Osborne Sets Sights on Nebraska State House

OMAHA, Neb., May 8, 2006 — -- It is unthinkable, it is incredible, and if the surveys are correct, it might be Tuesday. Nebraskans go to the polls and reject Tom Osborne as their leader? Yeah, and any day now, the North Pole will oust Santa Claus. But as the May 9 Republican gubernatorial primary approaches, Osborne is in a statistical dead heat with the incumbent, Dave Heineman. According to Nebraska StatePaper.com, the latest poll, taken last Wed-Thu-Fri, showed Heineman with 42.5 percent, Osborne with 42.2 percent.

This is Tom Osborne we're talking about, the man who brought Nebraska national respect in the form of 255 victories over a 25-year coaching career. Osborne retired after the Huskers won a share of the 1997 national championship, their third over a four-year span. In 2000, he won a seat in the U.S. Congress, where he is in his third term representing the 3rd District of Nebraska, home of more cattle than any congressional district in the nation. In his three races in the district that represents the largely rural portion of the state west of Lincoln, Osborne won with 93 percent of the vote, ran unopposed, and with 87 percent of the vote. In fact, Osborne hasn't lost since the Big 12 Championship Game in 1996. The following season, his Huskers went 13-0.

This is Tom Osborne, the straightest arrow who ever lived, a stoic with the selfless, self-deprecating presence that this midwestern state values. Osborne is so dry he could apply for federal drought relief, right down to his sense of humor. After he spoke to an assembly of five senior classes at Millard North High on Monday morning, fielding questions ranging from the national immigration debate to sexually transmitted diseases, Osborne walked out of the lobby and said, "I think we survived that without any major bloodshed. But you never know."

This is Tom Osborne, whom, as one woman said, "Everyone loves him. I mean, he has 200 percent name identification." That woman, Sally Ganem, is the wife of Osborne's chief opponent, Gov. Heineman.

Actually, Osborne's name recognition, the quality most cherished by politicians, in Nebraska is somewhere around 97 or 98 percent. The only thing more outlandish than that is the flip side -- there are, in this state of 1.5 million, some 40,000 people who somehow can't identify Tom Osborne.

Everyone knows Tom. Everyone loves Tom. Everyone trusts Tom. Yet Osborne finds himself in what Dave Phipps, the election commissioner of Omaha's Douglas County, called "the most exciting race I've ever been involved in. You've got a living legend in Tom Osborne and a sitting governor who has been involved in party politics for years."

No two political races are ever the same, and no one could have predicted the circumstances that led to this race. Osborne decided early in his third term in the House that he did not want a fourth.

"It is extremely frustrating," said his wife Nancy. "He's used to going after stuff and being able to get it done. When you're one of 435 [representatives] and your state has only three, it is very frustrating."

Osborne massaged his wife's words. "Actually, I don't want to characterize it as, 'I'm totally frustrated.' I've enjoyed it. I'm at an age [69] where I'm never going to be a committee chairman. You usually have to be there 14, 15, 16 years. I can best serve the state by being governor. In Congress, you're pretty much reacting to what the leaders or the White House wants: when to come, when to leave, what to vote on. You have very little control in terms of setting an agenda. I would consider a governor being more like a head coach. Being in Congress is more like being a player."