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Don't blame Twitter for bad campaign reporting
A few years ago, my mentor and a great journalist, Bob Stoldal, told me he worried that I was doing so much that he got to wondering, “When do you have time to think?” It was, as usual, the right question. And it came to mind as I finished reading Peter Hamby’s impressive and provocative study of campaign reporting, “Did Twitter Kill the Boys on the Bus? Searching for a better way to cover a campaign.” The study, which can be read here, was done for Harvards’s JFK School.
CC GOP has prepared resolution on Syria
It may be moot after the president's speech Tuesday evening, but the Clark County GOP plans Wednesday to adopt a resolution opposing military intervention in Syria. The key passages: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Clark County Republican Party hereby declares that we believe military intervention in Syria to be against the best interest of the United States and it’s citizens at this time; and
Prospective CD4 candidate making rounds in DC as PAC affiliated with his group filed
Niger Innis, who is exploring a run against Rep. Steven Horsford, is in Washington, DC, and his allies filed a federal PAC last week. The New America PAC -- the filing is posted here -- is overseen by Dan Backer, who is a lawyer for TeaParty.net, for which Innis is a strategist. Innis, reached via email, would not comment on the PAC filing or his incipient candidacy. But he appears to be moving forward.
First PAC formed to oppose margins tax
This isn't the big one -- I still think the gamers, retailers at. al. are coming. But the former CEO of Charter Cable and a couple worried about the impact on business have formed an anti-margins tax political action committee called NV Jobs. (The paperwork is attached here.) Maria Martinez, whose husband is affilated with the conservative Cato Institute, says the PAC is "just a group of citizens," including Manny Martinez, the former cable company executive. "We're all in favor of funding education," she told me. "But this is bad for business."
Musing of the week: When was the last close governor's race in Nevada?
As most of Nevada's political elite expect a Brian Sandoval blowout next year, I began to think back to when a race for governor actually was really competitive. It's been awhile. 2010--Sandoval, 53 percent; Rory Reid, 42 percent 2006--Jim Gibbons, 48 percent; Dina Titus, 44 percent (Seems relatively close, but never really in doubt, even after three (!) scandals rocked Gibbons' campaign in final weeks.) 2002- Kenny Guinn, 68 percent; Joe Neal, 22 percent 1998 -- Guinn, 52 percent; Jan Jones, 42 percent
A tale of two newspapers: My take on the "Great" Newspaper War, why I left both of them and how they have declined
In 1985, as a youthful, ingenuous reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, I sat next to the general manager at a Lake Tahoe awards banquet and asked him about the Las Vegas Sun. It went something like this: “When will the Sun go out of business?” I wondered of the competition, which I had, in my competitive zeal, come to think of as the Evil Empire.
Big water rate hike coming?
UPDATE: Guy Hobbs, the numbers guru who advised the panel, tells me that while the commdoity rate is going up by 60 percent, it is muted by other factors in the bill. That is, the commeodity rate is only a component of the bill, so it will be partially absorbed by others. He estimates the highest residential increases at about 13 or 14 percent. That will still cause some eyebrow-raising, but perhaps not head-exploding. Take a look at the appendices of the report here, espcially Appendix I, for some sample estimates. And, of course, this is an advisory report. ----
$350,000 worth of anointment juice
Lieutenant governor anointee Mark Hutchison, handpicked by Gov. Brian Sandoval and backed by the GOP Establishment, raised about $350,000 at his first event.
Republican challenger in key state Senate race surfaces
Becky Harris, who lost an Assembly race last cycle, is preparing a campaign against Democratic state Sen. Justin Jones in a contest that could determine which party controls the upper house.