Ricketts says race may go to convention

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By DON WALTON / Lincoln Journal Star

Imagine a national political convention where the presidential nominee is yet to be determined.

That hasn’t happened in modern times, but Republican National Committeeman Pete Ricketts suggested Tuesday it’s a real possibility this year.

“We may have a brokered convention for the first time in a long time,” he said in a telephone interview from Omaha.

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Pete Ricketts

Pete Ricketts

“It could be that we enter that convention with no one holding a commanding lead” after dozens of GOP presidential primaries and caucuses.

Republicans will gather in Minneapolis-St. Paul on Sept. 1 to either choose, or ratify, their nominee.

If no candidate has wrapped up sufficient support to already claim the nomination, Ricketts said, it will be  “a good time to be involved” as a delegate empowered to select the winner.

Nebraska Republican voters also may have a meaningful voice in their May presidential primary election for the first time in recent memory, Ricketts said.

“If no one has opened a commanding lead in the later stages (of the primary season), Nebraska could have a big influence,” he said.

“It’s not clear that when we get past Super Tuesday on Feb. 5, we’ll have a frontrunner.”

Ricketts said his message to Nebraska Republicans is: “Get involved and make a difference.  Nebraska may have a lot to say in determining who our nominee is.”

A couple dozen states, including California, New York and New Jersey, will hold their primaries on Feb. 5, the day that’s tagged as Super Tuesday on this year’s primary calendar.

Nebraska Republicans will express their presidential preferences at the state’s primary election on May 13.

Nebraska Democrats will make their selections at party caucuses on Feb. 9.

Ricketts, the 2006 Republican Senate nominee, will remain neutral in the GOP contest because of his position as a national party officer.   But, he said, he doesn’t even have a private preference.

“They all have different strengths and different weaknesses,” he said.  “I’m like a lot of Nebraska Republicans.  There’s a lot of wait and see.”

It’s clear the Republican nominee will have “a tough race in November,” Ricketts said.

“As Republicans, we haven’t been very true to our platform and our ideals,” he said, and that led to the Democratic election victories in 2006 that ended GOP control of Congress.

“The public said if you don’t do what you said you were going to do, then you don’t deserve to be elected.  I agree with that sentiment.  We need to get back to operating government in a fiscally responsible way.”

Republicans also need to “do a better job of communicating successes,” Ricketts said, including results of the recent surge of U.S. combat troops into Iraq and economic job growth.

Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.