The Associated Press
HASTINGS -- Democrat Scott Kleeb has come a long way from sleeping in the back of his pickup.
But at 33, the Yale-educated former ranch hand is still pinching pennies by staying “pretty much wherever we can” -- including supporters’ couches -- as he runs for U.S. Senate.
It’s proof, jokes his wife Jane, that “Scott’s fiscally conservative.”
The Democrat holds campaign events called “Boots and Beer,” and the cowboy persona isn’t a front.
Kleeb lived in the back of a Chevy Silverado while traveling across the nation as part of a master’s dissertation on the history of American cattle ranching.
A lot has changed since 2006, when Kleeb ran for Nebraska’s 3rd District House seat. He lost to Republican state Sen. Adrian Smith, but used the experience to launch an uphill Senate bid against Republican Mike Johanns, a former Nebraska governor and U.S. agriculture secretary.
Also running are Green Party candidate Steve Larrick and the Nebraska Party’s Kelly Renee Rosberg.
Kleeb is now a husband, father and history instructor at Hastings College. He lives in Hastings with his wife Jane Fleming Kleeb -- a single mom when he met her in 2005 -- 7-year-old Kora and their 2-year-old daughter, Maya.
Kleeb is “young, he’s enthusiastic,” said 64-year-old Maureen Kuehler of Aurora.
“We need such a change,” she said. “I’m voting for my grandkids. I don’t want them ... going to another war.”
In the Republican-dominated “sea of Red” that is the 3rd District, Kuehler wants people to know: “Not everyone agrees with the Republican stand out here. I don’t think liberal should be a dirty word.”
Kleeb “wants change for Nebraska,” said 49-year-old Marino Aquisap (A-KEE-sahp), a retired Army veteran who is volunteering for Kleeb in Hastings. “Not a single other politician in this state has said that.”
Kleeb said he has strong support in the 3rd District, the huge, heavily Republican swath of the state.
“People out here know me and have known me a long time,” Kleeb said. “We’re doing better than 35 years of Democrats here.”
Omaha has been more of a challenge, Kleeb said, but he’s been making headway in the state’s most populous city, especially since Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama started an aggressive campaign there.
“Omaha didn’t know who I was,” Kleeb said. “Now they do.”
Obama’s campaign is trying to win the electoral vote tied to Nebraska’s 2nd District, which includes Omaha. Nebraska and Maine are the only states that can split their electoral votes.
Kleeb was born in Adana, Turkey, where his parents taught the children of U.S. military personnel. He did his undergraduate work in history and political science at the University of Colorado and has a master’s degree in international relations and a doctorate in history from Yale University.
The candidate is a multitasker, giving a phone interview about Congress’ $700 billion financial bailout to a radio station while obsessively checking the stock market every few minutes.
“This is a mess,” he tells a reporter. “We have got to do better than this.”
Kleeb supported the bailout “reluctantly,” but is especially affronted by news that American International Group spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a posh California retreat just days after getting a $85 billion federal bailout.
“The system’s broken,” Kleeb said. “We shouldn’t be rewarding that.”
The Senate Appropriations Committee needs strengthening, Kleeb said, because so much discretionary spending is done outside the budgetary process.
While “we can’t cut $11 trillion from our budget in three years,” Kleeb said the United States needs to stop digging itself further into debt, practice fiscal discipline and go after taxes that exist and aren’t being enforced.
The nation has to cut reliance on foreign oil, Kleeb said, but he’s realistic. When politicians promise to wean the nation from foreign oil in 10 years, “that’s going to be tough,” Kleeb said.
“I’m not going to pander” and just tell people what they want to hear, Kleeb said.
Corn-based ethanol is an important part of energy independence, he said, and “we’re learning from ethanol.”
Better technology means greater efficiency, he said, and the ability to incorporate switchgrass and other substances into ethanol production.
Johanns criticized Kleeb early in the race for a lack of specific policy on many topics, which Kleeb said wasn’t fair because Johanns “flew in a plan from Washington.”
“There’s no doubt our agenda took more time to develop,” said Kleeb. He said he spent months crafting his policy plan because he was talking to people, including experts in various fields.
Kleeb wants to draw down troops in Iraq, although he said he opposes timetables.
He said he doesn’t believe in universal health care ? as Johanns has said ? but does support a system that would let people buy into the health insurance plan that covers members of Congress.
Kleeb has made a campaign issue of mental health care, saying that “underfunding and mismanagement have led to inadequate coverage and long waits for care.”
He has blamed Johanns for closing state psychiatric hospitals when he was governor. Kleeb said Johanns’ plan eliminated funding for those needing mental health care and didn’t make sure the displaced patients had someplace to go.
Kleeb has said he personally opposes abortion, but he has focused his message on reducing the numbers of abortions, not overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that established a woman’s right to have an abortion.
He also has said he personally believes marriage is between a man and woman, but that the U.S. Constitution isn’t meant to deny people rights. He supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act passed by the House last year.
Kleeb said Johanns “thought he was going to be able to run on just his name.”
“Now he’s being forced to defend why people should vote for more of the same,” Kleeb said.
Kleeb’s parents ? who live in Denver ? are staying with the family in Hastings to help take care of the girls during the campaign.
If Kleeb wins, the family plans to keep their Hastings home ? which could make for early mornings if Scott wants to make the 6 a.m. Monday flight from Omaha to Washington.
But, said Kleeb: “I’d rather have a longer commute and give Kora a yard to play in and friends.”
On the Web
Mike Johanns for Senate: http://www.mikejohanns2008.com
Scott Kleeb: http://www.scottkleeb.com
Steve Larrick: http://www.newmenu.org/larrick4senate
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