Jon Ralston reports today on a recent campaign strategy session for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “At that meeting,” writes Ralston, “not only was the $25 million figure discussed but so was $5 million to be used by the state party to create a ground campaign.”
Five million? OMG.
Meanwhile, Sen. Ensign hasn’t raised a plug nickel for the Nevada Republican Party – which still lacks a staff or headquarters – despite threatening to ride in and save it last November. However, his mom and dad DID contribute $96,000 (that we know of) to pay off his mistress.
Yes, by golly, by all means we need to save Ensign’s privates….er, I mean save Private Ensign. The party can’t possibly live without him.
WHAT IF GIBBO APPOINTS HIMSELF?
Many readers have written worried that if Sen. John Ensign resigns from his seat in the Senate, Gov. Jim Gibbons would just appoint himself to replace him. Now knowing Gibbons, such a self-serving act certainly isn’t out of the question. But the more likely scenario is that he’d appoint Rep. Dean Heller.
But what if he does tap himself?
First, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki would become governor and likely join the GOP primary in 2010 to keep the job rather than challenging Sen. Harry Reid. The ethics complaint against him is BS, so you’d have to give him a definite edge over Joe Heck and Mike Montandon in a gubernatorial primary, especially since Krolicki has run and won statewide three times and Heck and Montandon aren’t known that well inside Clark County, let alone outside Clark County.
At the very least, Krolicki would bring a level of confidence and respectability back to the governor’s office going into the 2010 campaign and leading up to the 2011 session. Gibbons remaining in that office only assures the office will continue to be a national embarrassment, in addition to being grammatically challenged.
But secondly, a wounded, bungling Jim Gibbons would have to run to finish out Sen. Ensign’s term in a special election next year. Odds are Heller, who while hesitant to take on Harry Reid in the general election that year, would be all too happy to challenge Gibbons for Ensign’s seat in the GOP primary – and then face off against Rep. Shelley Berkley in the general.
So no matter how you slice it, if Ensign leaves office, either way he’s likely to take Gibbons with him. That would allow the GOP in Nevada an opportunity to replace the dead wood with new, more aggressive, less embarrassing leaders. They should get on with it.
SEEN AND HEARD AT GOP CONFAB
I attended last night’s Nevada Republican Party special meeting in Las Vegas where former Gov. Bob List was elected as the party’s new National Committeeman, replacing Joe Brown who has been appointed to the state’s Gaming Commission. A few observations:
Gov. Jim Gibbons was a no-show. Again. How fortunate for the state party that it’s titular head can’t find time to hang out with the unwashed masses. No wonder his approval number is a single digit.
Sen. John Ensign did not show up to apologize for all the trouble his messed up personal life is causing the party, both here in Nevada and nationally. But, hey, at least he apologized to his DC colleagues, right?
No one would speak on the record or publicly about Ensign. But off the record only one person I spoke to came to his defense. The party regulars almost unanimously think the guy should resign – and that he’s likely to do so by the end of summer if one more shoe drops.
Meanwhile, someone must have been passing out some LSD before the meeting, because a serious discussion about Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert possibly running for governor next year was in the air. Or maybe that was just the cabbage boiling in the kitchen.
The good news about this idea, as noted by a conservative Assembly Republican who was at the meeting last night (which rules out Joe Hardy or Lynn Stewart), is that such a move would at least get her out of the Assembly where she did a pitiful job this last session as the GOP’s “opposition” (rubber stamp) leader.
The bad news, of course, is that Gansert would be equally bad as governor as she was minority leader. If not more so.
Then again, she couldn’t possibly be more inept as Gibbons, right? Of course, that’s the same thing I said about her as a possible replacement for former Republican Assembly Minority Leader Garn Mabey – and look how THAT turned out.
Sharron Angle was “in the house” and gave a typically energetic speech about her challenge to Sen. Harry Reid. Angle continues to be far and away the best GOP grassroots campaigner in the state, who actually does more to help Nevada Republicans by 9:00 a.m. every day than John Ensign does in a year.
Some guy named Chuck Kozak spoke, telling the crowd of folks who had never heard of or from the guy before that he, too, was running against Harry Reid. And to endear himself to the crowd, Kozak’s rather uninspiring remarks pretty much consisted of listing all the out-of-state non-Nevadans he’s hired to run his campaign.
Yeah, he’s going far.
I think the most impressive and most promising Republican who spoke last night was John Guedry. He all but announced that he was running against Rep. Dina Titus (D) and, even though a newcomer on the campaign stage, was savvy enough to counter the biggest knock against him in his brief remarks; noting that while he’s a banker, he’s a community banker, not a Wall Street banker. Smart move. Good inoculation.
GOP gubernatorial candidates Joe Heck and Mike Montandon spoke. Montandon seems to have a slight edge right now among the party faithful, but Heck, a doctor by trade, unveiled a very memorable campaign slogan which just might catch on and resonate over the coming months – especially if Gibbons and Ensign continue to self-destruct and embarrass the party and the state: “I’m the cure for what ails Nevada.” That could sell.
Ran into James Smack at the meeting. He ran for Congress a couple years back up in northern Nevada. And while his chances against Rep. Dean Heller in that race were nil, he’d have an EXCELLENT chance against tax-hiking, big government RINO Assemblyman Tom Grady. Folks who know James need to give him some encouragement to make the challenge in next year’s GOP primary.
Some party insiders are furious with Gov. Gibbons for a recent appointment to fill a vacancy for the Nevada Attorney for Injured Workers. Although Republican Melodie Swanson of Las Vegas was interested in the position and is eminently qualified for it, Gibbons gave the spot to a Democrat Party activist from Douglas County who I’m told has no background or experience in this area.
Another fouled up Gibbons appointment? What are the odds?
Nathan Taylor was at the meeting last night and appeared to remain relatively sober. At least he didn’t get thrown out of the meeting for a change, nor did he get beat up by any girls. So I guess that’s progress.
Speaking of Li’l Nate, he’s got himself involved in another Nevada Young Republican brouhaha, sending out an email slamming Assemblyman Ty Cobb (R-Reno) earlier in the day – although he was too chicken to actually use Cobb’s name in the missive addressed to “All My Dear Friends.”
Neither was available last night for comment.
And that’s the way it was; July 13, 2009.
Share and Enjoy:
1 user responded in " Muth’s Truths – July 14, 2008 "
[...] doubles as another biting takedown of CNBC’s Jim Cramer . Read more and see the video here. Muth’s Truths – July 14, 2008 – noisyroom.net 07/15/2009 By: Chuck Muth Citizen Outreach HELPFUL SENATOR; HARMFUL SENATOR Jon [...]
