Stothert leads; Suttle concedes race

[OmahaBlueDog]

Source: KETV

In a surprise concession speech shortly after 9 p.m., Suttle thanked supporters and donors for their help, but ultimately said, "Tonight, we lost."

Suttle said he's unsure whether this will be his last campaign, but told supporters that he has no regrets and that his legacy will be saving the city from the 2011 flood and keeping it financially stable during the recession.

Cheers erupted at the Stothert camp, where a supporter had modified a campaign sign to read "Jean Stothert is our mayor!!!"

Votes left to be counted include those cast between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.ketv.com/news/politics/stothert-leads-suttle-concedes-race-for-omaha-mayor/-/9674400/20149664/-/wef40oz/-/index.html

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Although the race is nominally non-partisan, Suttle was a Democrat who lost to a conservative Republican.

[DallasNE]

1. This Is Sad News For Omaha

Stothert was hand-picked by Joe Ricketts, just like Deb Fischer was for the Senate seat.

Suttle is a rather dull person, in the mold of an engineer -- which he is by training -- but he had been perhaps Omaha's most effective Mayor in at least a half century.

In looking at the results for the Council district races it was easy to see that turnout was far heavier in the Republican districts than the Democrats districts. It was a turnout election and the Democrats just didn't turn out. Hispanic South Omaha thought Suttle favored African-American North Omaha to their detriment and I'm sure when we examine the results more closely this was a clear factor in the outcome.

This is something Democrats may face nationally as Republicans underfund program after program. The Hispanics and African-Americans will squabble over who is getting a better break from the limited resources left after Republicans tighten the screws on programs. Divide and conquer.

[busterbrown]

2. Thanks for the post..

You’re absolutely right. This race should be closely analyzed..
If the Black and Hispanic vote were split, the DNC better start figuring out,what went wrong.
It’s “sad news" for Omaha and scary news for the rest of us..

[DallasNE]

4. Can't Tell From Raw Election Tally

How people are voting, only who the people are that are voting. Who was voting were Republicans (turnout).

Having said that, the tally I was looking at were from people voting by mail and those voting before 2PM. Getting the late votes will alter this a little because working Democrats often vote on the way home but the early tally was 57-43, or a landslide. Full results will probably make it around 54-46 which would make it the most lopsided Mayors election in a couple of decades. Omaha has been slowly trending Democratic and registered Democrats now outnumber registered Republicans so something else is in play for sure. Squabbling factions could explain a good deal of this.

[progree]

3. Its also how they split poor, especially Southern, whites away from the Dems --

It is classical Republican strategy to tell poor whites, especially poor southern whites, that they are poor because the Dems are giving their hard-earned money to black and brown welfare queens. (And I think it is a pretty successful strategy, I hear this crap all the time outside the DU-verse -- and the fact that the majority of the white vote, even the majority of the white female vote (in spite of the Repub war on women) went to Romney. So its no surprise that they are also working on pitting the browns against the blacks.

This is something Democrats may face nationally as Republicans underfund program after program. The Hispanics and African-Americans will squabble over who is getting a better break from the limited resources left after Republicans tighten the screws on programs. Divide and conquer.

[heaven05]

5. classic

divide and conquer. Will we ever stop being divided like this? The obstructionists have been doing it for decades. truly sad.

[OmahaBlueDog]

6. It is bad news.

..a few thoughts

1) I've met Jim Suttle, and he's a lot more impressive in-person than campaigning. That said, he's politically tone deaf. He didn't exploit his many successes, and let things like the horrible terms of his car lease and the hiring of high-priced advisors define his administration.

2)

It was a turnout election and the Democrats just didn't turn out.

This says it. If you look at the percentages, Stothert captured just about the same percentage of votes that she, Nabity, and Welch captured collectively in the primary. The primary is generally going to be more heavily attended by opponents of the incumbent. Clearly his allies never showed up. The anti-gun advertisements run during the primaries did not serve their purpose of firing up the Dem base. Really, the main thing the mayor of Omaha needs to do is keep the streets plowed and the potholes filled. I'm not sure Jim Suttle did a great job of that. He did do a great job with the flood; he did balance the books; and is fighting the good fight with the feds on EPA mandated sewerage separation. In short, he did a lot of great work in areas that voters don't give a damn about. Contrast that with Mike Fahey, who tended to do popular things and make sure everyone knew it.


3)

This is something Democrats may face nationally as Republicans underfund program after program. The Hispanics and African-Americans will squabble over who is getting a better break from the limited resources left after Republicans tighten the screws on programs. Divide and conquer.

I'm not sure that's really what's at play here, although if you want a study in divide & conquer, look at the council race between Ben Gray and Tariq Al-Amin. Suttle barely beat Hal Daub, and barely survived a recall. All politics is local. I don't think people in North O & South O perceived that Suttle did much for them (untrue -- but I think that's the perception). Meanwhile, west of 680, residents are still grousing about the fire union contract and are generally whiney about their taxes. They were motivated. Also, Stothert was a formar MPS board member and (until today) city council member who was very locally popular in Millard.

Interesting questions going forward:

Will the fire department be privatized?
Will the city end it's union garbage contract and go to subscription a-la Lincoln?
Will Stothert disband OPD and go to DC Sherriffs for police work?
Will Omaha annex Waterloo and/or Bennington?
Should Omaha and Douglas County move toward a city/county joint governance structure?

I'd close by saying Stothert's a comer, and she's supported (as you say) by Joe Ricketts. I would not doubt that she might, in time a) replace Lee Terry, b) run for Governor, and/or c) replace Mike Johanns in the Senate.