By Suzanne Dougherty
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 5

Delegates: 32

Chairman: Sen. Bob Kerrey

Hotel: Marriott Los Angeles Airport (310) 641-5700

1996 Election:
Dole – 54%
Clinton – 35%
Perot – 11%

The Democratic convention in Los Angeles may well be the valedictory for retiring two-term Sen. Bob Kerrey as a Nebraska politician. Kerrey, who is chairman of the Nebraska delegation, has already agreed to become the president of New York City's New School University when his term ends in January.

Kerrey, who served as governor before winning a Senate seat in 1988, has long had a reputation as a political maverick - which in turn helped make him a popular Democratic figure in a conservative-leaning state that usually favors Republicans.

He upheld his iconoclastic image this year with his outspoken support of former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley over the party establishment's choice for president, Vice President Al Gore. Kerrey's backing helped Bradley win 10 of the state's 32 delegates, an unusually high share given the fact that Nebraska's May 9 primary took place more than two months after Gore had essentially clinched the nomination.

Since then, though, Kerrey has given a strong endorsement to Gore, helping the vice president solidify his support throughout the party ranks in Nebraska.

"There is a lot of unity in this year's delegation because Bob Kerrey was an active Bradley supporter who became a strong supporter of Gore's after the primaries were over. That served to unify everyone in the state behind the Gore campaign," said delegate John Cavanaugh, a former U.S. House member who served in the freshman House Class of 1976 with Gore.

With Kerrey moving from the political scene, Nebraska Democrats are focusing their attentions this year on their high-profile candidate to succeed him, former Gov. Ben Nelson. But Nelson will not attend the convention, instead staying in Nebraska to campaign.

Nelson did attend the Democratic National Convention in 1996, the year in which he made his first bid for the U.S. Senate, a contest he would go on to lose to Republican Chuck Hagel. But Nelson, who retained the strong public approval ratings he had received throughout his two-term tenure as governor, appears to have the advantage in his contest this year against Republican state Attorney General Don Stenberg.

Despite the Democrats' ability to win Senate and gubernatorial races here in recent years, the party has been nearly shut out in presidential races: The Democratic nominee has taken Nebraska's electoral votes only once since 1940, in the 1964 contest won by President Lyndon B. Johnson over Republican Barry Goldwater.

While Democrats are realistic that the state likely will remain a stronghold for the Republican nominee, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, in the general election, they are hopeful that Nebraska's unusual election laws will bring at least a portion of the state's electoral votes Gore's way.

In most states, all electoral votes go to the statewide winner. The electoral votes in Nebraska are apportioned on the basis of the popular vote in each congressional district. There is a longshot possibility that Gore could claim the electoral vote in either the 1st District, which takes in Lincoln, or the Omaha-based 2nd District.

NEBRASKA NOTABLES: U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, the delegation chairman; former U.S. Rep. John J. Cavanaugh III; former U.S. Sen. John James Exon; state Democratic Party Chairwoman Anne Boyle; Lincoln Mayor Don Wesely.