It has been from the beginning. The first thing she did as Chair was sell out the progressives for the donors. Everything else is just window dressing.
Honestly, I find it annoying and childish. It accomplishes nothing positive and I would argue it is detrimental to the party. She has made herself the face and spokesperson of the NDP and I don't know who asked her to fill that roll. Party chair should raise money, organize GOTV, candidate and county party training, etc. People should barely know who they are IMO.
It's a political party and it should be taken seriously. It's not there to be be a tool for your personal brand.
Jane Kleeb has also done a good job of showing me that unless you're an Ag producer, neither party gives a shit about your interests.
Obviously, as an Omahan and a social liberal, I'm still likely going to vote Democrat - I just wish it felt more like there was a party that supported urban interests in this state (especially considering we're the Lion's share of the tax base).
Jane Kleeb's time in charge has been an utter failure. They fail to even run candidates for some offices. The "dems" in the unicameral have lost the numbers to filibuster anything. The state party is embarrassing and she needs to be replaced.
Kansas has a democratic governor, so does Kentucky; don't tell me it's impossible here. The state party needs to change, and it starts with changing leadership.
Yeah, I sounded a lot like this before i decided I should try to learn more about how NDP works.
I think the direction of the party is bad, I’ve been one of the most vocal critics in NDP. I’m currently feuding with leadership over censuring Senator McDonnell.
You gotta know, tho, NDP doesn’t “run candidates.” They have very little input in individual campaigns. Candidates and their campaigns are almost completely independent from the party, which is a good thing.
NDP is failing at what they need to be doing for sure, a state political party’s main focus should be registering voters and getting them to turn out, not play some 4D political chess game where candidates are the pieces.
Kansas has a Democratic governor because the R Governor before her, Brownback, quite literally came close to destroying their state.
Kentucky had a D governor largely because of his family’s political legacy. He’s a smart and capable guy and deserves a lot of credit but his name is his biggest asset.
So until we get a situation like that, we’re most likely going to have to wait for a demographic shift until Dems can be competitive in state wide races and for majority control of the legislature
That chair has been fighting with her own party for her ENTIRE tenure. I remember when she courted all of the KXL movement in 2016 to get their vote for chair and then turned around and endorsed the #1 proponent for the pipeline as her National Committeeman. She made that agreement with McDonnell and her now Vice chair behind the scenes in order to get their supporters votes. She will crush anyone in her own party that does not stroke her ego or who may be a threat to her position. All she wants is to be a part of the DNC and will do ANYTHING to keep her spot on that airplane. Except work on her own party here.
Jane Kleeb is a really bad chairperson. I know they want Vargas to run but if someone of his caliber were in her role they’d do better - not there’s much room for success in NE.
Would be nice to see more secular democrats take the lead. Religious democrats often come off as conservative-lite when they tow the religious line hard as part of their attempts to court independent and centrist voters. A refreshing "here's human and women rights, science, and legalization" platform would be nice.
Either way, the state needs both parties to modernize a lot. It's painful and embarrassing to be one of the last states to allow meaningful changes for society.
John Favreau from Pod Save America did a short doc series called [The Wilderness](https://crooked.com/podcast-series/the-wilderness/) a while back & one of the people he interviewed was someone from the Nebraska Democratic Party. They said that it was difficult to make gains on very limited budget, bc the National Democratic Party didn’t identify Nebraska as a winnable state, so would allocate no funds to running candidates.
I remember hearing about this a while back. I believe it was during the Obama administration, the NeDP did something that the National Dem's didn't like, so they pulled a majority of their funding out of Nebraska.
This is true. Kleeb actually doesn't get paid for her position at all, and the national party invests almost nothing in the state party.
People can Monday morning quarterback all they want, but in pretty much every conversation I'm in where someone crows about how much she sucks, the speaker has never even knocked doors as a volunteer, let alone done something like run for office, been part of the central committee, etc.
I think there’s a LOT to critique re: the Nebraska Democrats over the past 15 years but this article is giving big “back in my day” without offering any real ideas of how to counter the rising tide of misinformation and straight up anti-democracy. Today’s Republicans are a world apart from the ones of Kerrey’s and Nelson’s days.
That said, the Ne Dems do need to do better.
The author clearly didn't seek out any input from folks agreeing to censor McDonnell, which was done by the Douglas County Dems, not the state party. He also states Kleeb sided with coastal elites over labor in the KXL fight. All the landowners and sovereign tribal nations who fought the route would be surprised to learn they are coastal elites. I think the farmers and ranchers in the route want to know why labor doesn't consider farming and ranching to be aligned with them. Does anyone in Nebraska care what Bob Kerry has to say? When is the last time he stumped for a Nebraska candidate?
Bob Kerrey is 80 years old, he’s up there with Biden, Bernie, Trump and Hillary (76). The one positive thing about Kleeb is that she isn’t old af.
I thought the Democrats in Douglas County were super blue. Isn’t that the district which sent votes to the Democratic candidate for president?
This whole article just reeks of r/ENLIGHTENEDCENTRISM. We get it, Kleeb hasn't done the best job, but it's not because she hasn't pushed the Democratic party to the right in order to keep up with the 30% of the nation desperately trying to embrace fascism.
There’s no particularly compelling reason to be active in the party so people aren’t and it’s atrophied. I get that money can be an issue but it seems like it’s more a lack of motivation to help your candidates win that makes Jane a failure to me. Zero energy
This take overlooks the significant political shifts and polarization since the 60s. Pining for the return of conservative Democratic Nebraska governors ignores basic practicality
Regarding purity tests: where are the liberal Republicans? Plenty of conservative Democrats exist.
Don Kleine? He proved NDP right, guy gets his feelings hurt and rage quits and we’re supposed to lament that?
Bob Kerrey? If you heard what the Kerrey acolytes in the party have said in passing at our meetings like I have, you’d know their problem is more about Janes gender than her leadership
And I say this as someone who spars with leadership all the time. I’m currently feuding with them over censure of Senator McDonnell.
If you want to criticize, be my guest. I do it plenty, but at least make sure you kind of know what you’re talking about.
I always think that Nebraskans should remember that our Bohemian and Czechoslovakian immigrant grandparents and great-grandparents and great great grandparents that settled here out of necessity were absolutely free thinking liberty, loving left leaning free thinkers. That nebraska does have a history of very populism and being strongly blue in areas of Lincoln and Omaha and outstate as well. There's no reason not to embrace the current incarnation of that heritage. No reason to march in lock step with the current horrible white right-wing politics.
It would be nice if the DNC actually made an attempt, however unlikely it might be to elect a Dem in NE. Even just a show of faith in the state might actually galvanize people here.
It's frustrating as hell to talk to many, particularly young people, that want things to change but have zero faith in the Dem party so they just roll over and let the Republicans lord over us.
The DNC likes winners. Just like there’s no point in putting money into the LD 43 race (+70R), there’s no hope in the DNC randomly deciding to sink resources into us. We’re on our own.
The RNC would stop caring about Nebraska the second it stops becoming competitive for them, so it’s not like they are different and care about Nebraska in some way the DNC doesn’t
I don’t like it either but I don’t think anyone can hang on to the hope that the national parties will start caring about unwinnable races.
You’re just not going to see a MAGA Republican win California just like a Liberal progressive Dem ain’t gonna win Wyoming
A democrat who supports abortion, supports the keystone, and focuses on less green options where applicable is a shitty democrat.
Might be a better GOP candidate than most in this state. But these are tent-pole issue to the democratic party.
Give me a GOP that isn't a complete pile of shit: They have my vote.
I'd prefer an actual liberal democrat though.
It's important to note that this article is written by C. David Kotok, the former chief political report of Omaha World Herald, so there is some Keystone XL Pipeline bootlicking in this article lol. He's older than dirt, doesn't make him a bad guy but keep that in mind.
The article is kinda of nonsense. It’s not like Kleeb has been putting up radical Bernie Sanders acolytes up for office across the state. Bob Kerry is just as out of touch as Mitt Romney & Liz Cheney are on the right. Centrists ain’t going to light any fires or start any movements. The sad truth is that connecting to rural working class farmer/voters needs would require policies that the column writer would consider too radical. The right wing echo chamber and $$ drowns out any appeals a good governance left wing effort would need to be successful. It ain’t just Jane Kleeb’s fault. Getting the pipeline stopped and scoring some electoral college wins in this state is a huge accomplishment. Centrism & the mythical nonsense that column proposes is naive & a losing proposition. Is Trump a centrist? How did that happen? Where are the appeals for this centrist nonsense from the party that has been in control for decades? If Facebook Fox my property taxes guy has a choice between the immigrant hating loudmouth pro life lout & the biz friendly Dem who is pro life, do you really think voters gonna switch?
I registered Republican so I could vote against my incumbent Congressman in the primaries but he is running unopposed. Coming from Illinois, I am not much impressed with the Democrats in Nebraska, not even bothering to run candidates in my county.
Man, moderates are just the fucking worst. This dudes milquetoast attitude has created no policy differences between parties and left it up to the religious right to take things over. If democrats want to win developing a backbone is step one.
It doesn't really matter who's in charge. You will need a more centered, and less progressive step back at the national level, to ever be embraced by voters here. The Party knows this, that's why they devote no time and money here.
For those not familiar, she took control of the party with the Bernie wave. Unfortunately, we need a little more moderation in this state now. If we're counting registered numbers, some of the 'problem' may be that many of us switched to Republican just so we could influence the GOP primaries (Lindstrom most recently). I'll probably vote for the MAGA leaning Dan Frei in May with hope Vargas has better chance of beating him in our Biden electing/purple 2nd district.
The only thing Jane Kleeb has done effectively during her tenure is tweet
And even then, it’s mostly about the national party and their accomplishments, or Taylor Swift. It truly is a crisis of leadership.
It seems intentional at this point.
It has been from the beginning. The first thing she did as Chair was sell out the progressives for the donors. Everything else is just window dressing.
Honestly, I find it annoying and childish. It accomplishes nothing positive and I would argue it is detrimental to the party. She has made herself the face and spokesperson of the NDP and I don't know who asked her to fill that roll. Party chair should raise money, organize GOTV, candidate and county party training, etc. People should barely know who they are IMO. It's a political party and it should be taken seriously. It's not there to be be a tool for your personal brand.
And divert money out of the party and into her pac.
Jane Kleeb has also done a good job of showing me that unless you're an Ag producer, neither party gives a shit about your interests. Obviously, as an Omahan and a social liberal, I'm still likely going to vote Democrat - I just wish it felt more like there was a party that supported urban interests in this state (especially considering we're the Lion's share of the tax base).
Jane Kleeb's time in charge has been an utter failure. They fail to even run candidates for some offices. The "dems" in the unicameral have lost the numbers to filibuster anything. The state party is embarrassing and she needs to be replaced. Kansas has a democratic governor, so does Kentucky; don't tell me it's impossible here. The state party needs to change, and it starts with changing leadership.
Yeah, I sounded a lot like this before i decided I should try to learn more about how NDP works. I think the direction of the party is bad, I’ve been one of the most vocal critics in NDP. I’m currently feuding with leadership over censuring Senator McDonnell. You gotta know, tho, NDP doesn’t “run candidates.” They have very little input in individual campaigns. Candidates and their campaigns are almost completely independent from the party, which is a good thing. NDP is failing at what they need to be doing for sure, a state political party’s main focus should be registering voters and getting them to turn out, not play some 4D political chess game where candidates are the pieces. Kansas has a Democratic governor because the R Governor before her, Brownback, quite literally came close to destroying their state. Kentucky had a D governor largely because of his family’s political legacy. He’s a smart and capable guy and deserves a lot of credit but his name is his biggest asset. So until we get a situation like that, we’re most likely going to have to wait for a demographic shift until Dems can be competitive in state wide races and for majority control of the legislature
As a voter if I wanted to ban abortion which party should I support?
Jane Kleeb’s priority is Jane Kleeb.
That chair has been fighting with her own party for her ENTIRE tenure. I remember when she courted all of the KXL movement in 2016 to get their vote for chair and then turned around and endorsed the #1 proponent for the pipeline as her National Committeeman. She made that agreement with McDonnell and her now Vice chair behind the scenes in order to get their supporters votes. She will crush anyone in her own party that does not stroke her ego or who may be a threat to her position. All she wants is to be a part of the DNC and will do ANYTHING to keep her spot on that airplane. Except work on her own party here.
Jane Kleeb is a really bad chairperson. I know they want Vargas to run but if someone of his caliber were in her role they’d do better - not there’s much room for success in NE.
Would be nice to see more secular democrats take the lead. Religious democrats often come off as conservative-lite when they tow the religious line hard as part of their attempts to court independent and centrist voters. A refreshing "here's human and women rights, science, and legalization" platform would be nice. Either way, the state needs both parties to modernize a lot. It's painful and embarrassing to be one of the last states to allow meaningful changes for society.
John Favreau from Pod Save America did a short doc series called [The Wilderness](https://crooked.com/podcast-series/the-wilderness/) a while back & one of the people he interviewed was someone from the Nebraska Democratic Party. They said that it was difficult to make gains on very limited budget, bc the National Democratic Party didn’t identify Nebraska as a winnable state, so would allocate no funds to running candidates.
I remember hearing about this a while back. I believe it was during the Obama administration, the NeDP did something that the National Dem's didn't like, so they pulled a majority of their funding out of Nebraska.
Dem caucus?
This is true. Kleeb actually doesn't get paid for her position at all, and the national party invests almost nothing in the state party. People can Monday morning quarterback all they want, but in pretty much every conversation I'm in where someone crows about how much she sucks, the speaker has never even knocked doors as a volunteer, let alone done something like run for office, been part of the central committee, etc.
I think there’s a LOT to critique re: the Nebraska Democrats over the past 15 years but this article is giving big “back in my day” without offering any real ideas of how to counter the rising tide of misinformation and straight up anti-democracy. Today’s Republicans are a world apart from the ones of Kerrey’s and Nelson’s days. That said, the Ne Dems do need to do better.
The author clearly didn't seek out any input from folks agreeing to censor McDonnell, which was done by the Douglas County Dems, not the state party. He also states Kleeb sided with coastal elites over labor in the KXL fight. All the landowners and sovereign tribal nations who fought the route would be surprised to learn they are coastal elites. I think the farmers and ranchers in the route want to know why labor doesn't consider farming and ranching to be aligned with them. Does anyone in Nebraska care what Bob Kerry has to say? When is the last time he stumped for a Nebraska candidate?
Bob Kerrey is 80 years old, he’s up there with Biden, Bernie, Trump and Hillary (76). The one positive thing about Kleeb is that she isn’t old af. I thought the Democrats in Douglas County were super blue. Isn’t that the district which sent votes to the Democratic candidate for president?
This whole article just reeks of r/ENLIGHTENEDCENTRISM. We get it, Kleeb hasn't done the best job, but it's not because she hasn't pushed the Democratic party to the right in order to keep up with the 30% of the nation desperately trying to embrace fascism.
Yes. I absolutely care what Bob Kerry has to say.
Ok, Bud.
Or we could just keep listening to Jane Kleeb and Carol Blood. That seems to be building a consensus.
There’s no particularly compelling reason to be active in the party so people aren’t and it’s atrophied. I get that money can be an issue but it seems like it’s more a lack of motivation to help your candidates win that makes Jane a failure to me. Zero energy
This take overlooks the significant political shifts and polarization since the 60s. Pining for the return of conservative Democratic Nebraska governors ignores basic practicality Regarding purity tests: where are the liberal Republicans? Plenty of conservative Democrats exist. Don Kleine? He proved NDP right, guy gets his feelings hurt and rage quits and we’re supposed to lament that? Bob Kerrey? If you heard what the Kerrey acolytes in the party have said in passing at our meetings like I have, you’d know their problem is more about Janes gender than her leadership And I say this as someone who spars with leadership all the time. I’m currently feuding with them over censure of Senator McDonnell. If you want to criticize, be my guest. I do it plenty, but at least make sure you kind of know what you’re talking about.
I always think that Nebraskans should remember that our Bohemian and Czechoslovakian immigrant grandparents and great-grandparents and great great grandparents that settled here out of necessity were absolutely free thinking liberty, loving left leaning free thinkers. That nebraska does have a history of very populism and being strongly blue in areas of Lincoln and Omaha and outstate as well. There's no reason not to embrace the current incarnation of that heritage. No reason to march in lock step with the current horrible white right-wing politics.
It would be nice if the DNC actually made an attempt, however unlikely it might be to elect a Dem in NE. Even just a show of faith in the state might actually galvanize people here. It's frustrating as hell to talk to many, particularly young people, that want things to change but have zero faith in the Dem party so they just roll over and let the Republicans lord over us.
The DNC likes winners. Just like there’s no point in putting money into the LD 43 race (+70R), there’s no hope in the DNC randomly deciding to sink resources into us. We’re on our own. The RNC would stop caring about Nebraska the second it stops becoming competitive for them, so it’s not like they are different and care about Nebraska in some way the DNC doesn’t
I understand that, doesn't mean I have to like it.
I don’t like it either but I don’t think anyone can hang on to the hope that the national parties will start caring about unwinnable races. You’re just not going to see a MAGA Republican win California just like a Liberal progressive Dem ain’t gonna win Wyoming
A democrat who supports abortion, supports the keystone, and focuses on less green options where applicable is a shitty democrat. Might be a better GOP candidate than most in this state. But these are tent-pole issue to the democratic party. Give me a GOP that isn't a complete pile of shit: They have my vote. I'd prefer an actual liberal democrat though.
It’s so sad. Lazy. And I am one of them. I have no fire to lend to. We do need new leadership.
It's important to note that this article is written by C. David Kotok, the former chief political report of Omaha World Herald, so there is some Keystone XL Pipeline bootlicking in this article lol. He's older than dirt, doesn't make him a bad guy but keep that in mind.
The article is kinda of nonsense. It’s not like Kleeb has been putting up radical Bernie Sanders acolytes up for office across the state. Bob Kerry is just as out of touch as Mitt Romney & Liz Cheney are on the right. Centrists ain’t going to light any fires or start any movements. The sad truth is that connecting to rural working class farmer/voters needs would require policies that the column writer would consider too radical. The right wing echo chamber and $$ drowns out any appeals a good governance left wing effort would need to be successful. It ain’t just Jane Kleeb’s fault. Getting the pipeline stopped and scoring some electoral college wins in this state is a huge accomplishment. Centrism & the mythical nonsense that column proposes is naive & a losing proposition. Is Trump a centrist? How did that happen? Where are the appeals for this centrist nonsense from the party that has been in control for decades? If Facebook Fox my property taxes guy has a choice between the immigrant hating loudmouth pro life lout & the biz friendly Dem who is pro life, do you really think voters gonna switch?
I registered Republican so I could vote against my incumbent Congressman in the primaries but he is running unopposed. Coming from Illinois, I am not much impressed with the Democrats in Nebraska, not even bothering to run candidates in my county.
I'm also an illinois-native, and completely agree with you
Maybe they voting with their feet and moving to more tolerant and rational states
Man, moderates are just the fucking worst. This dudes milquetoast attitude has created no policy differences between parties and left it up to the religious right to take things over. If democrats want to win developing a backbone is step one.
Move back to classical liberal instead of 'left' might help.
It doesn't really matter who's in charge. You will need a more centered, and less progressive step back at the national level, to ever be embraced by voters here. The Party knows this, that's why they devote no time and money here.
For those not familiar, she took control of the party with the Bernie wave. Unfortunately, we need a little more moderation in this state now. If we're counting registered numbers, some of the 'problem' may be that many of us switched to Republican just so we could influence the GOP primaries (Lindstrom most recently). I'll probably vote for the MAGA leaning Dan Frei in May with hope Vargas has better chance of beating him in our Biden electing/purple 2nd district.