Nevada Republicans Prepare to Fight in Carson City... By Fighting Each Other.

Last week, we discussed the continuing role of Former State Senator Elizabeth Halseth and the increasingly contentious G-O-TEA primary to replace her in SD 9 in the Southwest Vegas Valley. Today, we're seeing how the deepening ideological divide among Nevada Republicans is complicating Republican efforts to hold onto SD 9 and win the new SD 18 in Northwest Las Vegas.

Republicans want to take over the upper house of the Legislature, where they sit at an 11 to 10 disadvantage to Democrats. To do that, they have to win four of five competitive seats in November’s election.

The Senate caucus has endorsed a slate of candidates they believe are best positioned to win those competitive races. None of them have signed the anti-tax pledge — though that wasn’t a condition for the endorsement.

“We never had a litmus test over who we would endorse,” said state Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno.

“I think we wanted candidates who were going to do two things: be excellent, pro-business legislators who would advance the cause of individual and economic liberties in Nevada,” Kieckhefer said, “and people who would win in the general election.”

So what's wrong with that? According to "tea party" elements, quite a bit is. Take a look at this SD 18 GOP debate on "Face to Face" last month.

Laurel Fee, a former staffer on Angle’s Senate campaign and a co-founder of the political group Tea Party and Republicans Uniting Nevada Conservatives said the problem is not that Republicans have been too conservative.

“The party has become too moderate,” said Fee, whose group is working with Jones and Assembly candidates running against establishment-endorsed candidates. “There are too many Republicans who don’t honor their own platform or principles.”

The insurgents were strong enough to take over the state party last month from the establishment.

June 12 will be the test of whether they’re strong enough to beat the establishment in an election.

As we've discussed before, the ideological warfare within the Nevada Republican Party is complicating Republican leaders' efforts to expand their power in Carson City. They were hoping Governor Brian Sandoval's flip-flops newfound "frankness" on taxes would soften skepticism over his & Republican legislators' ability to pass a reasonable budget and properly run state government. But instead, their shift angered the very "tea party" base that saved them in 2010. And now, the establishment's hand-picked candidates must fight for their political lives this week as primary season comes to a close.

After all, both sides realize next Tuesday's results will play a big role in not just the November general election, but also how the state will be run next year. Sandoval just wants to make sure his big corporate backers are pleased and his political career is preserved. His "tea party frienemies", on the other hand, truly want an ideological "revolution" that will result in the dismantling of what little state government we have. Party leaders tried to balance both sets of desires, but ultimately they sided with Sandoval. Yet because of that, the "tea party" is biting back and may yet succeed... In helping Nevada Democrats curb Sandoval's power.