One More Time...

One more tribute to the fallen (unintentionally comedic) legend Suzy Lowdown...



She'll be remembered as Nevada's Norma Desmond...





Or will she? Oh hell, her campaign was one extra crazy hot mess from the start! Maybe it was more like this...



Or this?

Meanwhile, in Cali... A Lesson Is Learned

It was interesting watching last night's results here in Orange County. Simultaneously as results started to trickle in Nevada, the polls were closing in California. And as I woke up this morning, I had not just one, but two states worth of election data to mine through!

And really, it's interesting to compare and contrast what happened.

- A major miracle occurred in California last night when Propositions (Props) 16 & 17 were defeated. These were nothing more than a naked corporate power play, and it was nice to see both go down despite the opposition being heavily outspent by the corporate backers (PG&E for 16, Mercury Insurance for 17).

- Meanwhile back in Nevada, many of those same corporate interests were celebrating their purchase of the Nevada GOoP Senate nomination as Obtuse Sharron Angle rode her way to victory over the remains of Suzy Lowdown's laughably discredited campaign.

- Well, these powerful corporate interests still have a strong hold in the California GOoP, where they chose "EBay Megabucks" Meg Whitman for Gube and Carly "Failorina'd Hewlett Packard to the ground" Fiorina for Senate.

- And there wasn't much drama on the Democratic side in either state. California had a few more competitive statewide races downballot, but everyone knew Barbara Boxer would capture the Senate nomination as Jerry Brown cruised his way into the Gubernatorial nomination... Not too much different from Harry & Rory Reid waltzing though their respective primaries here.

Still, I see a recurring theme overall... One that may really be telling for November. Robert Cruickshank blurted it out at Calitics:

As we go into the fall campaign season, the arc of this election is now clear: it is a battle between corporate wealth and populist democracy. Our victory in Prop 16 and Prop 17 show how we can win that battle. Time to build and organize to win again in November.

They succeeded in California in defeating Props 16 & 17, and hopefully they'll do it again in telling "Megabucks Whitman" and "Carly Failorina" where to take their big corporate bucks. And hopefully, we can do the same here in Nevada with Obtuse Sharron Angle and Brian "Which Way" Sandoval. Perhaps GOoP primary voters want to buy into the "laissez faire mystique", but most of us can't afford to. People in Las Vegas need jobs. People in Reno need to save their homes from foreclosure. People in Nye County don't need the nuclear industry destroying their communities by building a massive dump at Yucca Mountain. People in Henderson don't need greedy gravel suppliers polluting our communities with their nearby gravel pit.

And what real solutions have Angle and Sandoval offered? None. And why should they? Their corporate masters want something different. (Hint: They're looking after their bottom lines, NOT our best interest.) Hopefully in the coming weeks and months, Nevadans will see more clearly just who's really on our side and who are just corporate pawns.

NV-Gov: "Luv-Guv" Gibbons Is Gone... Or Is He?

So we won't have "The Luv-Guv" to kick around any more, as he lost the GOoP Gube Primary to Brian Sandoval. So it's no' mo' Gibbons? Really?

Well, maybe not...





No really! Remember this?



It seems the Nevada GOoP wanted the appearance of "cleaning house" by removing Gibbons in the primary, but in reality the "moderate" Sandoval has had to flip-flop so far to the right that he's made himself into essentially a carbon copy of Jimbo the Gube (sans scandaliciousness). We'll have to see in the coming weeks and months whether Nevadans want to give Gibbons a second chance... Vicariously, through Sandoval.

NV-Sen: Bye Bye, Suzy & Danny... And Hello, Obtuse Sharron! (May You Lose Badly in November!)

Bye bye, Suzy!



Bye bye, Danny!



And hello, Ms. Obtuse Batsh*t Crazy Sharron Angle!



The primary is over, and the votes have been counted. And it looks like Obtuse Angle is the winner set to lose to Harry Reid in November.

But oh, why am I saying this? Isn't Harry Reid so unpopular? Isn't the saying, "Anyone Butt Reid"? You know what, people are waking up to reality.

Do we really want this crazy lady representing us in the Senate??!!



Do we really believe in this?




Do we really want this?





And in case you thought this was batsh*t crazy enough for Obtuse Sharron Angle, there's even more! She even openly supports armed militia out to fight the federal government on... CONCENTRATION CAMPS??!!

"We support what the organization stands for," Angle's husband, Ted, told TPMDC in a phone interview Monday. "Sharron does." [...]

According to the [Southern Poverty Law Center], Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, a former staffer for Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) warns his followers against "a coming dictatorship" that will happen if "our brothers in arms go along and comply with unconstitutional, unlawful orders." An extensive report on the group by Mother Jones in March suggests supporters of the movement believe they're living through the first steps of the shift away from constitutional freedom. Members of the group -- many of them in the armed forces -- share the "belief that the government is already turning on its citizens, they are recruiting military buddies, stashing weapons, running drills, and outlining a plan of action [to stop it]," the magazine reported.

Angle's relationship with Oath Keepers hasn't been on the media radar, but she made a little-noticed attempt to woo the group's members at an event last fall, Rhodes told TPMDC Monday. [...]

Ted Angle told TPMDC he doesn't know if he or his wife are full-fledged members of the organization, but said that they fully stood behind its principles.

He "vaguely remembers" he and his wife being asked to join. "It's one of things we desire to have happen," he said about membership in the group. "I'm not sure if it has happened yet or not." [...]

Angle's endorsement of the Oath Keepers will only bolster that image. The group is preoccupied with nightmarish visions of U.S. citizens being marched into Nazi-style concentration camps. One part of the Oath Keepers' creed reads: "Such a vile order to forcibly intern Americans without charges or trial would be an act of war against the American people, and thus an act of treason, regardless of the pretext used. We will not commit treason, nor will we facilitate or support it.'NOT on Our Watch!'"

WHAT??!!

Obtuse Sharron is simply the wrong angle for Nevada.

LIVEBLOG for Tonight's Primary Results! Angle, Sandoval Win GOoP Primary

OK, who's ready to sit back and watch the primary results with me? We have The Sun & The RGJ. I'll have updates as soon as we get the first results...

UPDATE 7:36 PM: Elko & Mineral counties will be reporting first. Early voting results from Clark (Las Vegas) and Washoe (Reno) should then arrive in a few more minutes...

UPDATE 7:38 PM: Elko is coming in, and Lowden & Angle split 31% each in the GOoP Senate race...

UPDATE 7:39 PM: Meanwhile in the GOoP Gube primary, Sandoval launches to an almost 2-1 lead over Gibbons (56-29).

UPDATE 7:42 PM: OK, here's some news on our side... Jessica Sferrazza starts with a BIG lead in the Lt. Gov. Democratic primary.

UPDATE 7:47 PM: Clark County early vote numbers are now coming in, and Lowden is now leading Angle by only 3% (36-33). Remember that Clark was supposed to be "Suzy Lowdown Country"!


UPDATE 7:55 PM: Apparently, Angle is now taking a small lead in the GOoP Senate primary... And Angle just racked up a BIG lead in Washoe County early voting, so Suzy Lowdown HQ must be sweating bullets right now!

UPDATE 8:06 PM: Angle is ahead by only about 400 votes right now... But Humboldt County has just come in for Angle. And we've not yet received any Election Day results for Clark & Washoe...

UPDATE 8:09 PM: Meanwhile, AP has called the Democratic Senate primary for Harry Reid, as well as the Gubernatorial primary for Rory Reid. As expected, we'll get a "2-for-1 Reid special" in November... Will Nevadans take both? (Crossing fingers...) :-)


UPDATE 8:12 PM: Meanwhile, AP has called the GOoP Gube primary for Sandoval. Gibbons is now officially a lame duck... Yikes...


UPDATE 8:29 PM: Angle now leads Lowden by almost 2.6% in the GOoP Senate primary with 20.1% reporting...

UPDATE 8:33 PM: With just over 9% of Clark County precincts reporting, "Suzy Lowdown Country" shows Lowden with less than 2% lead... Not good for Ms. Suzy...

UPDATE 8:42 PM: And Sharron Angle is now starting to pull away with a 5% (almost 4,000 vote) lead! Angle keeps narrowing Lowden's Clark County lead while expanding her leads in all the other counties reporting (including Washoe).


UPDATE 8:55 PM: Sharron Angle now expands her lead to 7% (37-30) against Sue Lowden. Lowden's numbers all over aren't looking good, even in Clark County where Lowden leads by less than 1,000 votes.


UPDATE 9:04 PM: While we wait for some more Senate results, let's go back to the Dem side and look at our big primaries. Jessica Sferrazza holds a 42-19 lead over Bob Goodman in the Lieutenant Governor race with Paul Murad and Robert Randazzo both far behind. And in the SD 7 (Clark) race, Mark Manendo holds a strong 57-43 lead over Kathy McClain.

UPDATE 9:30 PM: The GOoP Senate race looks to be an Angle blowout as she now has an 11% lead over Lowden. This race is set to be called soon. And once again, someone from Searchlight is smiling. :-)

9:34 PM: And like that, AP calls the GOoP Senate primary for Angle! Bye bye, Suzy Lowdown! And get ready, my dear Obtuse Angle, to lose to Harry Reid in November! :-D

Just As I Was Hoping for Some Peace & Quiet...

I forget about this. I guess I'll have plenty to pay attention to tonight! ;-)

Happy Election Day! Have You Voted Yet?

If not, please check the Nevada Secretary of State's page for your polling place. Also check Progress Now's Nevada Voter Guide for all the scoop on all the candidates. I'm about to board my flight for OC this morning, but I'll check back in tonight to discuss the primary election results with you.

Happy voting! :-)

Goodbye, Vegas... And Hello, OC!

At least for the next couple weeks. I'll be off in a far away land, a place where the land ends and the seemingly endless Pacific begins...

A Quick Summary of the 2010 Election Coverage So Far from "The 'Newspaper' That Shall Not Be Named"

Mr. Gleaner did a nice job today of explaining the real reasoning behind that "newspaper" and its decision to chicken out of a US Senate GOoP Primary endorsement (pun intended). However, I must also say that Ms. Vegas Tea Room might have done an even better job of summing up everything the "newspaper" has been saying these last few months.

Bullshit, crap, more crap, blow job for Ronald Reagan, miss old Ronnie, hate Harry, bullshit, more bullshit, pure unadulterated crap, derivative crap, insightful conservative hate speech, more crap, small turds, bigger turds, little rat publisher flatulence, bla, bla bla, love the governor, all lies about the governor, the governor didn't do any of that, apologist, flatulence, still hate Reid, both of them, Shelley Berkley, lucky she's in that gerrymandered district, more flatulence, Dina Taxes is in trouble, she won but she's in trouble, hate democrats, love the tea baggers, love the conservatives, lovin Ronnie Reagan, George who?, bullshit, crap, more crap, the only thing I like about the beltway is the name, damn people speeding, crap, bla, crap, bla, shit, bla ffffffffffftttttttt(a tribute to Mad Magazine!)

There you have it, folks. The essence of the much ridiculed celebrated 2010 Election coverage from the "newspaper" most of Las Vegas is embarrassed to call our own.

NV-LtGov: The BIG Stonewall Debate!

So after I helped Joyce Woodhouse take Henderson & Southeast Vegas on Saturday, it was time for me to head to Fabulous Downtown Las Vegas for Stonewall's big event of primary season! Yes, my dears, three of the four Democrats running for Lieutenant Governor (Jessica Sferrazza had a scheduling conflict) stopped by to discuss the issues with us one more time before the final day of primary voting tomorrow.

But instead of boring you with repeats of everything that's already been discussed here, we'll go through the issues here and point out some things that haven't been talked about yet.



- All three candidates expressed their full support for the LGBTQ community (including transgender inclusive anti-discrimination legislation), but the three differed on how best to recruit good companies who will be good for the community. Paul Murad said he has already been making connections to our community, and he can recruit more LGBTQ-friendly companies and major LGBTQ conventions, events, and parties to come to Nevada. Robert Randazzo said he will work with all the companies he recruits here to treat all their workers equally and be responsive to Nevada's LGBTQ community. Bob Goodman, meanwhile, pledged to listen to the community and bring jobs back for everyone in Nevada.

- A couple questions were asked about Arizona and SB 1070, and the candidates seemed to agree at first in all opposing the law... But then, they diverged. Paul Murad said he's already been working on recruiting a Latino film festival to come here (obviously, they no longer feel welcome in Arizona), and described how his lessons as an immigrant himself remind him why SB 1070 is immoral. Bob Goodman said he talks with "Mexicans" in the "Latin community" and opposes SB 1070, but also said Nevada needs to stay out of the Arizona fight by not trying to use SB 1070 to snatch companies away from Arizona. Robert Randazzo then said Nevada shouldn't overtly make an anti-SB 1070 case to Arizona companies lest that fuel the flames for anti-immigrant forces to do something similar here, but he also said he's work his hardest to make sure nothing like that would happen here next year.

- I was actually able to get a question in on train service from Las Vegas to Southern California, and making sure a new Vegas high-speed rail line connects to the California High Speed Rail line. Paul Murad said he'd support whichever train(s) work(s) best, regardless of who's been politicking the most or least, to move people between Vegas and SoCal and work with California leaders to make it happen, as well as eventually put together a more comprehensive high-speed rail network connecting Las Vegas and Reno to Northern California, Southern California, and Arizona. Bob Goodman says he's worked with California before on a number of transportation issues, and he's ready again to go to bat for DesertXpress. Robert Randazzo also said DesertXpress is the most promising, as it's already secured private funding, but did add that it must go all the way from Downtown Las Vegas to Downtown Los Angeles to actually succeed (otherwise, no one will want to ride from somewhere ridiculously off-Strip to Victorville).

- And toward the end, we had had quite the discussion on education! Everyone got into it, and we started taking questions and comments from the audience. Paul Murad said his college education abroad best prepared him for the Lt. Gov. job, but Robert Randazzo explained how his own experience in the airline industry prepared him... And then, the audience started breaking out with all sorts of comments! Bob Goodman said the Lt. Gov. job doesn't have to do with state education policy, but then an audience member objected and said economic development is directly tied to education. Murad then tried to take that idea further, but it ended up being a back and forth with numerous audience members that kept me on the edge of my seat!

All in all, this wasn't exactly the debate I had expected. And you know what? That was a good thing! We heard some interesting questions, and even more interesting answers! You can check my Twitter for even more from Saturday night. And again, it was great to see so many great progressive Democrats light up that patio at The Arts Factory! Whoever wins the primary, I'm feeling pretty good about our chances to get one of them elected in November. :-)

Crazy Fun Video Night Goes to... Pahrump!

Let's go over the hump tonight... :-)

SD 5: Walking With Joyce Woodhouse & Thinking About the State of Nevada Democrats in 2010

So yesterday was quite the busy day! I started the day walking with my State Senator, Joyce Woodhouse, and ended it with some wild times at the Stonewall Lt. Gov. Debate. Now I'll get to the debate tomorrow, but for now I want to talk about what happened yesterday morning and afternoon.





So early yesterday morning, before the Southern Nevada heat became totally unbearable, a group of us local volunteers showed up at Joyce Woodhouse's house in Henderson (actually, just down the street from my house!). We talked with our Senator for a few minutes, received our walk packets, and we assigned an area of Southeast Las Vegas (actually unincorporated Clark County, but the mailing address is "Las Vegas").

So what happened? I spoke with some of the neighbors concerned about the state of our economy and jobs. Others I spoke with wanted to hear about what Joyce has been doing about schools, since she is a local educator. And then, I had a chance to let them know about what our Senator has been doing in Carson City to deliver on her promises. And most of the people I spoke with really appreciated this.

Ever since we spoke last month on renewable energy, I've really come to appreciate this as well. Oh, and by the way, Joyce herself also took to the streets and walked to talk with folks in the neighborhood. Some of them even remembered her teaching their kids!

So after we finished walking, it was off to the big Democratic BBQ in Henderson. And guess who I ran into there? Oh, Dina Titus, of course!

Here's some of what she said yesterday:



And Joyce also had a chance to speak:



As you can tell from my photos and videos, we had a full house then. And this is supposed to be the year of "depressed Democratic turnout"? And "progressive ennui"? And "Democratic disillusionment"? Tell that to all of us at the BBQ yesterday!

As I've mentioned before, I think the "teabagger phenomenon" has been quite overblown. At the end of the day, people still want real solutions. And as long as good, hard-working Democrats like Dina and Joyce keep providing those real solutions, I think we'll be just fine this year. :-)

NV-Sen: LA Times Misses the Point (That Ralston Gets), While LV Sun Provides Glimpse into GOoP Mind

Isn't it always interesting when the outsiders take a look in and notice what we're doing? Today The LA Times tries to do that by reporting on our US Senate race. And while the story isn't all that bad, I'm not a fan of how they framed the piece.

If Republican Sharron Angle wins her party's Senate primary Tuesday, it will be a victory for the soft-spoken perpetual candidate, Nevada's conservative diehards, the national "tea party" movement and underdogs everywhere.

It will also be a huge win for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The Nevada Democrat has been working for months — some might say years — to cast his own opponent in the against-all-odds drama that is his reelection campaign. With dismal approval ratings and an anti-incumbent political climate, Reid is so vulnerable that Washington insiders have been debating who the next majority leader might be.

But Reid, known to some in Nevada as the "meddler in chief," is considered a master of nudging pieces to fall just so. And so it appears that during the GOP primary he is trying — with some success — to boost his chances of a general election victory. [...]

Reid can't — and doesn't — claim to be working the levers behind the GOP primary. Nor could he have anticipated how tea party forces would fuel Angle's shoestring campaign or how gaffes would dog Lowden's. And no matter who wins Tuesday, Reid will face a fierce election fight.

So let me get this straight, the outcome of the GOP primary is all Harry Reid's doing? Really? Or could it be something else?

My dears, this is why it's often best to trust the locals... Especially Nevada political experts like Jon Ralston!

The consensus among national and local Republicans, and a pundit or two, was that Sue Lowden was easily at the top of a second-tier field of GOP hopefuls and would be formidable against a vulnerable Harry Reid. But something happened on the path to the anointment: Lowden bartered away her front-runner status by trading her slick, TV-anchor-trained persona for a frivolous, unprepared dilettante who couldn’t get out of her own way.

It’s not just about chickens for health care, although her stubborn refusal to kill what should have been a two-day story and instead allow it to be become a national sensation, was one of the worst gaffes I have seen in a major campaign. But her dithering on the Civil Rights Act and her bizarre take on climate change — among other warning signs — showed the former anchorwoman was not ready for her close-up.

So as national Republicans called into the state, surely with expletive-filled tirades, to discern what was happening and to try to stop her free-fall, the Tea Party Express and Club for Growth catapulted Angle from a distant third place to serendipitous front-runner status. She could never have done this on her own — Angle has never been able to raise enough money to pay for the kind of campaign infrastructure and get-out-the-vote operation Lowden bought. But she almost toppled Dean Heller in a congressional race and Bill Raggio in a state Senate contest because of her core support and, in the Heller battle, because of the Club for Growth’s checkbook.

If Angle wins, it will be for two reasons: Lowden opened the door enough and outside forces pushed her through the aperture.[Emphasis mine.]

See that? It seems the national media don't know what to think of this topsy-turvy Senate race. So what did LAT do? Buy Bobby Uithoven's primal whines lock, stock, and barrel? Really?

I guess they forgot to read what I said on Thursday:

But wait, whatever happened to that "conservative value" that is personal responsibility? Did Suzy Lowdown and Bobby Uithoven miss that day's lesson in "GOoP Talking Points 101"? How is Ms. Suzy pulling herself up by her own bootstraps when she wants Harry Reid to tie them for her?

See how ridiculous they really sound? Again, Suzy Lowdown refuses to acknowledge that her crazy words wrecked her own campaign. And instead of realizing that the teabaggers are abandoning her in droves to go for "real deal" Obtuse Angle, she'd rather just try one more "Hail Mary Pass" to save her rapidly collapsing campaign by blaming it all on Harry Reid.

It really comes back to this:



And it's not just "Barter-gate" itself, but really Suzy Lowdown just letting her campaign spin out of control. It wasn't Harry Reid's doing. And if anyone "from the outside" has been meddling in the Nevada GOoP Primary, it's been "Tea Party, Inc.", with all its big corporate bucks, trying to buy the election for "Obtuse" Sharron Angle. But of course, Ms. Suzy can't say this in public, as she'd look like a hypocrite (and rightly so) for trying to buy the election with her big corporate bucks.

And the result of all the GOoP infighting over chickens and checks and L. Ron Hubbard? The GOoP voters aren't all that thrilled.

“I think Republicans kept telling themselves, ‘We’re angry, this is our year,’ but there hasn’t been that much emotional attachment to this election,” said Eric Herzik, a UNR political scientist. “You don’t see it in rallies. You don’t see it in debates. The party is fractured by 12 candidates, and none of them has captured the hearts of Republican voters.”

Herzik said the candidates had failed to articulate solutions to Nevada’s problems, instead running campaigns based on personal ideology and electability.

“Anger gets you halfway there,” he said. “To really activate a broader spectrum, you have to give them a reason to turn out. You have to say what you are for. These campaigns have been all about what they’re against.”

Indeed, voters expressed that frustration time and again, offering lukewarm appraisals of the Republican contenders. The word most often used to describe the quality of the field: OK.

Lois Tribbet, a 73-year-old telephone operator who voted for Lowden, said she found it difficult to muster enthusiasm.

“I’m in turmoil right now over who we have to work with,” she said. “Nobody’s talking about how they’re really going to fix things. Everything is so negative right now, and I don’t see anybody who’s going to really turn things around.”

And why should they be? None of their "frontrunners" have offered any sort of meaningful policy solutions. It's all just become one big, ridiculous circus. And that's all the Nevada GOoP's own failing making.

Crazy Fun Video Night... A Lil' More Vegas Before I Go

I can't help it... I can never get me enough VEGAS! :-D

Programming Note: Events This Weekend, Then Primary, Then Vacation Time

OK, just so you know what's coming up this weekend...

I'll be doing some events tomorrow. The big Stonewall Lt Gov debate will be one of them. I promise to fill you in by Monday on everything I have under wraps now. ;-)

And then on Monday and Tuesday, I'll wrap up my primary coverage. And of course, election results will be here Tuesday night!

And from there? I'll actually be flying to California on Tuesday to spend some quality time with the family. Hell, and some time off would also be nice. Don't worry. I won't disappear...

I'll just be here, perhaps reading a book and recovering from my wild spring in Vegas. ;-)