NATIONAL ELECTION RETURNS : State-by-State Election Reports of Key Races and Issues : Nebraska
OMAHA — Vice President George Bush won Nebraska’s five electoral votes by a wide margin.
Democrat Bob Kerrey, who ousted a Republican incumbent to win the governorship in his first bid for public office in 1982, was expected to continue the pattern by defeating GOP Sen. David Karnes.
Kerrey, a 45-year-old Medal of Honor winner who lost part of a leg in Vietnam, was about 20 percentage points ahead of Karnes in polls taken several weeks before the election. Karnes, at 39 the youngest member of the Senate, was appointed in March 1987 to fill the vacancy left by the death of Democrat Ed Zorinsky.
Republicans now control all three of Nebraska’s congressional seats, but Democrats were given a chance in the 2nd District, where Democrat Peter Hoagland and Republican Jerry Schenken were neck-and-neck in pre-election polls. Incumbent Hal Daub lost to Karnes in the Republican Senate primary.
Nebraska voters also will decide whether to become the first state to withdraw from a low-level radioactive waste disposal compact.
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