Nevada Notes

Dean Heller, as I predicted, handily beat challenger Jill Derby in the District 2 congressional race. The vote was 52 to 41 percent.

It was the bailout vote that did it, I'm afraid. District 2 Nevadans are stuck with a mediocrity once again.
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But it wasn't all negative for the Nevada congressional races. State Senator Dina Titus, who ran for governor against Jimbo two years ago and lost, has beaten incumbent Jon Porter in Nevada's third congressional district. The margin was 47 to 42 percent.

Nevada will now have two Democratic representatives, one Republican.
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Nevada Congressional Polls

The latest Mason-Dixon poll shows a dead heat between challenger Dina Titus and incumbent representative Jon Porter in Nevada's third district, considered one of the most competitive congressional races in the country.

It's too bad in a way Dina didn't run last time instead of running for governor.

This poll also shows incumbent Dean Heller of Nevada's second district well ahead of challenger Jill Derby, although the latest Reno Gazette-Journal poll showed it a virtual dead heat, with Heller just three points ahead of Derby.

I say the race favors Heller thanks to his bailout opposition, but it'll all depend on turnout.

Derby has to overcome these numbers:

Derby, a former state Democratic chairwoman, lost by 12,575 votes to Heller in 2006. Republicans then held a 48,346 advantage in voter registration in the district, which covers all of rural Nevada, Washoe County and the Mesquite and Nellis Air Force Base areas in Clark County.

Now the Republican advantage in the district is 21,338 voters. Even with their big lead, Heller spokesman Stewart "Mac" Bybee said the campaign is not taking anything for granted.

District 2 Race

Thanks to Obama still being ahead in the polls and the desire to change Washington, Jill Derby has closed the gap against incumbent Dean Heller. Heller was 7 points ahead, but now he's just 3 points. With the MOE at 5 percent, the race could go either way.

I still think Heller is favored for re-election, but I want Derby to win.

This is certainly a switch from a decade ago or even six years ago, when Democrats were not competitive at all in this district from the time it was created in the early 1980s.

A Democrat has NEVER won this congressional seat.

Derby-Heller Debate

I missed the hour-long debate last night between the two candidates. I like Derby and think she would be far better than Heller, but her flip-flop on the Wall Street bailout probably cost her the election.

Local Notes

Although the Reno Gazette-Journal acknowledges Rep. Dean Heller hasn't done worth a damn as representative, it does note his stand against the bailout and challenger Jill Derby's waffling on the issue gives him the edge.

Derby should NEVER have supported the bailout. I KNEW that was a fatal mistake when she mentioned it in her interview with the paper.

Oh, how the standards have fallen.

Local Politics

Thanks to his calculated vote against the Wall Street bailout, it appears District 2's incumbent representative, Dean Heller, is set to win re-election.

I am not saying Jill Derby, a better candidate in every way, can't win this thing, but Heller's fortunes have risen since his vote.

Campaign Notes

In addition to John McCain coming to Reno next week, our dictator plans to make a stop giving closing remarks at a conference.

No doubt this is a closed event or I would go.
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Surprisingly, Democratic registrations are closing the gap in Washoe County, long considered a GOP stronghold.

The political slant around here is FAR different than when I first moved to Washoe County almost 25 years ago. It was very lonely being a Democrat then. I didn't make an issue of it, believe me.
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Jill Derby gave an interview with the local paper today or recently.

I don't care for her answer about the proposed bailout.
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Miscellaneous News.

It's nice to know you don't even have to be terminally ill to get somebody to help you with "assisted suicide"; you merely need to be depressed to get it.
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Top sire Sadlers Wells has been pensioned from stud duty. He is 27 years old.
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Nevada State Senator Dina Titus has made it official she will run for the 3rd congressional district seat currently held by Republican Jon Porter.

I think she has a good shot at getting the seat.
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Jill Derby is going to take another shot at Nevada's district 2.

It will be harder for her this time because Heller is an incumbent. Despite his mediocre record, he's probably odds-on for re-election. Remember, this district voted for dipshit Gibbons time and again.
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The Rezko case has finally gone to the jury.
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Actor Jimmy Stewart celebrates his 100th birthday this year, but he isn't around to mark the occasion.

I liked him okay; he wasn't my favorite actor but I liked him. My dad, though, couldn't stand him. He was right down there with Fred Astaire and Gene Autry on my dad's list of Hollywood celebrities he couldn't stand.
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Miscellaneous.

Horse of the Year Curlin prepares himself for the Dubai Cup.
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Jill Derby resigned as Nevada Democratic Party chair to try and run again against incumbent representative Dean Heller.

She barely lost last time and actually carried Washoe County. It was the rurals that did her in.

I think it'll be harder for her to win this time now that she is up against an incumbent rather than running for an open seat. I might work on her campaign; it would be a welcome relief from the drubbing we are going to get this fall if Obama is the nominee.

And no, I didn't attend the Washoe County Democratic convention. They fucked me over by making me an alternate, which I did NOT sign for, and I was not about to come in at 7 in the morning so they could turn me down.

Fuck them. Fuck them all.

Edit: After I found out where the hell it was, hypocrite I am I did go down to the convention. These things, however, never end on time. They were still in session when I left after I put my name in to be a state delegate when the state convention is held in May. I will either be a delegate or an alternate. I was eventually seated as a delegate anyway at the convention, but what a long, drawn out ordeal it was.

I ended up getting a parking ticket for my efforts when I left to trudge in the snow.

Unfortunately, because I refused to get up early enough to go down to the Reno Convention Center to attend, I didn't get the opportunity to put my name in for the national convention as a delegate or an alternate. I wanted to do that.

Final stats on delegates' preference and how many state delegates:

1666 delegates attended, 1655 voted on the final balloting:

Obama: 972 delegates, 329 delegates to the state convention
Clinton: 683 delegates, 232 delegates to the state convention

Obama

has won only one caucus so far, yet the media are all gaga because they wrongly say his run is "historic." It isn't; Jesse Jackson won 11--count 'em eleven--primaries back in 1988.

What Jackson didn't have is a ton of hype surrounding his run.

Maybe they confuse "historic" with "hysterics." Obama always whines when he doesn't win a state, and he's bellyaching about the Nevada caucuses.

The Clinton campaign has also complained.

I wouldn't be surprised if Nevada Democratic Chair Jill Derby is sick of the whole goddamned thing.