Ben Nelson tries to repair damage at home

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and his wife were leaving dinner at a new pizza joint near their home in Omaha one night last week when a patron began complaining about Nelson’s decisive vote in favor of the Senate’s health care bill.

Other customers started booing. A woman yelled, “Get him the hell out of here!” And the Nelsons and their dining companions beat a hasty retreat.

“It was definitely a scene in there,” said Tom Lewis, a 41-year-old dentist and registered Republican who witnessed the incident. A second witness confirmed the incident to POLITICO.

It’s a new experience for Nelson.

He used to be a popular figure back home, a Democrat who served eight years in the governor’s office and was elected twice to the Senate by a state that’s as red as the “N” on the University of Nebraska's football helmets.

Asked about the incident at the pizza joint, Jake Thompson (Nelson spokesman) said: “If somebody yelled that comment, Sen. Nelson didn’t hear it, and he did hear positive comments from others in the restaurant.” (I think Nelson should have his hearing checked....hasn't heard his constituents either. Maybe he just has 'selective' hearing....should get that checked)

Thompson also said that “many Nebraskans have thanked Sen. Nelson through phone calls, letters and e-mails for supporting health reform because they know its improvements will help their lives.”

Thompson said Nelson was recently thanked by a man in an Omaha store wearing camouflage clothing, a neighbor who was liquidating investment funds to pay medical bills, a group of diabetic children and a woman in a restaurant. (What's considered a group...3? Ok, then that's 6 people, including 3 children. Must be the "many Nebrasksans" Thompson's talking about. Give me a freakin' break!)



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31488.html#ixzz0ccAqECso