According to Ben Spillman’s “Political Eye” blog, Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, who is toying with entering the GOP primary race for the opportunity to take on Sen. Harry Reid next November, said, “I believe I can beat Sen. Reid. We need someone who can win.”
Um, excuse me. But polls have shown that almost ANYONE can beat Harry Reid….including the top three Republicans already in the race who didn’t have to be talked into it by John McCain and “elements” of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).
By the way, unless I’m terribly misinformed, didn’t John McCain lose big time in 2008? And didn’t the NRSC lose eight net seats, giving Harry Reid a veto-proof majority, in 2008? And now these same people are saying Brian Krolicki is the candidate who can win? And Nevada Republicans are supposed to buy it?
Haven’t seen the interview yet, but according to Jon Ralston’s Flash, Krolicki also slammed former Nevada governor and current Nevada Republican National Committeeman Bob List for telling the NRSC to stay out of Nevada’s U.S. Senate primary race, pointing out, according to Ralston, “that if List had his way, we would have Rudy Giuliani as president.”
Um, excuse me. But please explain how electing Republican Rudy Giuliani president instead of Socialist Barack Obama would have been a bad thing?
Meanwhile, Politico reports that in the third quarter of 2009, Sen. John Ensign spent all of $850 on his legal beagles over at Fish & Richardson, compared to a whopping $18,000 to the same firm in the fourth quarter. Gee, anyone wonder what that’s all about?
While a number of GOP federal candidates running to run against Harry Reid have announced how much money they raised in the fourth quarter of 2009, most have not yet reported on how much they spent and how much they still have in the bank. The Lowden campaign, however, told the Nevada News Bureau today that Sue Lowden will report having about $500,000 left of the approximately $800,000 she raised.
Can’t wait to see how much Danny Tarkanian and Sharron Angle still have in the kitty as the primary moves ever closer to the official starting line in March.
By the way, the Sun is reporting this afternoon that Lowden campaign is preparing to spend some of the booty on the GOP primary’s first television ads. “We have already cut ads and we intend to be on television very soon,” the campaign’s spokesman told reporter Lisa Mascaro. Let the air war begin!
Rob Lauer, Republican candidate for Congress in Nevada’s 3rd District, withdrew from that race today and threw his support behind fellow Republican candidate Joe Heck. Lauer also announced that he was now going to run for Secretary of State.
It’s estimated by some that if Nevada laid off 1,000 non-essential employees, it would cost that state about $1 million per month – which is supposedly the reason why the governor and legislators are hesitant to lay these people off. But wait a minute….
Let’s say those 1,000 non-essential employs earn an average of $50,000 a year – though I suspect it’s substantially higher if you factor in Assembly Majority Leader John Oceguera’s salary. That means those 1,000 employees are currently costing the state $4 million a month.
Let’s see….$4 million a month vs. $1 million a month? Now, I know I went to publik skool for a few years, but I still think the net SAVINGS for Nevada taxpayers would be about $3 million per month. Let the pink slips fly!
“The Tea Party faction of the Clark County Republican Party is going rogue,” Amy Kingsley of CityLife reports. “In a meeting Wednesday night at the Clark County Library, members of the Nevada Action Coalition – which is not officially recognized by the county GOP – plotted a strategy for the upcoming election.
“The coalition plans to create its own slate of candidates, which it will support with its own phone banks and its own door knockers,” Kingsley continues. “They won’t be sharing these resources with the GOP, unless the party nominates candidates with the proper right-wing bonafides.”
So much for united we stand, huh?
Gov. Jim Gibbons sent out a fundraising appeal to supporters yesterday with a pretty compelling message:
There are those who “say” they can lead the state with Republican principles, but I am the only candidate who has proven that I have the leadership skills (to) guide Nevada through this tough time by fighting higher taxes and keeping government spending under control. That is the path to prepare our state for the recovery that will eventually arrive.
I would be proud to have your support for reelection. Nevada cannot afford to have someone at the helm without proven leadership during these challenging times. I do more than talk the talk. I have walked the walk, and my record proves it.
For limited-government, fiscally-conservative Republican primary voters….he has a point.
