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        TONIGHT'S RALSTON REPORTS: We have senior Obama adviser Robert Gibbs; and a debate between Marcus Conklin and Wes Duncan DAYS UNTIL I HAVE TO MAKE MY PUBLIC ELECTION PREDICTIONS: 4 DAYS SINCE HARRY REID HAS BEEN ON FACE TO FACE: 653 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY: 6 DAYS UNTIL THE TEEN CAN AFFECT THE POLITICAL WORLD: 265       Good morning, everyone. The politicians celebrated it over the weekend, but today is the real, 148th anniversary of Nevada...
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. Four years ago in Nevada, Democrats were an ebullient bunch. Thanks to Democrat Numero Uno, Harry Reid, they had secured an early presidential caucus, registered 30,000 people in one day and were infused with the spirit of hope and change. The...
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. ---- If you had any doubts that 2012 is not 2008, doubt no more. The Democrats survived two consecutive days of early voting sites being in GOP-friendly territory by extending their lead in Clark County to more than 50,000 voters. (Statewide,...
  Good morning, everyone. What’s happening back East and the horrible loss of life and property should make Nevadans realize how lucky we are. It should make folks here vow to never whine again about the triple digit temperatures that scorch us every summer. We are never afflicted with the kind of severe weather now buffeting the East. For those of you who have loved ones back there, I hope they are safe from the storm. I’d like to comment on Gov. Chris Christie’s gushing about the president...
  Good morning, everyone. I wouldn’t wish the power of Hurricane Sandy on anyone – that storm sounds pretty potent. But one thing that the right coast will have that many of us might envy tonight is that they are going to lose their power for a bit. Why would I say such a thing? At least they won’t have to see any political ads for a time. So I wonder what the Last Week Surprise will be this year? I surely hope it’s better than the usual fare, with mewling about torn-down signs or other...
  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: The balance of power in Nevada is out of whack. And it has been for a long time. The governor...
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." Sandoval's good-soldier routine is a long time coming, partially hastened no doubt by his top adviser's prediction that Obama would win the state. Sandoval, who is no...
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. Since then, he has been allowed to continue as a columnist and blogger -- what does he have on the parent company execs? -- spewing regular venom toward...
UPDATE NO. 2 -- So I have data that quantifies how the GOP did so well in early voting Monday. Take a look at this chart:   Site    Dem                NP          Rep       Total     Margin Sun City Aliante 618 317 713 1648 -95 Desert Vista 543 328 981 1852 -438 Moapa Valley 252 185 834 1271 -582 Boulder City 533 288 920 1741 -387 Sun City Anthem 461 353 822 1636 -361 Total 2407 1471 4270 8148 -1863     So...
President Obama is leading Mitt Romney by 6 points in Nevada and Sen. Dean Heller has a 1-point lead over Rep. Shelley Berkley, according to a new poll taken over the weekend. The survey, conducted by Democratic pollster Lisa Grove for Project New America/US Action, was of 500 likely voters on Saturday and Sunday. The margin of error is 4.4 percentage points. (I have seen the poll but was not given permission to post it.) Obama is up 49 percent to 43 percent in the survey. Among the 23 percent...

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