LEGAL NEWSLINE

LINCOLN, Neb. (Legal Newsline) - With the primary in the books, the two candidates vying for Nebraska's open senate head into the general election with lopsided amounts of cash leftover in their campaign coffers.

On Tuesday, Midland University President Ben Sasse, a tea party favorite and former Bush administration official, convincingly trounced the competition, capturing 49.36 percent of the total vote to win the Republican nomination to run for the U.S. Senate.

On the other side of the aisle, trial lawyer Dave Domina landed 44,811 votes for 67.47 percent to win the Democratic nomination, according to the office of the Nebraska Secretary of State.

Going into the general election, Sasse holds a financial edge over the plaintiffs attorney.

At the end of the first quarter, Sasse had pulled in nearly $2.5 million in campaign contributions, compared to Domina, who raised less than $330,000, according to opensecrets.org.

Furthermore, almost half of the money Domina raised - $150,000 for 45 percent - was self-financed.

As of April 23, Domina had $137,126 remaining in his war chest, while Sasse maintained $739,396 cash on hand.

Throughout the primary race, Domina received 65 individual donations from ActBlue, a fundraising PAC supporting Democratic candidates, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Domina also received around three-dozen donations from individuals whose primary occupation is listed as attorney, including several donations totaling $10,400 from Brian Jorde, an attorney for the DominaLaw Group.

Based out of Omaha, the DominaLaw Group specializes in civil litigation and boasts that its attorneys have raked in more than $2 billion from verdicts and settlements, according to the firm's website.

On his campaign site, Domina vaunts his $1.2 billion civil verdict against Tyson Fresh Meats in 2004 as a reason why he deserves to be elected, saying: "We can take down the biggest corporation. We know. With help from many of you, I got it done."

"We cannot treat huge corporations as our legal equals," Domina said. "You and I are human beings. This is the first condition of citizenship. We have the right to vote. And we create corporations. They are not citizens."

In the Alabama federal case Pickett et al v. Tyson Fresh Meats, a jury concluded Tyson's use of captive supply damaged the cash market price of fed cattle from Feb. 1, 1994 through Oct. 31, 2002.

Reach David Yates at elections@legalnewsline.com.