Las Vegas (Ward 2) Surprise?

Remember that special election coming up? Come on, you know which one I'm talking about! Las Vegas is having another special election for city council, this time in Ward 2 because of Steve Wolfson's appointment as Clark County District Attorney. And already, the fireworks are being launched. I guess because this is such a short campaign, the explosives are really stunning.

Earlier this week, Ric Truesdell launched this TV ad (!!!) attacking Bob Beers.



Earlier this week, Jon Ralston grilled him on it.

(Go to 9:00 on Tuesday's "Face to Face" show to get to Truesdell's interview.)

Yesterday, the Realtors' Association released a shocking new Ward 2 poll that showed "Undecided" leading the pack with 30%, and Bob Beers leading all the real candidates with 24%. Now we can see why Truesdell is hitting him hard.

However, there was another surprise in that poll. Ric Truesdell was at 15%, but right behind him was Kristine Kuzemka with 13%! Can she be "the dark horse candidate" that overtakes Beers and Truesdell if those two go deep into a mud wrestling match as early voting begins today?

Last night, Ralston talked to Kristine Kuzemka.

(Her interview starts at 8:32.)



And right after doing "Face to Face" with Ralston, Kuzemka went face to face with Nevada Stonewall right after the other big fireworks event with John Lee.



And she really seems to be surprising pundits by taking a different tack to city issues. So far, all the Republican/G-O-TEA candidates have been bashing the recent Downtown Las Vegas redevelopment projects and talking endlessly about "cuts, Cuts, CUTS!!!!!" like they're Paul Ryan. Kristine Kuzemka, on the other hand, is talking about bringing new revenue to the city by looking at new opportunities and bringing in new businesses. She was on KNPR's "State of Nevada" Tuesday, and she explained how the abundance of affordable housing can be used as an opportunity to bring in high-tech businesses and make a real effort to diversify the local economy.

We'll have to see how voters react in this final week to both Kristine Kuzemka's different positive message and the budding negative crap fest between Ric Truesdell and Bob Beers. Perhaps this is a glimmer of hope that Las Vegas voters are getting sick and tired of the same old "GOOD ol' boy" next-in-line kind of politics as well as the same old "tea party" games of blowing up government and leaving locals helpless? Let's see if Las Vegas Ward 2 is ready to show us a surprise.