What a Party

Around 11:30 PM last night, we arrived back in Las Vegas. And just after midnight, I landed in my front door. Wow. What a weekend... And it's not even over yet!

Yesterday's Nevada State Democratic Party Central Committee meeting in Carson City may not have had the kind of fireworks that the Republicans were shooting off down here yesterday, but party leaders certainly weren't hesitating to note the big difference in party organization. While we were hearing about all the new volunteers and donations reported at the Democratic Caucus in January, Nevada Republicans were reliving all their February caucus drama at the respective conventions for Nevada's two most populous counties. And while OFA Nevada organizers were giving Nevada Democrats updates on President Obama's campaign here in Nevada, Nevada Republicans got "updates" from some old familiar faces (that party leaders would rather forget).

Former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno, made an appearance at the convention and was given time during the afternoon session to give a speech before the delegation about election integrity.

Angle, the Republican candidate who lost the U.S. Senate race to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 2010, gave no indication on if she will run for office this year.

“I am still thinking, yes,” Angle said about a possible run for office this year, noting that one week remains in the time span where candidate can file for non-judicial offices.

She did not say if she would run for federal or state office: “I’m am not ruling anything out.”

Oh, yes. It's never a dull moment when Sharrrrrrrrrrrrron steps onto center stage!

Now to be fair, it wasn't all smooth sailing for Democrats yesterday. In particular, some rural Democrats rose to raise concerns about the memes spreading in their communities, as well as remind everyone from Clark and Washoe Counties that there's more to Nevada than just Las Vegas and Reno. To a certain extent, they're still frustrated about what happened in September.









However, there really is plenty of good news from Washoe and Clark Counties that shouldn't be dismissed. While Republicans are experiencing intense intraparty turmoil, many Democrats have been busy hosting house parties, making phone calls, and (now) registering voters. And though Nevada Democrats haven't been entirely free of intraparty drama, I haven't seen it reach the level of that we saw yesterday at the Clark and Washoe GOP Conventions.

Of course, we can't take anything for granted this year. And progressives would be stupid to just sit back, do nothing, and passively hope for continued G-O-TEA implosion. It really helps to get out and do something, and that's why things really seem to be looking up for Nevada Democrats this year. So hopefully the folks who I saw at Central Committee yesterday will join the OFA volunteers and the local campaign volunteers in getting out there, registering new voters, persuading more voters, and doing what Nevada Republicans seem to be increasingly incapable of doing. Infighting at party meetings may be great at attracting media coverage, but they don't help in winning elections.