Is "Tea Party, Inc." About to Be Exposed Here in Nevada?

Last Thursday, the radical right in Nevada was humiliated as Americans for Prosperity (AFP) had to abandon their own "tea party" in Las Vegas. However, something else happened Thursday that may end up causing even more heartburn for "Tea Party, Inc."... And finally give us an opportunity to learn who's actually funding them.

And strangely enough, AFP finally landed into trouble by wading into a DEMOCRATIC State Senate primary.

In a complaint filed Thursday, the Nevada Democratic Party asked Secretary of State Ross Miller to investigate whether the nonprofit organization must report the contributions it received to fund mailers attacking state Senate candidate Kelvin Atkinson, a Democratic assemblyman from North Las Vegas. [...]

If there can be “no other reasonable interpretation” than that the ad seeks the election or defeat of a candidate, then the producer must disclose the funding source for the ad.

“If you get in state races, you expose yourself,” said one Democrat familiar with the complaint.

In this case, AFP sent mailers into Atkinson’s district just before the June 6 primary election, with his picture and accusations that he worked for special interests and sought a $1 billion electricity rate increase.

Under federal law, AFP can do as much of this as it wants while disclosing as little as possible by simply leaving out terms like "vote for" and "defeat". However under Nevada state law, any organization using campaign advertising (including mailers) designed to influence an election is subject to disclosure requirements, regardless of what kind of language that organization uses in its advertising. Secretary of State Ross Miller (D) has been very aggressive in targeting these shadowy front groups, and he's making no exception for AFP.

So why did AFP do this? Honestly, I'm still trying to figure it out. Why did AFP wade into a Democratic primary in a super safe Democratic State Senate District?

When The Sun's Anjeanette Damon tried to figure out AFP Nevada's primary campaigns. In addition to repaying a favor to Pioneer Laughlin Casino owner and infamous "Chicken Lady" Sue Lowden by helping the pro Laughlin cityhood campaign that surprisingly failed in June, AFP also took sides against mainstream Democrat Kelvin Atkinson (and for perennial fringe candidate Katie Duncan) in a Democratic primary in a heavily Democratic and African-American district in West Las Vegas and parts of North Las Vegas. Because nothing about the latter campaign seems to make any sense, everyone has wondered why a "tea party" group would do such a thing.

But whatever the reason(s), wading into that SD 4 Democratic primary may ultimately cost Americans for Prosperity far more than an embarrassing loss on their scoreboard. Ultimately, this may cost them that ever elusive and mysterious donor list. And what makes this even worse for them is this may have national repercussions.

But AFP doesn’t appear to have organized a separate Nevada entity, which could mean donors to the national organization might have to be disclosed.

The potential has piqued the interest of advocates for campaign finance transparency.

“It all depends what state law requires,” said Paul Ryan, senior counsel for the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, D.C. “I’ll be interested in watching this one.”

Ryan said AFP’s tax-exempt status as a nonprofit could also be threatened if the Nevada group is proven to be engaging primarily in political activity.

Wow. Spending a little bit of "stupid money" on a Democratic Nevada Legislature primary may lead to the downfall of one of the Koch brothers' key astroturf front groups. Who would have ever guessed?

Fast & Frivolous

So apparently, today's health care ruling from the Supreme Court wasn't embarrassing enough for the G-O-TEA on Capitol Hill. They're determined to waste more of our time on ridiculous conspiracy theories. That's why a multitude of House Democrats just walked out of the Capitol.

Led by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who originally planned a walk-out yesterday, most Democrats exited the chamber instead of voting to hold the Attorney General in contempt. Both House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) called for the walkout.

Holder been the target of Republican fury over ‘Fast and Furious,’ a misguided gun tracking effort initiated by the Bush administration and continued under Pres. Barack Obama in which thousands of guns went missing.

Democrats have criticized the vote for being about politics, not action, since Republican’s focus has been on Holder, and not on the gun trading scheme. They feel that Congress should be concentrating on the economy, jobs, and seeking the truth of what happened to the missing guns and a man killed by one.

So what is this really about? Fortune Magazine, which can't really be called a "bleeding heart liberal" publication, just published an expose that revealed there's really nothing there.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

As you can see, there's really nothing there... Yet 255 House members voted for this nonsense. Joe Heck and Mark Amodei were among those 255 votes in favor of this idiocy. And yes, they really did vote for total idiocy. Even the House Republican leading the charge on "Fast & Frivolous" has admitted that there's no evidence of any White House involvement in any criminal activity.

So why are House Republicans still pursuing this idiocy? Simple. The NRA told them to do it. Yep, it's really that pathetic. Once again, Congressional Republicans (including Nevada's) are prioritizing "tea party" fantasy over actual reality.

Why "Tea Party, Inc." Fears The Education Initiative

Ah, the smell of pure desperation!

The Committee to Protect Nevada Jobs filed a lawsuit today against the “Education Initiative” (margin tax Initiative) charging that that the petition’s description of effect is deceptive and incomplete and that it violates the single-subject rule.

The complaint was filed in Carson City District Court.

“From the title on down, the initiative is deeply flawed and misleading,” said Josh Hicks, of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, the attorney for the Committee to Protect Nevada Jobs. “The initiative has nothing to do with education and includes many aspects that are not mentioned in the initiative’s description. We believe that as written, this initiative violates Nevada law.”

The "Tea Party, Inc." coalition opposing the corporate margin tax must figure they have to grasp at straws to stop this. After all, they know the rules on initiatives. They know AFL-CIO & NSEA couldn't insert a funding mandate, as that would violate the single subject rule. Come on, these are the very same folks who used the single subject rule to kill Kermitt Waters' budget initiative!

So now, they're arguing the AFL-CIO/NSEA tax initiative is illegal because it abides by the single subject rule? What a joke.

And by the way, if this "Committee to Protect Nevada Jobs" cared so much about false advertising, why don't they drop their name? After all, their reign in Carson City has done nothing to bring new and better jobs to our state.

We all know why "Tea Party, Inc." power players are really filing this law suit. They know Nevadans are sick and tired of the status quo, so this is their last ditch effort to prevent the initiative from collecting signatures and going to the voters in 2014 (or if Democrats somehow win 2/3 in both houses of the Legislature and all other stars align for progressives, it's passed by the Legislature next year). After having such an iron grip over state government for so long, they're finally at risk of losing it. This may be one small initiative for one small corporate tax, but it will have big repercussions if it succeeds.

No Wonder Why "Tea Party, Inc." Is So Scared.

NSEA recently paid for a poll testing the corporate margin tax it's backing alongside Nevada AFL-CIO. They must have been smiling after seeing this. So far, respondents are answering favorably. In fact, the initiative is leading 59-32 among voters!

And funny enough, the only two demographic groups it's losing are Republicans and conservatives. Among everyone else, it's leading solidly. It's leading 59-30 in the Vegas media market, and it's even leading 59-36 in the Reno media market!

However you want to look at it, it's a blowout in the making. And it explains why Brian Sandoval has been so afraid of our state having an honest conversation on "The T Word".

It looks like most Nevadans are finally reaching their breaking point. They're getting sick and tired of seeing our kids suffer under third world conditions at our public schools while out of state multinational corporations enjoy first class tax evasion. Something's got to give.

And perhaps, it finally will. After all, can our state afford to take more of the same?

One More Anti-Choice FAIL

Farewell, personhood initiative.

Personhood Nevada face a Tuesday deadline to collect more than 72,000 signatures to place the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot.

Organizers told The Associated Press on Friday that they will not meet the signature threshold.

The amendment called "The Right to Live for Young and Old" sought to define life as beginning at conception and prohibit some forms of birth control, fertility treatments when selective reduction is used, and embryonic stem cell research.

This isn't the first time that the "Call the Zygotes People" Initiative failed to make the ballot, but this may very well be the last time that anyone takes them seriously. Especially ever since women's reproductive freedom was enshrined in the Nevada Constitution twenty years ago, voters here have had no appetite for attacking that. And apparently, the recent Mitt Romney/Dean Heller/Joe Heck/"tea party" "War on Women" has done nothing but hurt Nevada Republicans.

So I'm not too surprised that the personhood initiative failed to qualify for the ballot. Frankly, it's just funny to see how the voters themselves scuttled it by declining to sign the petition. Ouch. I wonder if this is finally what it takes to get G-O-TEA politicians to realize that there's no value in attacking women's rights.

And Now, Joe Heck's "Moderate" Baloney.

Now that Dean Heller is doing "the moderate dance", Joe Heck is joining him on that dance floor.

This week, the Club for Growth, a politically conservative outfit that advocates low spending and limited government, put out its rankings of the freshman, “Tea Party” class in the House. Heck was hovering somewhere around the bottom.

The Club gave Heck a 50 percent conservative ranking, making him the 13th-least conservative of the 87 freshmen in the House. Overall, he ranked somewhere in the middle: 196th out of 430 representatives whose votes were analyzed. (Members who only served partial terms — like Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei — didn’t get a rating.)

The numbers seem to make sense for Heck, who accepted Tea Party support as a candidate but has shied from vocally affiliating himself with the movement as a congressman. Heck’s office refused to comment for this article.

Ah, so Joe Heck now wants to believe he's "moderate" because Club for Growth didn't give him a top score. Give me a break! Here's the number that really matters.

According to a vote breakdown from the Washington Post, Heck votes with the Republican Party about 90 percent of the time.

Just yesterday, Heck voted to show a blind eye to domestic violence against minority and LGBTQ women. In February, Heck tried to justify his opposition to equal access to women's reproductive health care by saying insurance coverage of contraception "has nothing to do with women's health issues". Joe Heck has been front and center in fighting for the G-O-TEA in their War on Women.



But wait, there's more! Joe Heck just this week called marriage equality "a distraction". Oh, and Heck also belittled LGBTQ Nevadans by saying their relationships should not be respected as "traditional marriage". He cited Question 2, but that was enacted a decade ago. Nevada voters have evolved on accepting LGBTQ equality alongside Harry Reid and President Obama. Yet instead of listening to his fellow Nevadans on accepting LGBTQ families and treating us all equally, Joe Heck is joining hands with Mitt Romney and the rest of the G-O-TEA in encouraging discrimination.

And that's not the only issue where Joe Heck is joining hands with Mitt Romney. Along with Romney, Heck supports Paul Ryan's radical budget that ends Medicare as we know it. He's repeatedly stood by Ryan & Romney, and against Nevada seniors who worked hard to earn their Medicare. And in case that isn't bad enough, Heck also wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, allow insurance companies to deny Americans health care for whatever reason(s) they want, force seniors to pay more for prescription drugs, and increase the federal budget deficit. How on earth is that "moderate"? And more importantly, how does that benefit his constituents?



Perhaps Joe Heck just doesn't care about his constituents. That would explain his opposition to bringing more green jobs to our state. He'll do whatever it takes to protect bailouts for fossil fuel industry billionaires, but do nothing to ensure Nevada's workers get a fair shake and stable work.

So why again are we supposed to think of Joe Heck as "moderate"? Maybe because he's just "moderately" in the pocket of powerful corporate interests? Because he's only "moderately" controlled by the likes of Bank of America and Goldman Sachs? Because he only "moderately" cares more about staying in their good graces and John Boehner's good graces than doing what's best for Nevada? What baloney.

Why Did Joe Heck Vote to Allow Violence Against Women?

So Joe Heck just voted to play games with Nevada women's lives. He's refused to allow reauthorize a true, comprehensive Violence Against Women Act (VAWA.). Oh yes, that's right. Apparently, preventing domestic violence has just become another political football for Joe Heck and his fellow teabaggers in Congress.

What's really horrifying about this "tea party" approved VAWA would notify abusers that their victims called for help. It would also allow domestic violence Against LGBTQ Americans to continue unchecked. This is really extreme ideology that has no place in public policy or law enforcement.

Even Dean Heller agreed to the more comprehensive and just Senate version of VAWA that kept the "tea party" crazy at bay. And now, one of his GOP Senate colleagues, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), is asking the House to drop the nonsense and agree to the bipartisan Senate bill. Here's a key excerpt from the letter she just signed onto.

We should not let politics pick and choose which victims of abuse to help and which to ignore. Each previous reauthorization substantially improved the way VAWA addressed the changing needs of domestic violence victims by addressing challenges facing older victims, victims with disabilities, and other underserved groups. The Senate’s bipartisan VAWA Reauthorization Act continues this tradition by placing greater emphasis on training for law enforcement and forensic response to sexual assault, and by strengthening protections for all victims regardless of where they live, or their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

So what does Joe Heck have against Nevada's women? This is becoming more of a habit for him. Perhaps instead of voting to allow violence against minority and LGBTQ women in Nevada, Joe Heck should get a reality check on what Nevadans actually want to see happening in Congress.

The (Ron Paul G-O-TEA) Revolution May Not Be Lost, Even As It's Lost.

It's over. It's really over...



But is it? Elizabeth Crum saw this unfold at last night's Clark County GOP Central Committee meeting. Yes, this really happened.

The Clark County Republican Party (CCRP), which now consists of a majority of Ron Paul supporters, last night voted to condemn the Republican National Committee. They are also calling for Chairman Reince Preibus to resign.

The resolution says this is because the RNC is supporting Mitt Romney as the “presumptive nominee” even though other candidates are “still actively campaigning”. [...]

I guess these folks did not get the memo that Ron Paul has ceased to actively campaign.

Led by RNC committeewoman-elect Diana Orrock (reminder: both the national committeewoman and man were deposed at the state meeting in Sparks two weekends ago), CCRP also voted to condemn a United Nations initiative called Agenda 21.

I am sure the U.N. General Assembly will be very upset to learn that Clark County GOP opposes their plans for world economic development.

Yes, "The Ron Paul Revolution" continues. And that's what has longtime Nevada Republican insiders taking their money and running... To outside groups like AFP and pro-Romney Super PACs. And no, they're not apologizing for it.

“We’re a battleground state. There will still be a significant amount of money spent here,” said Robert Uithoven, a GOP consultant. “(But) the money will be spent around the state party and not through it. And that’s never a good thing.” [...]

“It has become evident after the convention that the new leadership for the party is not interested in getting Republicans elected as much as moving an ideology forward,” said Mendy Elliot, a longtime Republican and fundraiser for the Washoe County Republican Party. “The purpose of the party is to get Republicans elected and register Republicans. Until that focus is shifted back, it’s hard for mainstream Republicans to understand the purpose of the party.”

This goes back to what we discussed last Wednesday. Ron Paul's followers care deeply about their ideological priorities. And they deeply revere their dear leader (Ron Paul). However, they don't respect fellow Republicans and they don't seem to care about winning the election. And that's a problem for Nevada Republicans.

After all, remember the purpose of state and local parties. Their primary goal is supposed to be winning elections. When they stop caring about winning elections, we have to ask why they exist. So now, the Nevada Republican Party is headed right into an existential crisis as big right-wing donors and activists are switching their allegiance from the state party to pro-Mitt Romney independent expenditures and "Tea Party, Inc." groups like AFP. And yet again, Ron Paul's loyal foot soldiers prove just how influential they will be in this campaign (much to Romney's and other top Republicans' dismay).

Read His Lips, He Has to Govern

Last week, Governor Brian Sandoval reached an agreement with Amazon.com for Amazon to begin collecting Nevada sales taxes for all purchases made here in Nevada. It sounds simple enough. But beneath the surface, it's quite complicated.

Promising not to raise taxes — no how, no way, under any circumstance — might have seemed the smart political move for Brian Sandoval in 2010, when he was running in the Republican primary for governor.

But now that he’s running a state that is less than flush with tax dollars, he keeps bumping up against the line in the sand he drew as a candidate.

The latest is the agreement he reached with Amazon, under which the online retail giant will start collecting sales tax in 2014. Under the deal that Sandoval and his top staff personally struck with company executives during a meeting in the governor’s office earlier this year, Nevada will become just the seventh state to require the retailer to collect the tax.

The deal will be a $16 million-a-year coup for Nevada and was praised by the brick-and-mortar retailers as leveling the playing field with online companies, many of which don't collect the tax at all.

But it will also muddy one of his administration's talking points — that no Nevadan will pay more in taxes than they did when he came into office.

And that's something "Tea Party, Inc." will continue to scream about. Even in admitting the Amazon deal isn't really a "tax hike", Chuck Muth nonetheless complained that Sandoval was agreeing to yet another "tax hike". Once again, Nevada's "tea party" is mad as hell and refuses to take it any more... Even though these "tea partiers" can't even define "it".

OK, so maybe my last line was a bit harsh. But you know what's even harsher? Grover Norquist's tax pledge. For the last two decades, he's been boxing in Republican politicians across the country by forcing them to sign his no tax pledge, then threaten to turn them into rotten lying b-----ds if they cross him.

This is why Brian Sandoval is in a bind. He's been trying hard to erase his past of "tea party" flirtation by embracing what he had previously shunned and making the 2009/2011 "sunset tax" deal the new "middle of the road". But no matter how hard Sandoval tries to make the past go away, Grover Norquist and his Nevada henchman (Chuck Muth) always find a way to bring it back to the forefront.

This is why Sandoval has had to make so many backflips as of late. Even though Sandoval hasn't actually raised taxes, the Norquist-Muth tax pledge is so rigid and severe that even so much as a mere extension of a past tax increase, or an agreement with an online retailer to collect state sales taxes, leads to "The George Bush Dilemma". No wonder why Mitt Romney has had to shake his Etch-A-Sketch and veer hard to the radical right.

This is why Sandoval has to find excuses for what we once called "common sense governing". Because for Grover Norquist and company, "common sense governing" has become a crime. For them, even a corrupt "bailout happy" failed politician is better than an upstanding "moderate" who dares to cross their line on taxes.

NV-03: Say It Ain't So, Joe!

House Republicans got an awkward start to the day when House Speaker John Boehner (R-"Jersey Shore?") actually blurted this out.

“I would say that there is a two-in-three chance that we win control of the House again but there’s a one-in-three chance that we could lose and I’m being myself, frank,” Boehner told Fox News, according to a transcript of the interview.

Until now the speaker has not raised any concerns about his party’s chances to keep control of the House this fall, and it’s unusual for a top party leader to publicly express a pessimistic outlook.

But a spokesman for Boehner’s political arm said the speaker was being “candid” and his comments were a deliberate move to remind supporters and potential donors that House Republicans need support this fall.

“We’re looking at both sides of the coin,” Cory Fritz told CNN. “Of course there is a chance that we could lose and we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can so that our members have the resources they need so they can run and win.”

So apparently, this is a desperate plea to "Tea Party, Inc." donors that they need to pony up, or else. Boehner especially sounded worried about House seats in Solid Blue States, like California and New York, where there won't be much motivation for Republicans to campaign for Mitt Romney.

However, he must also be concerned about what's happening in states like ours. After all, it's not like Mitt Romney is giving Nevadans any motivation to support him, either. He's gone extreme in his opposition to basic women's health care. He now opposes investment in renewable energy and green jobs. And he's proposed nothing to help young Americans stay in school and/or find work. And John Boehner must now be realizing that with Romney looking incredibly weak here in The Silver State, Joe Heck's campaign must not be feeling awfully comfortable right now.

After all, Joe Heck has embraced the same "tea party" agenda as Mitt Romney. He's actually said that access to contraception is "not a women's health issue". He's also stood with Mitt Romney in support of Paul Ryan's "tea party" budget, which guts Medicare, college student aid, and so much more. Oh, and Heck has even voted to continue subsidizing the fossil fuel industry instead of investing in green jobs here in Nevada! Joe Heck may have quite a bit in common with Romney and Ryan, but he seems to be losing touch of what Nevada values.

So maybe this is why John Boehner is starting to worry? After all, NV-03 is considered (again) to be one of the hottest Congressional races in the country. And NV-03 happens to be in a state where Republicans have problems swinging and winning marquee elections as of late. If Boehner now thinks his gavel is at risk, then he must know Heck's seat is at serious risk.

No Se Puede, Mittens.

So Republicans are again claiming they're "The REAL Party for Latinos!" Yes, believe it or not, they're now trying to pin the blame for the filibusters they led on comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act on Democrats. Wow. Who are they trying to fool?

Mitt Romney is reaching for his Etch-A-Sketch because he's desperate to shake up and reset his campaign. His trouble with Latin@ and other minority voters is real, especially in key swing states that he would like to wrest away from Obama. PPP recently showed that Obama's support among Latino voters both here in Nevada and in Colorado is especially strong (so strong, in fact, that Obama now has healthy overall leads in both states), and now even PPP's newest Florida poll shows the same over there. Mittens now realizes he's in deep trouble, so he's grabbing that Etch-A-Sketch in a desperate move to reset his own campaign.

But seriously, can Willard make all of us forget what he was saying during G-O-TEA primary season? Remember that early this year, Willard's BFF Kris Kobach, the man behind such extreme, xenophobic "Papers, Please" state statutes like Arizona's infamous SB 1070 and its "copycats" in Alabama & Georgia, praised Mittens' commitment to anti-immigrant extremism. In fact, he exclaimed that "Romney stands far to the right" of the other G-O-TEA contenders on immigration.



No really, Kris Kobach is on record praising Romney's anti-immigrant policies... And Romney is on record embracing Kobach and his hate-fueled extremism!



Yet now, Romney and his RNC buddies want us to believe that he's better for Latin@ American families than Obama? Are they for real? Another infamous figure behind Arizona's SB 1070, recalled State Senator Russell Pearce, boasted that his and Romney's immigration policies are "identical".

And in case Romney's extreme anti-immigrant views aren't bad enough, there's even more for Latin@ voters not to like. His economic policies also aim to slap hard-working Latin@ families en la cara. Let's not forget this.

First of all, he supports Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plans that would cut Medicaid spending by $700 billion over 10 years, reduce food stamps by $127 billion, and cut in half the funding of Pell Grants. Gov. Romney’s own budget plans seek to impose a cap on overall annual federal spending at 20 percent of the nation’s GDP, which would necessarily slash vital programs for the poor and middle class such as Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and Pell Grants. He also signed the Cut, Cap and Balance pledge promoted by a number of conservative and Tea Party groups.

His proposal to fund Medicaid through block grants to the states would result in deep cuts to a program that is at the crux of Latinos’ access to health care. In fact, according to the National Council of La Raza, in 2009, Medicaid and its sister program, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, covered more than one in four Latinos and nearly half (49.8 percent) of all Hispanics under age 18—representing 8.5 million children.

Social Security and Medicare are also of particular importance to Hispanics: Over three-fourths of senior citizens rely on Social Security for their income, and overall, Medicare serves approximately 3.5 million Hispanics. Gov. Romney’s plan to raise the retirement age for eligibility for Social Security would have a negative impact on Latinos because it would amount to an additional 13 percent across-the-board benefit cut. This would be especially unfair to low-income workers who are more likely to have significant health problems, and work in physically demanding jobs. It would also affect the elderly, who have a much harder time finding new work after being laid off.

Gov. Romney has also indicated that he would repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would insure 9 million Hispanics that currently lack health insurance, a position supported by only 29 percent of Latinos.

Finally, while Hispanics routinely cite education as a key issue and strongly support our public schools and access to college, Gov. Romney’s pledge to cut the budget would require cutting funds for Pell Grants—a program that benefits 12.1 percent of Latino undergraduate students.

Even now that G-O-TEA primary season is over, Willard is still pandering to the "tea party" by promising to end the "war on the rich" by showering the 1% with even more "Billionaire Bailout" tax cuts while he slashes the American social safety net to death. Does R.Money really think Latin@ voters love the idea of writing even more economic injustice into our tax code and budget? Es Mittens loco en la cabeza?

Ay, yay yay. And "Los Republicanos" wonder why Latin@ voters keep running away from them in droves?

Mark Sherwood's Parting Gift: Voter Suppression

My soon to be (Republican) ex-Assembly Member apparently noticed on Saturday that Clark County Democrats were holding a convention... And he figured he'd have one more chance to promote his "signature legislation". Seriously, this was the level of conversation he was engaging in on Twitter.

Even though Sherwood is on his way out, he still can't seem to give up his fight against "voter fraud", one of the greatest dumbass "solutions" looking for a problem of our time. Even though voters are 39 times more likely to be struck by lightning and 3,500 times more likely to report a UFO encounter (!!!) than commit voter fraud, for some reason Mark Sherwood can't stop talking about this virtually nonexistent "CRISIS!!!" Is he planning to move to Area 51 soon?

Or is there another motivation? Across the country, Republican led state legislatures have passed restrictions on voting, such as voter ID laws and rollbacks of early voting opportunities. And funny enough, these restrictions hurt low-income voters, communities of color, and students the most. Conveniently for Republicans in these states, these voters tend to be the ones they struggle the most with. Coincidence?

The voter suppression bills that he and several other Republicans introduced last session also happened to match the "model legislation" proposed by ALEC, the increasingly controversial corporate funded radical right group that's been pushing "tea party" backed "model legislation" across the country. And yes, ALEC has "model legislation" for voter suppression. I wonder why?



Oh yes, and did I mention that "voter fraud" hardly ever happens? As always, here's Desert Beacon with the facts.

Conflating potential problems with actual incidences of voter fraud is misleading and serves to promote vote suppression without actually improving voting integrity. Indeed, an organization or party might seek to have the Prematurely Resurrected vote — but, that would require having someone assume the identity of the dearly departed, and then vote in the face of a possible $10,000 fine and 5 years in jail. Since, unlike shoplifting, prosecution is assured and the charges will always be for a major felony, voter impersonation is extremely rare.

How rarely voter fraud is attempted is demonstrated as follows: “A report by the public-integrity section of the Justice Department found that from October 2002 to September 2005, the department charged 95 people with “election fraud”; 55 were convicted. Among those, fewer than 20 people were convicted of casting fraudulent ballots.” [MJ]

A study from Barnard College came to similar conclusions: “The statistics bear me out. From 2002 to 2005 only one person was found guilty of registration fraud. Twenty people were found guilty of voting while ineligible and five people were found guilty of voting more than once. That’s 26 criminal voters — voters who vote twice, impersonate other people, vote without being a resident — the voters that Republicans warn about.”

Given the miniscule numbers of actual cases of voter fraud there is cause for concern about the willingness of courts to uphold vote-suppression statutues with insufficient attention to the actual evidence at hand. “The case for voter fraud—individuals impersonating others at the polls—is largely built on hype and the type of hearsay that should not be permitted in court for the purposes of denying individuals the right to vote. Unfortunately, in four cases so far the courts have been unwilling to police the evidence, take seriously the fundamental nature of voting rights, and protect franchise rights.“ [Schultz, HamlineU, pdf]

Got that? There is no "voter fraud" crisis. All the anti "voter fraud" bills seek to do is engage in voter suppression. And this isn't the first time Mark Sherwood has thrown a temper tantrum over this. Last year, Sherwood joined with Crescent Hardy to push a bill to end early voting in Nevada. Even though Jon Ralston may hate the concept of early voting, the fact of the matter is that it gives legal Nevada voters more opportunity to participate in "small d democracy". So obviously, the radical "tea party" right now hates it.

Even though Mark Sherwood may be on his way out, his dreams of voter suppression may still be "in the mix" in future legislative sessions. Let's hope they go exactly where last year's attacks on voting rights went. (Thankfully, nowhere.)

On Party Platforms in Washoe County

Party platforms matter. They really do. Party platforms basically tell the story of what a party believes in and why. It's not something to be ignored...

But apparently, it's something to be twisted? Jon Ralston must have been hoping to stir up sh*t by tweeting passages from #WashoeDemPlatform (which can be found here)... Which encouraged a certain Reno based Republican operative to feign "OUTRAGE!!!" over it.

So that inspired me to take a closer look at #WashoeGOPPlatform. Oh yes, I read through it... All of it! And there were some real turdblossoms blooming "diamonds in the rough" that I encountered.

"We encourage entitlement reforms that will effectively address the issues..." aka #KillMedicare #WashoeGOPPlatform #nvp2

But wait, there's more!

"We support the United States Treasury distribution of gold and silver legal tender monetary coins." HUH? #WashoeGOPPlatform

Ah, but the fun is only beginning!

"The Bush tax cuts should be made permanent." aka #BillionaireBailouts #WashoeGOPPlatform #nvp2

It's bad enough that Washoe County Republicans don't seem to like proven science any more...

"We do not agree with the concept that global warming is a man-made disaster" So #WashoeGOPPlatform doesn't agree w/ #science? #nvp2

But are they ready to condemn that "HERETIC!!!" who will be their Presidential Nominee?

"We view any kind of cap and trade legislation as a punitive tax" except when @MittRomney supported it? #WashoeGOPPlatform #green

So of course, that leads me to...

"We support the immediate defunding and repeal of the 2010 health care package" Based on @MittRomney's #hcr plan? #WashoeGOPPlatform #nvp2

"We oppose any further defunding of Medicare." Except when @SenDeanHeller & @RepJoeHeck vote 4 @RepPaulRyan's budget? #WashoeGOPPlatform

And there was even more denial of not-so-distant history to be found in that platform.

"We oppose amnesty" that #GOP'ers GW Bush & John McCain supported? #WashoeGOPPlatform #latism #nvp2

"We request Congress to immediately repeal the U. S. A. Patriot Act" pushed by GW Bush. Remember him? #WashoeGOPPlatform #nvp2

"We believe govt must operate w/in limits of Constitution & not exceed specifically enumerated powers." What abt GW Bush? #WashoeGOPPlatform

It's like the committee that designed the Washoe County Republican Party's Platform didn't even want to acknowledge the existence of either George W. Bush or the "Massachusetts Moderate" version of Mitt Romney!

Oh, and of course, they had to spice it up with some pure H8 and homophobia!

"We support Nevada’s Marriage Amdt that defines marriage as the union between 1 man and 1 woman." Remember #nveq #WashoeGOPPlatform #nvp2

And in case anyone really thought that the "War on Women" is over, there's this.

"The unborn child has a fundamental right to life" But women don't? #WarOnWomen #WashoeGOPPlatform #feminist #nvp2

Remember, "Severely Conservative" Mitt Romney and his new BFFs in the Washoe County G-O-TEA want to defund Planned Parenthood, destroy women's health care, and not allow women to make their own health care decisions. Wow.

Still, I think my favorite line from the Washoe GOP platform is this.

"We oppose implementation of Agenda 21" Huh? #LooneyTunes #WashoeGOPPlatform

Nothing like some good old fashioned conspiracy crazy to round out such a lovely document!

So why again should Washoe County Democrats be ashamed of their platform?

Still See No "War on Women"?

Last night's bombing of a Planned Parenthood clinic near Green Bay, Wisconsin, was tragic... But sadly, it really wasn't that shocking. While the federal Department of Justice is only beginning to investigate this brutal crime and we don't yet know who was behind this attack, it certainly didn't help that this has been front and center for the last two months... And to a certain extent, for the last year.







As we discussed late last month, Planned Parenthood has been wrongly and unfairly demonized by the radical "tea party" right. Less than 3% of Planned Parenthood's budget goes to abortion services, NONE of the federal funding going to Planned Parenthood is used for abortion services, and Planned Parenthood is often the only available health care provider (offering everything from mammograms to prostate exams, and so much more) for low-income women AND MEN in communities throughout the country.

However, we don't hear this from the G-O-TEA politicians out to restrict access to health care in this country. And sadly, we don't even hear this from many in the media who are supposed to be reporting all the facts. Instead, we've heard all kinds of partisan spin and "fair & balanced" nonsense.

Again, we don't have all the facts yet, so we can't make any conclusions on what exactly caused this. Still, we can't ignore the evidence all around us.

The clinic, one of very few in the the state that provides abortions, has been a constant target of anti-choice activists, from Lila Rose attempted "undercover video 'stings'" to Pro-Life Wisconsin's "Empty Manger Christmas carols" and other stunts. With the amount of attention being put on the clinic, and the escalating frenzy to try and block a woman's right to abortion, it was likely only a matter of time before a violent act happened there.

The incident also points to a disturbing and increasing trend of clinic violence. This would be the fourth case of incendiary devices being used as a weapon against clinics and supporters in the last eight months. Last August, a suspect firebombed a clinic in McKinney, Texas. On New Year's Day, a clinic in Florida was firebombed in the early morning hours by a homeless man believed to be sympathetic to the anti-choice protesters who frequented the health center. And just last month, a Texas state senator known for her Planned Parenthood advocacy had her office in Fort Worth firebombed during working hours while the office was full.

I'm sure it won't be long before the same G-O-TEA politicians who provoked all this anti-choice, anti-Planned Parenthood, anti-woman fervor start crying foul over being blamed for this and other abortion clinic bombings. And no one is accusing them of plotting this terrorist act. However, they need to realize that words and actions have consequences. All their irrational and extreme rhetoric against Planned Parenthood and the women who support their mission seems to be encouraging fringe extremists to run wild on that rhetoric and commit these heinous crimes.

If the likes of Dean Heller and Joe Heck still don't understand their actions have frightening consequences for Nevada's women, they should now. It's bad enough that their legislative action has resulted in pointless political games that threaten numerous Nevada women by threatening the health care they need. And I'm sure they're irritated over the political consequences their party is paying for engaging in this War on Women. But now, we're seeing that something far more sinister has emerged from this fiasco. It's really long past time to end the War on Women and stop the extreme rhetoric.

Will Dean Heller Join the G-O-TEA's War on Women?

Jon Ralston reported on Twitter early this morning that Senator Dean Heller (R-Tea Party) is leaning toward voting for the Blunt Amendment. OK, so why should we care? Here's why.

Under the measure, an insurer or an employer would be able to claim a moral or religious objection to covering HIV/AIDS screenings, Type 2 Diabetes treatments, cancer tests or anything else they deem inappropriate or the result of an “unhealthy” or “immoral” lifestyle. Similarly, a health plan could refuse to cover mental health care on the grounds that the plan believes that psychiatric problems should be treated with prayer.

Individuals too can opt out of coverage if it is contrary to their religious or moral beliefs, radically undermining “the basic principle of insurance, which involves pooling the risks for all possible medical needs of all enrollees.” As the National Women’s Law Center explains, Blunt’s language is vague enough that “insurers may be able to sell plans that do not cover services required by the new health care law to an entire market because one individual objects, so all consumers in a market lose their right to coverage of the full range of critical health services.” As a result, a man “purchasing an insurance plan offered to women and men could object to maternity coverage, so the plan would not have to cover it, even though such coverage is required as part of the essential health benefits.”

And of course, all this madness started with the G-O-TEA's urge to crawl into women's pants to probe their private parts. YUCK!



Even a few Senate Republicans, like the retiring Olympia Snowe (R-ME), think this goes way too far.



67% of Americans oppose anti-woman legislation like the Blunt Amendment, and health care policy experts have warned about the major risks of restricting access to all kinds of necessary preventive care because of vague "moral" objections. So why are Congressional Republicans so eager to vote on this crap?

So far, it seems like Dean Heller wants to join his BFF Mitt Romney in playing both sides of this issue and pandering to the radical "tea party" right while still looking vaguely "moderate".



I guess he's afraid that his other BFF, Joe Heck, was perhaps a little too blunt on Blunt.



I guess we'll have to wait and see if Heller tries to claim "this has nothing to do with women's health issues". Joe Heck already proved how radically out of touch he is with Nevada women. Will Dean Heller show the same?

(By the way, now's a great time to sign PLAN's petition to Heller and Senator Reid to ask them to oppose the Blunt Amendment and stop the attack on women's health care.)

Wherein Nevada Is Positioned to Remain a Blue State in 2012, Part V

I think this video really explains it all.



However, I won't end it there. Believe it or not, there's actually more. Mitt Romney has attacked gay parents who adopted children, promised another $264,000 tax cut to the wealthiest 0.1%, stood up for Canadian oil company lobbyists over the people in "Middle America" who don't want to worry about the giant, dangerous tar sands oil pipeline in their backyard, and attacked the SUCCESSFUL auto industry rescue plan that saved American jobs. And hey, we're just talking about "Mr. 1%" Mittens here.

There's also "Frothy" Ricky Santorum. Oh, lordy...



Believe it or not, Mittens had to pour millions of campaign dollars into Michigan just to eke out a 3% win over that guy.

So when you consider his built-in advantages, the money he poured into the state, the attacks he leveled against Santorum, and the dreadful debate performance Santorum turned in last week, Romney’s three-point margin seems a lot less impressive. This was not like Florida, where Romney utterly decimated his chief foe (Newt Gingrich) and posted a lopsided victory. This was a must-win state that Romney threw everything he had at… and managed to win by just three points – apparently with a big boost from early voters, many of whom cast their ballots before Santorum surged into contention.

This suggests that Romney may not get much of a bounce out Michigan – and that he could find himself in big trouble again one week from now on Super Tuesday. The biggest state to vote that day is Ohio, a big Midwest state culturally and demographically similar to Michigan. The latest poll in the Buckeye State, released early on Tuesday, gives Santorum an 11-point lead over Romney, 37 to 26 percent. Maybe those numbers will tighten in the wake of Michigan, but Romney is going to have to fight for it.

So as we discussed last night, it's likely the G-O-TEA primary brawl will continue regardless of how Mittens' surrogates spin last night's results on the cable "news" channels. And as the primary fight goes on, Mittens faces more challenges... Including in the general election should he survive primary season, since he's lurched so far to the radical right that his issue positions are virtually identical to Santorum's.

And this brings us back here to Nevada. We've already seen Joe Heck run away from his BFF on housing. I don't think you need me to remind you why this happened... But hey, what the Heck!



Oh yes, and there's the economy that Mittens & Ricky keep blaming on President Obama. Yep, there's that economy that's now adding jobs here in Nevada, making consumers feel increasingly confident, and one that grew 3% in the fourth quarter of last year (better than most economists' expectations). At this point, I'm sure President Obama welcomes their "blame".

This is probably why Romney, Santorum, and their G-O-TEA buddies in Congress have shifted back to "CUL'CHUR WARZZZ!!!" crazy. What's really funny with this is that talk of probing women's private parts, denying civil rights to LGBTQ Americans, dehumanizing Latin@ Americans simply because of their family heritage, and attacking Muslims for just being Muslim is really turning off voters. No, really. No, really.

Yesterday, local Republicans were trying to distract from their many woes plaguing them this month (like their EPIC FAIL of a caucus) by trumpeting a Public Opinion Strategies poll that even Jon Ralston (who likes their Nevada pollster) admitted undersampled Latin@ voters. Yet in Ralston's Sun column this morning, he noted how even this POS poll may spell trouble for the Nevada GOP.

The numbers in the North are fascinating. Berkley and Heller are in a dead heat in Washoe County, and the president’s numbers (56-40) are amazingly strong there. So, is the poll just wrong or is something happening here? Any poll can miss the mark, but folks should not miss what is happening in Washoe, as evidenced by Obama’s ’08 victory there and Reid’s ’10 win. Yes, no analogy is perfect, especially one that might involve Sharron Angle. But Washoe is turning bluer and bluer — Jill Derby and Heller were competitive there twice in congressional races — and even independents there seem more liberal than anywhere else in the state. That could be an ominous harbinger for the GOP.

Strangely enough, that POS poll had Obama and Shelley Berkley underperforming in Clark County while overperforming in Washoe County. Sorry, but I call BS on POS. I honestly do think they had sampling problems this time, so maybe the entire poll has to be thrown out. But even when that's done and we look at recent election results in Washoe County, Ralston is correct that Washoe seems to be trending Democratic. And yes, I also think he's right about independents there being turned off by the radical right G-O-TEA crazy. So when the likes of Romney and Santorum continue to double down on "CUL-CHUR WARZZZ!!!" crazy and economic royalist crap that would make Ebenezer Scrooge blush, Republicans may very well face serious problems in the Reno area this fall. And if that happens, then it's quite likely Nevada will take quite the deep blue hue come this November.

Michigan & Arizona Results Liveblog

5:30 PM-

We're starting to get results from Michigan now, and Rick Santorum has a very early lead. However, note that Oakland County (upper middle class & wealthy northwestern Detroit suburbs) and a few rural counties are just starting to report.

So far, we've seen plenty of spin on how much a win or loss means for Mitt Romney's campaign going forward. However, some seem to forget that Michigan's Republican primary was considered a "gimme" for Romney just a month ago.

A native son of Michigan, where his father served as governor, Romney’s facing high expectations about his ability to beat former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who’s directly challenged him with message focusing on the middle class and a manufacturing revival.

Romney had been expected to easily win here until Santorum upset the former Massachusetts governor in a trio of nominating contests earlier this month. If momentum carries Santorum to victory on Tuesday in Michigan, it would put Romney’s campaign – long considered the favorite among Republicans seeking the nomination – on precarious political footing.

“I think it’s going to be an embarrassment if he does lose. I don’t think it looks good when you win in your home state, but I’m hopeful that he’ll pull it out,” said Julie Wells, a teacher from Birmingham who intends to vote for Romney, at a rally Monday evening in this Detroit suburb.

This really goes to show how volatile the G-O-TEA primary season has become. And it goes to show how hard it's been for Romney to "seal the deal", despite all the media proclamations of Romney being "the presumptive nominee". Perhaps the media pundits really do assume too much?

5:45 PM-

As more results trickle in, we're starting to get a better sense of what's happening in the state. Now this is still early, so everything can change in the next hour. But at least for now, Mitt Romney is leading in Oakland County while Rick Santorum is building a healthy lead in the Grand Rapids area and the Upper Peninsula. Romney is expected to do well in the upscale Detroit suburbs, and Santorum is expected to do well in the Upper Peninsula, but Grand Rapids was expected to be a key swing region. Is this an important tea leaf for tonight?

6:00 PM-

OK, so we get how important Michigan is... So will our next door neighbor finally get some media love tonight? Probably not, since Arizona is about to join us and New Hampshire in "The Foregone Conclusion Club". Still, there may be some analysis on just how high Romney can run up the score. But if Romney somehow gets under 40% in Arizona tonight, there may be even more questions as to if the G-O-TEA base will ever really "be into him".

OK, Romney was just declared the winner in Arizona... But again, we'll have to see how high he runs up the score... And if it's enough to make up for a possible loss in Michigan.

6:15 PM-

So far, NBC News' exit poll suggests Mitt Romney is about to eek out a 3% win in Michigan tonight... So game over? Not quite. Look at the map. Will Romney's strength in the Detroit area be enough to overcome his weakness virtually everywhere else? We'll have to wait and see.

6:30 PM-

Here's TPM with the rundown on what looks to be a possible 2-for-2 night for Romney. Of course his campaign will spin it as good news... But is it?

His win in Arizona was not without its potential costs in the general election. Romney further tacked right on immigration, calling Arizona’s tough law a “model” for the nation in an Arizona debate and accepting an endorsement from the governor who signed it, Jan Brewer. Democrats are hoping that Romney’s continued embrace of a crackdown on undocumented immigrants will help motivate Hispanic voters to turn out in droves for President Obama, potentially putting Arizona in play as a swing state.

It’s for that reason that those delegates might seem little consolation. The main focus of the fight is in Michigan: it’s where both candidates will deliver their speeches tonight. The reason: in many pundits’ eyes this isn’t even a battle he should be having in the first place. This is Romney’s home state; he was born here, his father was governor here, and Romney beat John McCain handily here only four years ago.

Now, though, he’s in a lose-lose situation. Should he lose his birth state to Santorum, then even his close allies admit this could upend his campaign. Romney made something of a preemptive strike on this in an interview with Fox News. He told his hosts that it would be more significant if he “was turned down by Massachusetts” - the state he had lived in for forty years. He also slammed any talk of a brokered convention or of himself slipping out of the fight, framing the race as a drawn-out battle of attrition that was all about the delegates.

It’s the issue of the delegates that make up the next part of the lose-lose scenario for Romney. Because of Michigan’s allocation of delegates by district, he could actually come out of tonight a close second and yet actually have more on hand than Santorum. However, even if he were to win by a slim margin, it’s possible the media will join in the framing that this is still a loss: that the mere fact he’s having such a close contest in his birth state is an intrinsic sign of his weakness as a candidate.

Mittens keeps trying and trying and trying to win over those darned teabaggers with even more radical right rhetoric. Yet with each new flip-flop and "arrogant 1% moment" and "inauthentic moment of blue collar pander", Romney keeps digging himself into a deeper electoral hole. Should he emerge as the Republican nominee, the G-O-TEA may still be in deep doo-doo come November.

6:50 PM-

Dave Weigel posted this and this on Twitter.

daveweigel ‏ @daveweigel Close
This primary will END the RACE. Just like NH did. And SC did. And FL did. And... #MIprimary

6:36 PM - 28 Feb 12 via TweetDeck · Details

daveweigel ‏ @daveweigel
BREAKING: In a couple of days Romney will lose a bunch of primaries to Santorum anyway. #MIprimary

6:36 PM - 28 Feb 12 via TweetDeck · Details

I suspect we'll soon see the Romney campaign declare "VICTORY!" at some point within the next 40 minutes. However, this won't end G-O-TEA primary season. Oh no, I suspect we'll be back here next week to liveblog "SUPER DUPER TUESDAY!!!" It's really about this.

There are 59 delegates up for grabs in Michigan and Arizona Tuesday, but the delegate count is being overshadowed by the nail-biter race in Michigan where Romney could lose the state he grew up in. The outcome in Michigan has taken on an outsized, symbolic importance that will dictate the mood heading into Super Tuesday next week.

In a way, no matter the outcome in Michigan, the damage to Mitt Romney’s campaign is already done. No one knows who will win Michigan tonight, but the fact that it will be incredibly close has weakened Romney’s campaign by underscoring his enduring problems connecting with working class and evangelical voters. This was supposed to be an easy state for Romney, who took it by ten points in 2008’s primary and has outspent Santorum there this time by 2 to 1. Even headlines like Romney barely wins home state will not be doing him any favors. In the same way, as both Republicans and Democrats have commented, Rick Santorum may lose Michigan, but in a sense he’s already won by coming this close.

And now, Santorum has a chance to win outright in Ohio and Tennessee and Oklahoma. As long as Mittens continues to play footsie with teabaggers, and as long as teabaggers continue to play hard to get while flirting with Santorum, this primary fight will go on... And President Obama keeps looking better and better and better. ;-)

Joe Heck Gets a Reality Check on Women's Health

Monday night, Rep. Joe Heck (R-"Tea Party") kicked off his campaign in perhaps the most appropriate manner befitting a politician with his kind of record... At an exclusive "invitation only" very-high-dollar fundraiser outside his actual district. But unfortunately for him, a candidate actually running for Congress in that area was also there to say a few things about Dr. Heck's real record of attacking the rights of Nevada's women.



And John Oceguera, one of the Democrats running in the new NV-03, was also there to denounce Heck's embrace of the G-O-TEA's anti-woman agenda. Remember, Heck himself uttered these now infamous words when asked about his opposition to insurance coverage of contraception:

"The fact is this has nothing to do with women’s health issues.”

Is he serious? Does he seriously believe this? Is this all he's ever heard on the subject?



No wonder why Heck's G-O-TEA House colleagues were so afraid to let the women speak.

Well, this may also explain it. The more Americans learn about the G-O-TEA's radical anti-woman agenda, the more they reject it. Maybe Heck's BFF Mitt Romney gets excited about attacking women's right to make their own health care decisions, but the vast majority of Nevadans are not. Just take a look at all the health care services that the G-O-TEA faction in Congress wants to deny to American women! Once Americans figure out what they actually mean when they wax poetic about "liberty", they turn off to the G-O-TEA ideal of giving employers "liberty" in denying preventive health care to women for whatever "religious" excuse they want to throw out.

And Joe Heck still wants to claim that "this has nothing to do with women's health issues"?

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Is he really that clueless? Or is he so cynical that he thinks he can get away with lying to us? Whatever the case, it's becoming even harder to believe that Joe Heck can properly represent the people (and especially the women!) of Nevada's 3rd Congressional District.

#NVGOP: Nowhere to Go... But Up?

We're not even 2/3 of the way through February, and it already looks like this month is by far the "WORST. MONTH. EVER!" for Nevada Republicans. Let's review what has happened so far:

- The much ballyhooed Presidential Caucus descended into pure madness on the 4th, as results were extremely slow to be released... And while they were being released, one more caucus turned fracas when a number of caucus-goers were turned away for not signing a religious waiver (though that didn't stop Ron Paul from winning that caucus anyway).

- Clark County GOP boss Dave Gibbs then declared the next day that, "This is NOT an election. This is a caucus."

- And then on the following Monday, we finally saw the final caucus results... And we found out that GOP caucus turnout actually plummeted 26% from 2008 levels despite this one supposedly being more hotly contested than 2008.



- And then, there was the ultimate insult to injury. The Nevada GOP jumped through so many RNC hoops to be seen as "legitimate", only for the national media to mock them... And only for their anointed "winner", Willard "Mr. 1%" Romney, to be derailed by "Frothy" Ricky Santorum's 3-for-3 wins in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri. Those were "not supposed to count", but they ended up rendering the political ripple effects of the Nevada GOP Caucus null and void.

- And in case all the drama at the top wasn't bad enough for them, Republicans started worrying down the ballot as well. Politico asked how the horrible caucus turnout may spell trouble for Dean Heller.

- Joe Heck then stepped into it big time with his declaration that insurance coverage of contraception is "not a women's health issue".

- State Senator Greg Brower (R-Reno) then realized he had a real race on his hands when State Senator Sheila Leslie (D-Reno) announced her resignation from what used to be Washoe District 1 to run in the new District 15.

- And then, there's Elizabeth Halseth.

Some pundits are reporters now wondering just how bad it's become for Nevada Republicans. Their chances of winning back the Nevada State Senate are dwindling thanks to the SD 15 development and Halseth's resignation. Their dreams of a near sweep of the Congressional races have been dashed. And their chances of being big players on the national political stage are long gone.

So why is Chuck Muth so giddy? He seems to think that somehow Sheila Leslie running in SD 15 improves Republican chances of taking the Nevada Assembly. And sorry, but I have a hard time seeing that. Yes, Skip Daly is facing trouble in the new AD 31... But we already knew that. And in fact since Teresa Benitez-Thompson will be running in a new AD 27 that's nested into SD 15, I'm actually feeling more confident that increased Democratic turnout for Sheila Leslie will also reelect Benitez-Thompson. Just because Debbie Smith is running for the new SD 13 (which is a safe Dem district, mind you) doesn't mean "Democrat dominoes are falling" anywhere in Washoe County.

However, there's another reason why Chuck Muth is so giddy... And I actually think we should take this seriously. Look at the Nevada GOP's ongoing change of leadership. First Michael Roberson (R-Henderson) took over as Senate Republican Caucus leader, then Pat Hickey (R-Reno) took charge of the Assembly Republican Caucus, and now there's a strong possibility of former Las Vegas City Council Member Michael McDonald taking over the Nevada Republican Party. When Muth waxes poetic about "conservative, bare-knuckle fighter[s]", then he's excited about the Nevada GOP going even more in the G-O-TEA direction of becoming willing to fight "death matches" in government to score ideological points.

And yes, expect this kind of brutality to affect the campaign trail this year as well. They will most definitely be playing to win. But even if they can't win, they intend to lose in the ugliest way possible.

So I'd caution progressives not to get too giddy over the G-O-TEA mayhem right now. Yes, I still believe they're setting themselves up for disaster in November... But they will still be willing to scrap out any wins they can get down ballot just for the sake of obstructing any attempts at progress on progressive tax reform and rebuilding of Nevada's public infrastructure next year.

Just as we're seeing on the national level with Romney and Santorum duking it out for the title of "Great Tea Party Slayer of the Evil Socialist Barack Obama Dragon" while tacking farther and farther to the radical right, this new crop of Nevada Republican leadership may be even more willing to fulfill the craziest of "tea party" wet dreams and fight a "scorched earth" campaign against both Democrats and (relative) moderates in their own party. They may be far out of the mainstream here in Nevada, but that won't stop them from becoming a big roadblock in both Nevada government and the federal government.

So enjoy a chuckle or two now, but be prepared to not just vote this fall, but ensure all your friends, family, and neighbors know about the consequences of "tea party" fueled obstruction. Remember, all Muth & Co. need are at least 15 Assembly Members and 8 Senators to continue ripping apart Nevada's schools while protecting "billionaire bailouts" in our tax code. And all Muth & Co. need are Senator Heller and a couple House Republicans to keep Washington dysfunctional.

Nevada Republicans may be down, but don't count out their ability to wreak more havoc on government just yet.

Joe Heck Needs a Reality Check on Women's Health Issues

On Monday, we noted the Republicans increasingly turning to "culture war" issues over fear that they can no longer campaign on a lousy economy (since the economy is actually improving under President Obama's watch). Later in the week, we saw this.



And now, it's becoming increasingly clear what the G-O-TEA crowd are talking about when they say they want to "take our country back".

[Rick Santorum's Super PAC "superhero" Foster] Friess’ comment was astonishing in two ways. First, it derailed the entire contraception debate that Republicans have been desperate to keep about “religious freedom” rather than make it about, well, who does or does not keep her knees together. Second, there wasn’t a woman around who didn’t have a guttural reaction.

“I want to punch that guy in the face,” said one female operative who called me on an entirely unrelated matter. Phone calls and IM conversations for the rest of the day included similar appraisals of Santorum’s biggest financial backer.

So there you have it: modern women being told by Republicans that they’re not qualified to talk about their own sexual health, are dressed like “whores” and probably need birth control because they’re so slutty. And this is just in one day.

Democratic women say this is all part of a general pattern that began in 2010 when the tea party helped Republicans win a congressional election based on jobs and deficits and the Republicans then set about passing new anti-abortion legislation and declaring war on Planned Parenthood once in office. They agreed Thursday stood out, though.

“Republican policies have been stuck in the 50s for a while now. I guess this week they decided they wanted the whole retro package,” said Jess McIntosh, communications director at EMILY’s List. “Darrel Issa, you are no Jon Hamm.”

Indeed, it seems like they want to do a "time warp" back to the 1950s... Or maybe the 1850s?

And no, Nevada, we're not immune from this. In fact, none other than our own "Trust me, I'm a doctor!" Joe Heck uttered these words when asked about insurance coverage of contraception:

"The fact is this has nothing to do with women’s health issues.”

Really? Seriously? How could Joe Heck say that?

I've been wondering when someone else would finally notice this. Yesterday, John Oceguera's campaign did.

Joe Heck opposes requiring all employers to provide insurance coverage for birth control, saying that the issue has “nothing to do with women’s health.” Who is he kidding?

It gets worse. Joe Heck doesn’t think insurance companies should be required to cover the HPV vaccine for women, which can help prevent cervical cancer. In fact, as a member of the Nevada Legislature, Heck even voted against it.

Joe Heck even wants to end the right to choose for women. He’s so extreme that he’s been endorsed by an organization that calls exceptions for women’s health “frivolous”.

Well I’ve got news for you, Joe – your positions are out of touch and bad for Nevada women. As a doctor, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Helping women get access to preventative treatment and family planning services is a moral issue – not a political game. As a son, husband and father, I would never put partisan politics ahead of the health and safety of women.

Well, someone had to say it. We have a whole lot of women here in Nevada who regularly use contraception. Why should they face so many obstacles in accessing it? And why doesn't Heck ever propose putting up the same kinds of obstacles on men accessing Viagra and Cialis?

And what's really funny about Heck going hard-line against birth control, as well as Republicans overall working so hard to antagonize women voters, is that they're not realizing they're losing quite badly on this. Ed Kilgore may ultimately be right about this turning into another "Terry Schiavo moment" of the G-O-TEA overreaching on "culture wars" crap. Again, women regularly use contraception and a number of states, including Nevada, have already passed insurance coverage requirements like the one President Obama will be implementing in the rollout of health care reform.

Steve Benen may have hit the ultimate nail on the head of this.

The first is that the Great Recession wasn't just an economic crisis; it was a disaster that dramatically changed the country's priorities. Going into the 2012 election season, when the public is asked which issues matter most, 2% say immigration, 1% say abortion, 1% say religious values, and 44% say economy/jobs. For a party to ignore this is an invitation to be labeled out of touch.

The second is that Limbaugh's confidence about public attitudes is misplaced. Not only does the American mainstream not want to fight the culture war right now, when pressed, most of the public likes contraception, supports Roe v. Wade, and approves of marriage equality. One could certainly make the case that gun control isn't popular, at least not with key voting constituencies, but since Democrats aren't even trying to change the status quo, it's not much of a campaign issue.

Limbaugh complained on the air yesterday that the Republican establishment "wants no part of" the culture war. There's a good reason for that: GOP leaders can read polls.

And I'll add that I can't think of anywhere else this rings truer than right here in Southern Nevada. Folks here are asking about job openings, home foreclosure prevention, and how to save our middle class. They're not interested in refighting "culture wars" on women's health care decisions and whether to criminalize being gay. If Joe Heck really wants to join his G-O-TEA colleagues & Rush Limbaugh, and declare himself a "culture warrior", then he needs to prepare to lose this next election.