Democratic Senator Ben Nelson, one of the few remaining conservatives within his party's congressional caucus, represents Nebraska, a state President Bush carried by more than 30 points in 2004. So is he on the road to defeat in 2006? As The Washington Post's Charles Babington reports, maybe not.

Republican hopes of expanding the party's Senate majority begin in Nebraska, where first-term Democrat Ben Nelson is bidding for reelection in a state President Bush won by a landslide.

But Nelson, a leader in putting together last month's bipartisan pact on judicial nominees, is proving that red-state Democrats can still win fans by sticking to the political center and acting as can-do problem solvers who put pragmatism above party.

[...]

"Nelson will never say he's a Democrat," said University of Nebraska political scientist John Hibbing. It's a smart strategy, he said, in a state where registered Republicans heavily outnumber Democrats but voters embrace an independent spirit reflected in their one-of-a-kind nonpartisan, unicameral legislature.

Triumphant visits such as the one Nelson enjoyed here and in Omaha are troubling to the GOP. If the party is to inch closer to a filibuster-proof Senate majority -- 60 votes -- campaign experts say, Republicans must step up their candidate-recruitment efforts and their critiques of Democrats in Nebraska, North Dakota, Florida and other states Bush carried.

[...]

Nebraska editorial writers are lauding Nelson, and business groups are thanking him for his pro-business efforts. Republicans, meanwhile, wonder whether they are losing a chance for a Senate seat in the state that gave Bush his fourth-largest margin of victory last fall.

Pundits and business leaders are not the only ones heaping praise on the "Benator," as Nelson is sometimes known. Much to the consternation of GOP activists in Nebraska,

on Feb. 4, Bush traveled to Omaha with Nelson and praised the senator's openness to White House proposals to restructure Social Security. He called Nelson "a man with whom I can work, a person who is willing to put partisanship aside to focus on what's right for America."

While the Democrats' chances at retaking the Senate have been questioned by pundits, many are also skeptical about the Republicans' opportunity to pick up Senate seats in 2006. Should Nelson win next fall, it might be all but impossible for the GOP to edge closer to a filibuster-proof margin in the chamber. So this will most certainly be a race to watch over the next 18 months.