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Democratic lead in Clark above 61,000; Washoe still super-tight
STATEWIDE UPDATE: The Democrats have just under a 41,000-vote statewide lead going into the last day of early voting. Â Democrats gained about 6,000 voters on the penultimate day of early voting in Clark County while Republicans won Thursday in Washoe County by about 200 votes.
GOP obscenely tries to cast doubt on election's veracity
Something happened today that made me very angry. Now I freely admit: I am irritable this time of year, what with the nattering partisans and obnoxious campaigns. And I’m not known for having the longest fuse on a good day. But nothing – nothing – gets me from serene to volcanic faster than attempts to make people feel as if an election might not be clean. And in an all-too-familiar pattern, national Republicans are casting doubts on the integrity of the election process here. And it’s not just here.
Democrats resort to despicable, hypocritical tactics in legislative races
In 2008, the Democrats took over the state Senate after some outrageous and despicable campaigns to oust Joe Heck and Bob Beers. Thanks to outside spending, mostly by the state Democratic Party, the Republicans fell to a couple of ciphers boosted by a relentless mail campaign featuring ridiculous allegations, especially against Heck, that would have embarrassed people in any other profession.
Democratic pollster says Obama is up 6 in Nevada
Mark Mellman, who hit 2010 on the nose for Harry Reid, says President Obama is up 6 in Nevada, 50-44. His memo on the poll for the Democratic front group, Americans United for Change, is posted here. Key stat: Obama is winning Washoe, which would kill Romney's chances. He's up 11 in Clark, according to Mellman's poll. He's also crushing Romney among Hispanics by a 2-to-1 margin int he poll by Mellman, who is Rep. Shelley Berkley's pollster in the U.S. Senate race.
Democratic lead in Clark at 55,000; Washoe remains tight
With two left in early/mail voting, the Democrats had a solid but not spectacular day (4,000 votes gained) and now lead in Clark County by about 55,000 votes. Meanwhile, the Republicans won Washoe by 300 votes out of 7,700 cast. That county will be close. An interesting phenomenon is there is no second-week surge as there usually is, which makes me wonder whether both parties have exhausted their enthusiastic voters in early voting. We will find out next week. The Clark early/mail numbers: Democrats -- 189,549, or 47.6 percent
This is not 2008
This is not 2008. That statement may seem obvious. But partisans looking for an advantage in the run-up to the election insist on using the last presidential election as a baseline (Republicans) or an outlier (Democrats) for 2012. This is nonsense.
Democrats break 50,000-voter lead barrier in Clark; Washoe amazingly tight
Update: Latest statewide numbers show just how close Washoe is -- 315 votes separate the parties -- and how robustly the rurals continue to turn out. Democrats still have a 35,000-vote statewide lead, or 6 percentage points. Here are the latest numbers. ----
Give the Legislature more power? I say yes
 Nobody knows better than I the mischief that the Gang of 63 can create in Carson City, if given half a chance. Or 120 days. So the idea to allow lawmakers to have the latitude to call themselves back to the capital for fun, games and an occasional meaningful bill scares me as much as anyone. But it’s still the right thing to do, and I’m going to vote for Question 1 on the ballot. Let me tell you why:
Sandoval does ad for Romney, takes on President Obama's policies
Gov. Brian Sandoval, the most popular elected official in Nevada, has cut a TV ad for Mitt Romney, whom he embraced late in the game but is now all in for the GOP nominee. Sandoval, who has been in recent Romney mailers, says in the ad that President Obama's policies "haven't helped. They've hurt us, and they're holding us back."
Why does "newspaper" continue to allow noxious musings of defrocked "publisher" on its site?
That Sherm Frederick is a bitter old man after his cashiering two years ago is not in question. After "leading" the Las Vegas Review-Journal into the journalistic swamp, with complicity from underlings, Frederick's obsessive crusade against Harry Reid ended shortly after its failure when he was suddenly no longer an executive with the paper.