Scott Kleeb

Kleeb was born in Turkey at a military hospital to parents who taught in military schools abroad. He was raised in Italy and speaks Italian fluently. He attended college at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he graduated summa cum laude; he then earned a master's degree in international relations and a Ph.D. in history from Yale University.{{cite news |last = Tysver | first = Robynn | title = Kleeb Cowboys Up | work = Omaha World-Herald | date = April 28, 2008 | url = http://www.scottkleeb.com/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&screenKey=cmpNews&htmlID=9321&s=kleeb | accessdate = 2008-05-05 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080629033733/http://www.scottkleeb.com/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&screenKey=cmpNews&htmlID=9321&s=kleeb |archivedate = 2008-06-29}} He was also a Yale World Fellow.[http://worldfellows.yale.edu/scott-kleeb Scott Kleeb], Yale World Fellows

Kleeb has been an adjunct professor of history at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of Energy Pioneer Solutions, a residential energy efficiency business located in Hastings.{{cite news|title=Energy Pioneer Solutions help you go green and save |author=Jordan Shefte |date=December 21, 2011 | publisher=KHAS TV }}

In 2006, Kleeb, then a ranch-hand at the McGinn Ranch in Custer County,{{cite news |title=Resources pour into 3rd District House race |url=http://journalstar.com/news/local/resources-pour-into-rd-district-house-race/article_82afc434-8bbd-5fc4-968c-e4947eb32261.html |author=Don Walton |work=Lincoln Journal Star |date=October 31, 2006}} was the Democratic candidate for Nebraska's 3rd congressional district seat. The 3rd is extremely difficult to campaign in and has few unifying influences. It covers nearly {{convert|65000|sqmi|km2}}, two time zones, and 68.5 of Nebraska's 93 counties (one of which, Cherry County, is larger than the entire state of Connecticut). However, Kleeb raised more money than any other Democrat had raised in the district in decades. Overall, the race was the most expensive in the district since it assumed its current configuration in 1963.

Just before the election, polls showed Kleeb even with or ahead of his Republican opponent, state senator Adrian Smith, in a congressional district the GOP had held for 46 years. In 2004, the district gave Bush 75 percent of its votes.{{cite news |title=Bush Fights for Endangered Candidates in Red States |author=Jay Newton-Small and Michael Forsythe |date= November 6, 2006 |publisher=Bloomberg News |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aqaEcUcCPiNo&refer=home}}

As the race become more competitive than expected, it received late national attention from the House campaign committees.{{cite news | last = Walton | first = Don | title = GOP eye on 3rd District House race | work = Lincoln Journal Star |date=2006-10-27 | url = http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2006/10/27/local/doc4542996be466f643696597.txt | accessdate = 2006-11-10 }}{{cite news | last = Levinson | first = Nathan| title = Neb. Roundup: Bush Visit Points to GOP Vulnerability | work = New York Times | date = November 3, 2011 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/cq/2006/11/03/cq_1779.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1163170696-2DroFhNJip/i+w2pjk16LA | accessdate = 2006-11-10 }} President George W. Bush also made an appearance in the district two days before the election to campaign for Smith — a sign that the national party was very concerned about its chances in what had long been presumed to be a very safe Republican seat.{{cite news |work=Lincoln Journal Star |title=Scott Kleeb in spotlight |date=November 3, 2006 |author=Don Walton |url=http://journalstar.com/news/local/scott-kleeb-in-spotlight/article_011bd413-4ed3-5bc0-b077-e6ab3ec79ef7.html}}{{cite news|last=Thompson |first=Jake |author2=Robynn Tysver |title=Bush rallies GOP faithful in Grand Island |work=Omaha World-Herald |date=November 5, 2011 |url=http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1673&u_sid=2274916 |accessdate=2006-11-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20050422175803/http%3A//www%2Eomaha%2Ecom/index%2Ephp?u_pg%3D1673 |archivedate= April 22, 2005 }}

Smith won by 10 percentage points, taking 55 percent of the vote to Kleeb's 45 percent. This was the closest a Democrat had come to winning the district in 16 years, and only the third time a Democrat had come reasonably close to winning this district in its current configuration. Besides Bush's 11th-hour visit, Smith likely rode the coattails of Governor Dave Heineman, who won many of the counties in this district by 80 percent or more in his bid for a full term.

In April 2007, state investigators were still working to determine who was behind a barrage of last-minute automated telephone calls to voters which, state officials said, distorted Kleeb's views. Some used his voice with the greeting: "Hi, this is Scott Kleeb!", with many of these calls made in the middle of the night.{{cite news |title=States Seek Limits on 'Robocalls' in Campaigns |author=Susan Saulny |date= April 25, 2007 |work=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/us/politics/25calls.html }}

{{main|2008 United States Senate election in Nebraska}}

In May 2008, Kleeb won the Democratic primary election for the open Nebraska U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Chuck Hagel, with nearly 70 percent of the vote in a four-candidate race.{{cite news |work= Columbus Telegram |url=http://columbustelegram.com/news/local/kleeb-tops-raimondo-in-senate-primary/article_a70c767d-4d5c-5b81-9b48-7bd443ed37db.html |title=Kleeb tops Raimondo in Senate primary |author=Jim Osborn |date=May 14, 2008 }} His nearest opponent was Tony Raimondo, a former Republican.{{cite press release| title = 2008 Unofficial Election Results| publisher = Nebraska Secretary of State| date = May 14, 2008| url = http://www.sos.ne.gov/elec/2008/ElectNight/primary.htm| accessdate = 2008-05-15| url-status = dead| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080605030130/http://www.sos.ne.gov/elec/2008/ElectNight/primary.htm| archivedate = June 5, 2008}}

On November 4, 2008, Kleeb lost to former Republican Governor of Nebraska Mike Johanns in the general election.{{cite news|title=Senate: Veteran politico Johanns beats Kleeb |work=Omaha World Herald |date=November 5, 2008 |url=http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10478171 |accessdate=2008-05-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20080918181813/http%3A//www%2Eomaha%2Ecom/index%2Ephp?u_page%3D2835 |archivedate= September 18, 2008 }} Johanns had 58 percent of the vote, to Kleeb's 40 percent.{{cite web |title=Johanns Wins Senate Race |publisher=Associated Press |date=November 5, 2008 |url=http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/33868569.html |accessdate=2012-01-01}}

Media sources speculated that Kleeb could challenge U.S. Representative Brad Ashford in the 2016 Democratic primary. Kleeb would be challenging Ashford, a centrist Democrat, from the left. Kleeb's wife, Jane Kleeb, was asked about the possibility in January 2015 and said she was "not ready to comment on a possible run."{{cite news|url=http://watchdog.org/193286/brad-ashford-democrat/|title=Brad Ashford to get challenge from fellow Democrat? It's a 'possibility'|work=Nebraska Watchdog|last=Jordan|first=Joe|date=January 15, 2015|access-date=January 19, 2015|archive-date=January 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119013111/http://watchdog.org/193286/brad-ashford-democrat/|url-status=dead}} Kleeb ultimately did not run against Ashford, who lost the general election to Republican Don Bacon.

In 2007, Kleeb married Jane Fleming, whom he had begun dating in 2006 while campaigning for a congressional seat. At the time she was the executive director of Young Democrats of America.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aMkhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GJ4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1532,711039&dq=jane-fleming+young+democrats&hl=en |author=Ed Howard |work=McCook Daily Gazette |date= March 1, 2007 |title=Getting Involved with a Breaking Story}}

Jane Fleming Kleeb founded the progressive citizen advocacy group Bold Nebraska in 2010.{{cite news |date=February 20, 2011 |title=Newcomer is thorn for state GOP |author=Robynn Tysver |work=World-Herald |url=http://www.omaha.com/article/20110220/NEWS01/702209907#newcomer-is-thorn-for-state-gop }} In 2011, she was a major figure in getting the Keystone XL pipeline's proposed path changed so that it did not go across Nebraska's Sandhills and works with farmers and ranchers to fight eminent domain abuse.{{cite news |title=Jane Kleeb emerges as a figure, perhaps a force |url=http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/jane-kleeb-emerges-as-a-figure-perhaps-a-force/article_be015464-737b-5ee0-b4a2-d68e603d377d.html |author=Don Walton |work= Lincoln Journal Star | date= December 18, 2011}} In a December 2011 interview with a local television station, she said that neither she nor her husband was considering running for the U.S. Senate seat of retiring senator Ben Nelson.{{cite web |url=http://www.khastv.com/news/local/Jane-Kleeb-comments-on-Senator-Nelsons-retirement-136342748.html |title=Jane Kleeb comments on Senator Nelson's retirement |author=Jordan Shefte |date=December 28, 2011 |accessdate=2011-12-28 |publisher=KHAS-TV |archive-date=May 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511220510/http://www.khastv.com/news/local/Jane-Kleeb-comments-on-Senator-Nelsons-retirement-136342748.html |url-status=dead }}

As of late 2011, Scott Kleeb and his wife were raising three young daughters.

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scott-Kleeb/9017503436 Profile] on Facebook
• {{CongLinks | congbio= | votesmart=57775 | fec=S8NE00133 | congress= }}
• [http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?id=NES2&cycle=2008 Campaign contributions] from OpenSecrets
• [http://www.energypioneersolutions.com/our-team CEO] at Energy Pioneer Solutions

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{{succession box

| before= Charlie Matulka

|title= Democratic nominee for United States Senator from Nebraska
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Category:1975 births

Category:Living people

Category:Candidates in the 2006 United States elections

Category:Candidates in the 2008 United States elections

Category:Nebraska Democrats

Category:University of Colorado Boulder alumni

Category:Yale University alumni

Category:Hastings College faculty

Category:Politicians from Hastings, Nebraska