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Editorial
Feeling the heat in Washington?
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The weather was in the 30s in Washington D.C. this morning, but Sen. Ben Nelson shouldn't have had any trouble feeling the heat, so to speak.
If the blogs were to be believed, he had been threatened by the White House with the closing of Offutt Air Force base, with its 10,000 jobs and $2 billion impact on Nebraska's economy, if he didn't supply the 60th vote for the Senate's health care bill.
On the other hand, according to right-wing blogs, he was offered $300-500 million in "earmarks" for spending in Nebraska if he does play along.
We don't know if there's any truth to the stories, or if the threats or promises were as blatant as indicated.
But we do know the federal base-closing commission meets again in 2013, and Offutt, despite scoring well in evaluations, was passed over for two new Air Force commands earlier this year.
We also know that anyone who has followed Chicago politics for any time wouldn't put such tactics past someone trained in that school.
We agree with the Open Forum writer on today's Opinion page, who said "I think he is an honest man who's trying to do the best he can."
What's best for Nebraska?
For now, it's up to our senator to decide.