue. He looked at me like I had two heads.
Hopefully, this was a fluke, and we just took everything for granted. However, this doesn’t bode well at all.

In 2004, President Bush carried most conties in Nebraska. Obama picked up Douglas County (Omaha) and Lancaster County (Lincoln). Omaha and Lincoln have the two largest colleges in the state, so getting the younger voters out helped in those two areas. However, his broad appeal to blacks and the still-growing population of hispanics gave him the edge in these counties.
Statewide, President Bush won with 65% of the vote in 2004. Last night, McCain carried the state with only 57% of the vote. Not only did the Hispanics help him out in the major cities, but their growing population in the other counties helped him narrow the gap as well. I contacted the Douglas County Republican Party for a yard sign and they didn’t have any. And this was in October! Add this with a disastrous get out the vote effort, and I can see why we lost eight percent here. Heck, I knew there was a problem when they didn’t call Nebraska right when the polls closed here.
I don’t blame the McCain campaign for these problems, but the leadership failure from the top of the party sure as heck trickled down to Nebraska. I’m scared that it’s trickled down to other states.
I’ve already theorized that the party is in trouble. There’s no leadership right now, we’ve thrown our president out with the garbage, and some are blaming Sarah Palin for the loss yesterday. But we need to get our acts together, or Nebraska, and possibly other reliable strongholds like Texas will fall victim to Democrats also.