Huckabee Endorses Bruning in High-Profile Neb. Senate Race

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who recently decided not to seek the Republican presidential nomination, waded into the high-profile Nebraska U.S. Senate race on Wednesday. Huckabee endorsed Attorney General Jon Bruning, who is among several GOP candidates vying to see who will take on Democratic incumbent Sen. Ben Nelson next year, the Lincoln Journal Star reported Thursday.

Attorney General Jon Bruning

"I know he has the conservative record and proven leadership that Nebraskans need in the United States Senate," Huckabee said. "I'm confident that he'll be a strong voice in the fight to balance the federal budget, eliminate the deficit and repeal the federal takeover of health care."

Meanwhile, a national conservative blogger said it was wrong-headed to support Bruning instead of backing state Treasurer Don Stenberg for the GOP nomination.

"Conservatives going with Jon Bruning are making a terrible mistake," wrote Erick Erickson, editor-in-chief RedState.com. He pointed to liberal columns Bruning wrote for the Daily Nebraskan as a University of Nebraska law student.

"You don't put the new converts in the Senate where they have six years to go Chuck Hagel on us," Erickson said.  "Don Stenberg is my guy for this race."

Bruning has said he wrote those columns when he was young, that he has matured into a conservative family man, and that he has a conservative record as a state senator and attorney general.