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In an assessment of the 2014 outlook for chief executives, Governing magazine finds 22 of 38 "not currently vulnerable." Among those is our own Gov. Sunny, with this assessment from reporter Lou Jacobson: Nevada, hard hit by the recession, turned strongly Democratic in the 2012 presidential race. Still, Sandoval seems to be defying gravity. One of the GOP's fresh Latino faces, Sandoval has crossover appeal; his approval ratings have been roughly 60 percent, meaning that a swath of Democrats and...
So the picture below is of Nevada's two senators taking part in a Chanukah celebration in Washington, DC. The photo just cries out for a caption. Please help! The comments await. A couple of suggestions from one wag: "Harry - I did this with Sheldon last night" "Harry - I bet you really miss Shelley right about now. Shalom!"  
Mo Denis, who will be leading the Nevada Senate in less than two months, and his first cousin, Marco Rubio, who may be the de facto minority leader of the U.S. Senate next year, met today in the latter's DC office. Maybe Denis gave Rubio advice on how to deal with hair loss.  
Dean Heller 1.0 was this anti-Establishment secretary of state, proposing what he called "Election Day registration" to increase voter participation. Dean Heller 2.0 was the super-conseravtive congressman and appointed U.S. senator, whose spokesman said ugly partisan politics prompted a Heller evolution that changed his position to opposing same-day registration. Dean Heller 3.0 is the newly minted full-term senator, who is considering tax increases and immigration reform, but not....same-day...
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wouldn't take a specific position on fellow Democrat and Secretary of State Ross Miller's voter ID (visual verification!) plan, but he did sound a word of caution -- or so it sounded to me. Here's what I got when I asked for the senator's reaction to the proposal:  “I haven’t examined his proposal in detail but am happy to look into it. We should work to find ways to improve voter participation, rather than curtailing it. That is why I support same-day...
In the wake of Gov. Brian Sandoval's decision to expand Medicaid, the praise has flowed and the brickbats are few. Gov. Sunny tried to head off any criticism from the right with his announcment headline: "Governor Brian Sandoval today announced he will include 78,000 additional people in Nevada’s Medicaid Program and decrease the Modified Business Tax for Nevada businesses" But that sop -- decreasing what might be the dumbest tax Nevada ever enacted (this is a stiff competition) -- and the...
The senators were there for the confirmation hearing for Andrew Gordon. The picture comes courtesy of the Stephens DC bureau's Peter Urban. Mine: "Dean Heller reacts when Harry Reid says, 'So can we get Elissa Cadish done next?'" Leave your captions in the comments.
On the same day that thousands protested the end of labor as we know it in Michigan, the largest, thriving union in a right-to-work state celebrated the ascendancy of its first female and Hispanic leader. As Michigan is poised to become the country’s 24th right-to-work state (unions can't force new employees to pay dues), it’s worth remembering just how potent labor is here in Nevada, despite the 60-year-old law on the books here. With an invaluable assist from ex-state Archivist Guy Rocha, I...
Treasurer Kate Marshall, trying to get the jump on the field and surely thrilling donors exhausted from Campaign '12, is holding a fundraiser next week in Las Vegas for her nascent campaign for secreatary of state. The invite, attached here, has quite the host committee, showing the aggressive tresaurer made sure to make a lot of calls before sending this out. Politicians, lobbyists and gamers -- oh my. Labor folks, too. Enviros. Both ends of the state. Message sent.  
I have finally obtained the order filed late last week in the residency case of Andrew Martin, the assemblyman elected a day after Judge Rob Bare said he was ineligible to run. Bare's order, attached here, is not as explicit, referring only to Martin's lack of residency in Assembly District 9 and not declaring him ineligible to be on the ballot. (That's not what the judge could do, only what he chose to say.) The order concludes: "The Court finds that Andrew Martin is not an actual resident of...

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