The morning after Nebraska's primary election, I stopped by the desk of the Gazette's editor, Bruce Crosby, and announced, "We've done it again."

"What?," Bruce wondered, probably thinking I was about to crack another one of my off-the-wall jokes.

"No, really," I said. "This is serious. I am referring to the fact that for the third time in my years with the Gazette, we have endorsed an underdog who has gone on to win a heated race for governor."

Acting curious, Bruce gave me an assignment: "That's interesting. Why don't you write about it in your column?"

Always looking for topics, I quickly snapped at the opportunity. So, today, I'm going to tell about the three times that the Gazette broke ranks with other Nebraska daily newspapers to endorse an underdog in general and primary campaigns for governor.

The first time was in 1970 when the Gazette was the only daily in Nebraska to endorse Democrat Jim Exon, who went on to upset Republican Norbert Tiemann in the November general election. Twenty years later, the Gazette did it again, endorsing McCook native Ben Nelson, a Democrat, in his race against Republican Kay Orr in the 1990 general election for governor. Again, the Gazette was the lone Nebraska daily to come out for the underdog, Nelson, and he went on to win.

The third time we picked the underdog was this year's Republican primary, when the Gazette backed Dave Heineman, a one-time McCook resident, over the legendary Tom Osborne in the Republican primary.

Like Tiemann and Orr before him, Osborne was the overwhelming favorite when the campaign began, only to see his lead evaporate and Heineman emerge as the primary winner. Support for Heineman was not shared by the state's three largest newspapers, as the Omaha World-Herald, the Lincoln Journal and the Grand Island Independent all came out for Osborne.

So why is it that the Gazette has an uncanny knack for picking the winners in governor races? What is it about this newspaper that is different from other larger, established newspapers? In my opinion, it all goes back to Harry Strunk, this paper's founder. From the Gazette's start in 1911 as a twice-a-week paper, Harry dedicated the newspaper to being a people's paper, listening to what the McCook area's citizens had to say and fighting hard to serve their wishes.

These ideals were carried forward by Allen Strunk, Harry's son and my mentor. It was Allen, a staunch conservative Republican, who befriended Exon and worked hard for the Democrat's victory over Tiemann.

The same happened with Nelson and me. I came back to McCook as publisher in 1990, and soon became acquainted with Ben, who was then seeking the Democratic nomination in the primary. I liked Ben as a man and what he stood for, and proudly became the only state publisher to support him in both the primary and general elections.

This year's endorsement of Heineman in the Republican primary was a shared decision by the Gazette's news staff. Bruce Crosby, the editor, who now carries the primary responsibility for editorial writing, agreed with me that Heineman was the best man for the job because of his responsiveness to the wishes of the people. But, to make sure we were on the right track, we polled the news staff, which includes Dawn Cribbs, Gloria Masoner, Connie Jo Discoe, John Mesh and Billie Cole. All agreed. Heineman's would be the best choice, although each of us expressed respect for Osborne and his contributions as a coach and congressman.

Of course, all this being said, editorial endorsements are like a flip of the coin. You win some; you lose some. This year, for example, the Gazette missed in its endorsements of Don Stenberg for the Republican nomination for Senate; John Hanson for the GOP nomination for the 3rd District congressional seat; and Ron Ross for the Republican nod for state treasurer.

But when it comes to close races for governor, we're whiz-bangs at picking upset winners. The problem is that now we have to turn our attention to the November general election showdown for the U.S. Senate between McCook-born Ben Nelson, the Democratic nominee, and Pete Ricketts, the Republican candidate.

Millions upon millions of dollars will be spent on that race before it's over. But you know what? It's not the millions of dollars that counts. It's our votes.

We're the people and, in the end, it is our majority ballots which will decide the outcome.