Pro-abortion US Senate candidate Bob Kerrey (D) in Nebraska has all but checked out of the race. In an interview with Laura Litvan at Bloomberg, Kerrey acknowledges the odds are not in his favor in the race.
Struggling in the polls and in donations, Kerry concedes, “All taken together, it’s a tough race. At the moment, it’s not likely that anybody who’s going to contribute to me says: ‘I’m going to contribute to him because I think he’s going to win.’”
After his previous stint in the US Senate, Kerrey moved to New York where he has resided for the past decade. Democrats scrambled to find a top tier candidate to replace retiring Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson and Kerrey proved to be their only hope. Kerrey at one time enjoyed wide popularity in the state but upon his return he has not been greeted with open arms by Nebraskans. Sen. Nelson opted against running for another term after it became virtually certain he could not win a general election fight.
Kerrey has found himself dogged by many of the same issues as Senator Nelson including abortion and the Obama healthcare law. From the moment Kerrey filed to run for the open Senate seat, pro-life organizations have called him out on his pro-abortion record.
“If Bob Kerrey had his way, partial-birth abortion would still be legal, given that he voted against banning it five times while in the Senate,” said Julie Schmit-Albin, Nebraska Right to Life Executive Director. “Pro-life Nebraskans rejected Ben Nelson after his abandonment of pro-life language in health care reform. They are not going to embrace Bob Kerrey whose voting record on this issue is more abysmal than Ben Nelson’s ever was.”
Kerrey’s motivation to run in the first place has been thrown into question. The former Nebraska Senator who spent the last ten years in New York outside of Nebraska politics did nothing to curb the concerns of Nebraskans when he told Bloomberg, “I’m not running because I need to be a senator.”
“In fact, I barely want to be. I’m willing to do it because I’m worried about our country. There’s a set of problems that aren’t going to be solved unless people are willing to compromise,” he continued.
Whether Kerrey is running out of loyalty to the Nebraska Democratic Party in their time of desperation or with Nebraskans truly at heart, the fact remains that his pro-abortion record is far outside of the mainstream for the voters.
In an edition of NRL News Today, the National Right to Life Committee summarized Kerrey’s record on abortion during his previous time in the Senate.
“During his two terms in the U.S. Senate (1989-2000), Kerrey cast three votes in accord with NRLC’s positions, while he voted against NRLC 70 times, for a career Senate score of 4% (four percent).
Kerrey voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act five times, and for NRLC-scored pro-abortion amendments to the PBABA twice.
In 1999, he voted for the Harkin Amendment to endorse Roe v. Wade (10/21/99).
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Kerrey consistently voted against limitations on the use of federal funds for elective abortions (for example, in the S-CHIP program and the federal employees’ health program). He also consistently voted against measures to protect a parent’s right to be notified before an abortion is performed on a minor daughter.”
Conversely, Kerrey’s Republican opponent State Senator Deb Fischer is strongly pro-life. Fischer has earned the endorsement of the National Right to Life PAC, Nebraska Right to Life PAC and the Susan B. Anthony List. “Senator Deb Fischer is a strong advocate for life,” stated Darla St. Martin, National Right to Life Co-Executive Director. “As a state senator, she voted for Nebraska’s Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, protecting babies who are capable of feeling pain from abortion. Fischer supports legal protection for unborn children, and opposes government funding of abortion.”
