Posts Tagged ‘2010’

Here’s a Headline You Don’t See Every Day: “Holy Republican Herpes Batman! – That’s some rough GOP-on-GOP trash talk”

By Elizabeth Crum | 3:24 pm May 26th, 2010

Samantha Stone reports on a virulent comment I guess we missed after Sharron Angle was on the air with Sam Shad today.

Apparently GOP activist Bill Brainard called Angle “Republican herpes.”

Here’s Sam’s post:

As the days close in on the would-be Harry Reid challengers, Sharron Angle’s getting some #30 grit sandpaper applied to her political hide by establishment Republicans. According to KOH news on Tuesday afternoon, State Senator Bill Raggio warned recently that an Angle victory on June 8 will send Republicans running into the arms of Harry Reid.

Then, Republican activist Bill Brainard described Angle on a Nevada Newsmakers pundit panel as “Republican herpes.” By which one assumes he means that she won’t go away. That’s the charitable interpretation.

Are they helping to set Angle up as the next Rand Paul? Will Republican warnings that a Democrat is preferable to Angle – notwithstanding said Democrat’s powerful position –push primary voters who are sitting on the Lowden-Angle fence into Angle’s camp? The Reasonable Reporter doubts that was the intention, but will it be the result?

And what will a fence-sitting, but sufficiently p.o.’d conservative voter do after hearing Angle characterized as a venereal disease?

This is not a normal political year. Let’s tick off a few of the names that remind us of it. Bob Bennett… Charlie Crist… Trey Grayson… Will Sharron Angle claim victory next month with the unwitting help of Republicans who would like to stop her?

In Which Tea Party Organizer-Activist Debbie Landis Further Explains AIB’s Endorsement of John Chachas

By Elizabeth Crum | 9:15 am May 24th, 2010

File this one under the label that pretty much describes John Chachas’ entire U.S. Senate campaign:

Too Little Too Late.

Or, if you prefer, tuck the folder behind Ralston’s recent characterization:

What Might Have Been.

This weekend one of the largest, most influential grassroots groups in Nevada – Anger Action is Brewing – surprised everyone by coming out with a late-in-the-game endorsement of John Chachas.

A spokesperson for the Tea Party Express couldn’t call me fast enough to give me his three cents.  (Can you guess what he said…?)

I later chatted with AIB founder Debbie Landis about her decision.

Here’s what she said about her organization’s ability to endorse within the limits of its non-profit status:

Apparently, when I was on my paperwork filing binge for AIB to make sure we were in compliance with everything we needed to be, we filed an intent to influence elections with the SOS as a non-profit…so although as a 501c(4) we cannot contribute financially nor dedicate ourselves to a campaign, we can endorse candidates we think will further our cause.

As for why she decided to endorse at all, and why so late:

I have been getting non-stop emails asking who we like, why, and whether we’re afraid to commit because we only want to support the Republican who wins the primary.

It wasn’t an emotional decision, and I tried to make that clear. It’s okay to like Tarkanian and Angle personally and still think somebody else can do a much better job.

I guess it’s up to John to get out there, but the fact that his team is not doing as much as they could is no excuse for me not to do so.

On whether she thinks she’ll regret it:

The one regret I have is being so stupid as not know what our abilities were under NRS 294A.375 and for waiting so long to announce who we were supporting.

Re: why this endorsement is “special” (if it is):

I think the difference is that we’re not profiting and we’re responding to people who honestly respect the work AIB has done and the time we’ve taken, and who really want to know what our conclusions are.

On whether she stands to gain or lose by doing this:

I’m sure I burned a ton of bridges with this endorsement, but I can’t turn off that little voice that says Chachas is better, faster, smarter and a much more logical choice than any of the other candidates given the state of Nevada and the financial health of the U.S. today.

Perhaps he is.  Soon to be Was.

Erick Erickson’s Note to Danny Tarkanian: Dear John, I am leaving you…

By Elizabeth Crum | 9:19 am May 19th, 2010

Seems Red State founder Erick Erickson is rethinking his support for Danny Tarkanian based on Sharron Angle’s recent surge. He has not officially withdrawn his endorsement for Tark but says it’s not looking good for him and that he has to support the best conservative — who can win.

Among other things, Erickson says Angle is a “perfectly acceptable conservative” and “probably a more hard core conservative than even Danny.”

Probably?  As Nevadans already know, physicists at Cal Poly have long since determined that it is impossible to get to the right of Sharron Angle.

Anyhow, Erickson’s full post, and then a few comments:

I’ve said that I intend to check poll numbers about two weeks from the California election to see if I think conservatives should stay with Chuck DeVore or switch to Carly Fiorina.

It is looking more and more like the answer will be that Fiorina should drop out. If the goal is to beat Tom Campbell in the primary, all the polling shows a DeVore drop out will help Campbell and DeVore outperforms Fiorina against Boxer.

But I intend to be consistent. I’ve expressed my concerns about Sharon Angle in the general election, but will say again how much I like the lady and how much I really think she would be so much better both against Reid and in the Senate compared to Sue Lowden.

Polling is showing Sharon Angle has the momentum. I’d love to stick with Danny Tarkanian, but if he is not going in the right direction, unlike in California where Chuck DeVore is the only acceptable conservative for conservatives, Sharon Angle is a perfectly acceptable conservative in Nevada — in fact, truth be told, she’s probably a more hard core conservative than even Danny.

So while I think Danny may have a greater chance of not imploding against Reid, Danny v. Sharon in the primary means Sue Lowden gets the nomination and I find that more unacceptable than Fiorina getting the nomination in California.

If I’m going to be consistent in trying to get the viable conservative elected, the rule must apply in Nevada too and that means you should not be surprised if very soon I’m urging everyone to get onboard Sharon Angle’s campaign bus.

We must beat Harry Reid, but we need a real conservative to do it.

Do we?  I dunno.

We can all see that Angle’s chances on June 8 are looking better all the time.  But I wonder, as I think many do, whether Sharron Angle can beat Harry Reid in the general election.

There’s no doubt that both the GOP establishment and tea partyers of both the Nevada and national electorate will come together and support her if she wins the primary.  Everyone wants to take Harry down so bad they can taste it.  Endorsements and gobs of cash will flow in, and there will be a pro-Angle Tea Party on every street corner.

But after June 8, it’s not the folks on the Right who are going to matter.

Can Sharron Angle convince enough of the state’s 200K non-partisan voters as well as a few Reid-hating Dems that she is less radical than they think and an acceptable (if not ideal) replacement for the senator from Searchlight?

Will she spend all summer and half the fall engaging in the same old scripted speechifying and whipping off her already tired talking points — Don’t Read My Lips, Read My Record — or will she re-tool and figure out a compelling, vote-winning message?

And can she even hope to stave off the non-stop we-will-vaporize-you attacks that are coming beginning at approximately 12:01 a.m. on June 9?

If the most conservative state legislator in recent Nevada history can find a path to victory and take down the Senate Majority Leader, it will be THE political story of 2010. And even if she fails — which I think she very well may — it will be absolutely fascinating to watch her try.

Either way, it is all going to happen right here in our back yard, Dear Readers.

Time to break out the popcorn.

Former State GOP Chair to New State GOP Chair: Good Luck

By Elizabeth Crum | 9:57 am May 16th, 2010

Ha.

I almost didn’t post this because it is so run-of-the mill for a candidate to issue congratulations to a fellow politician upon election.  The statements always include the usual catch phrases — “full support” and “outstanding public servant” and so on — but the last word of Sue Lowden’s remarks about Mark Amodei’s election as state GOP chair sort of lingered in my mind and then elicited a chuckle.

Here it is:

“As a former state senator and former chair of the Nevada Republican Party, I want to offer my congratulations and full support to Senator Mark Amodei on being elected as the new chairman of the Nevada Republican Party. Mark has been an outstanding public servant, a proud veteran of our nation’s armed services, and loyal Republican. I look forward to his continued service and wish him luck.”

Luck!

Yes:

Luck raising money in a year both the county organizations and state party have (so far) struggled with generating cash flow.  In part because many voters don’t trust the party orgs to spend the money wisely and are therefore opting, when they give at all, to contribute directly to campaigns or to their PAC of choice.

Luck erasing from collective memory the egomaniacal and discomforting behavior of his predecessor.  Though this one probably doesn’t require much luck.  Amodei is a calm, sensible guy who will no doubt put out sane press releases that feature vote- and money-moving issues rather than narcissistic nonsense.

Luck with registrations and getting GOP voters to the polls so party operatives don’t end up looking like fools who squandered an opportunity.  Amodei can consider himself lucky indeed to have the very savvy Jaime Siemer from the RNC’s GOTV working out of the Vegas GOP office.  If anyone can whip the state party’s database into shape by November 1, it’s her.

And luck fending off the complaints, accusations and attacks that will no doubt come — either now, at/after the state convention or after the elections, inside party baseball being what it is.

PAC Using Chachas As Fundraising Tool

By Elizabeth Crum | 5:09 pm May 12th, 2010

You may or may not know there is a small war going on in and between Nevada conservative grassroots groups over which candidate is the greatest conservative ever to walk the face of the earth and which candidate secretly works for Lucifer.

As the bombs and mortars have flown, Debbie Landis of Action is Brewing has been widely criticized for expressing her personal support of John Chachas, and there have been Words — both on and off the record — between she and the Angle-endorsing Tea Party Express as well as between she and Nevada grassroots types who do not approve of her choice.

The thing is, if you ask 10 conservative grassroots types whom they support in the U.S. Senate race, you’re quite likely to get 5 to 10 different answers.  They are all over the map, so for any grassroots or Tea Party group to lay claim to “The” preferred candidate is kinda silly.

Anyhow, from Western Representation PAC this afternoon, a missive looking for funds in order to run a newspaper ad against Chachas:

The Senate race to replace Harry Reid is critical for the Tea Party Movement in the 2010 midterm elections. It is critical that the Tea Party movement capitalize on this opportunity to elect a candidate that represents our constitutional values!

John Chachas is running in the Republican primary and has been using his vast personal fortune to buy support from conservatives. The problem is, Chachas is the worst kind of politician who embodies all that is wrong with the politicians we have in Washington right now. It would be a disaster to pass up the chance to replace Harry Reid with a true-blue conservative and instead support someone as flawed as John Chachas.

During the last presidential election John Chachas gave the MAXIMUM personal contribution to BARACK OBAMA! Chachas has all sorts of reasons he offers now as to why he gave Obama the money. Our favorite is where he says he did it to help elect the weakest candidate on the Democrat side. So Mr. Chachas is either disingenuous or dumb. But we’re sick of Republican candidates trying to curry favor with liberal Democrats by giving them campaign contributions, and then coming back years later to run for office and then explain what they really were doing when they gave the money. It all stinks, and it’s the last kind of person we need to be the Republican challenger to Harry Reid.

John Chachas has never held elected office so there is no voting record to judge him by, there is only what he says and what he has done:

Chachas says: I’m a Nevadan.

Chachas does: Chachas has lived his ENTIRE adult life in New York. He only moved back to Nevada 7 months ago to try and buy a Senate seat.

Chachas says: I’m a conservative.

Chachas does: Gave the Maximum Contribution allowed by law to Barack Obama.

Help us stop this Obama donor posing as a Republican by making a contribution —– [HERE]

The Western Representation PAC has set a goal of raising $10,000 to run newspaper ads exposing the truth about John Chachas and his support for Barack Obama. Please make a contribution of $10, $25, $100 or more to help us get the word out about the REAL John Chachas. Your donation of $50, $100 or more today will allow us to continue our fight to stop political corruption in our government.

The Western Representation PAC is a grassroots organization based in Nevada and a partner organization of Tea Party Express III. We are the sponsor of the Campaign Against Harry Reid on Facebook which has over 11,000 supporters. Join us at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Campaign-Against-Harry-Reid/320157200716

A secure donation can be made by clicking the donation button.

Thank you for your support.

Dustin Stockton

Chairman

www.DefeatReid2010.org

Western Representation PAC

I am not an apologist for Chachas, but I will say this:

John Chachas spent $2300 on the Dem candidate he believed was weaker than Hillary and then raised nearly $70,000 for the Republican in the presidential race, so he was responsible for moneys raised 25:1 in favor of the GOP.  He never hid from the donation and has since said it was a mistake.

As to his being “dumb” or “disengenuous,” anyone who has met or seen Chachas in action knows he is anything but stupid or scripted.  He understands global finance and world markets and since graduating with honors from Columbia and Harvard has enjoyed a successful 25-year career that would easily qualify him for the Senate Banking Committee were he to be elected.

Re: the man’s “vast fortune”, if you read the filings, you’ll find he’s not really all that wealthy — although he’s matched 2 dollars for every 1 dollar invested in him by his supporters — but financial success in the Land of Opportunity should not be a disqualification in any case.

And Chachas may have been living and working in New York since college, but he is only U.S. Senate candidate actually born and raised in Nevada.  His family has deep roots in the state dating back 90 years, longer than every other person on the ballot.

Voters can make of all that what they will and then donate (or not) to Western Representation PAC for their newspaper ad.  Early voting starts next weekend.

Muth to Pay Legal Fees for Appeal to State Supreme Court in Ashjian Case

By Elizabeth Crum | 4:33 pm May 12th, 2010

Chuck Muth today said he will pay the legal fees needed to file an appeal to the Supreme Court over that lawsuit to disqualify Tea Party of Nevada candidate Scott Ashjian for not complying with Nevada’s election law.

Expect a press release from Muth with details sometime tomorrow.

You can read about the Ashjian decision and related election law controversy here.

Chuck Muth is President and CEO of Citizen Outreach which provides funding for the Nevada News Bureau.

Nomination for Silliest Endorsement of a Candidate

By Elizabeth Crum | 9:18 am May 6th, 2010

I have decided I am going to give out some political awards shortly after June 8, and one of them will be for Silliest Endorsement.  From Team Angle, a nominee:

Pat Boone Endorses Sharron Angle to Replace Harry Reid

That’s all I’m going to post of the press release.  You know how it goes:  Sharron Angle is the greatest conservative candidate to roam the earth since the glory days of Ronald Reagan, yadda yadda yadda.

Pressed for time, so three Tweets (from yesterday, when this came out) to amuse you:

@RalstonFlash:  Game changer: Pat Boone endorses Sharron Angle 4 U.S. Senate. What say frontrunners? I Almost Lost My Mind? Ain’t That a Shame? #booneisboon

@elizcrum:  It’s Too Soon to Know If Dreams Come True due to Pat Boone endorsement of Sharron Angle. Does TPE April Love = Fools Hall of Fame?

@DullardMush @elizcrum I’d say Pat Boone’s Angle endorsement more like Crazy Train. #goingofftherails http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxJhDlz4jxM

Keystone Corp Hands Out Checks to Endorsed Candidates

By Elizabeth Crum | 7:04 am May 6th, 2010

In a political and economic year that poses an extra measure of challenge for candidates in their fundraising efforts, endorsements and checks from groups like Keystone Corporation — which, unlike many advocacy organizations, both endorses and financially supports candidates in primary races — can offer a real boost.  Keystone yesterday handed out checks to the following GOP candidates:

AD 2 — incumbent John Hambrick — www.hambrick4assembly.com

AD 4 — Richard McArthur — www.mcarthur4nevada.com

AD 5 — Tibi Ellis – www.tibiellis.com

AD 10 — Tyler Andrews – www.andrewsforassembly.com

AD 13 — Josh Gust – www.gustfornevada.com

AD 20 — Crescent Hardy

AD 21 — Mark Sherwood – www.votesherwood.com

AD 22 — incumbent Lynn D. Stewart

AD 23 — incumbent Melissa Woodbury – www.melissawoodbury.com

AD 29 — Dan Hill — www.danfornv.com

AD 31 — Randi Thompson — www.randithompson.com

AD 32 — Jodi Stephens – www.jodistephens.com

AD 35 — incumbent Pete Goicoechea

AD 36 — incumbent Ed Goedhart — www.edgoedhart.com

AD 38 — incumbent Tom Grady — www.tomgrady4nevada.com

AD 39 — Kelly Kite

AD 40 — Pete Livermore – www.pete4assembly.com

SD 9 — Elizabeth Halseth — www.elizabethhalseth.com

According to their website, Keystone Corporation is a statewide political action organization that recruits, supports and advocates for candidates for public office who support private sector job creation, low taxation, a responsible regulatory environment, and effective delivery of essential state services.

Chachas: Federal Spending as Illustrated in Pennies

By Elizabeth Crum | 4:08 pm May 4th, 2010

I recently saw a variation of it online, but U.S. Senate candidate John Chachas has put his own spin on a new campaign ad that is now up on YouTube and will also soon be coming to a Nevada television near you.

The idea is that the “law of large numbers” makes it hard to understand the scale of federal spending and borrowing, so the issue is framed and illustrated using stacked pennies on a table.

New Ad from Team Tark

By Elizabeth Crum | 5:29 pm April 26th, 2010

Tarkanian is taking a break from Lowden-bashing to inform you that Harry Reid has spent over a Trillion dollars on earmarks and bailouts for corporate America!  And now he’s raising your taxes so he can spend another Trillion on a government takeover of health care!!

See here.

(No mention of turtle tunnels, though!)

Top Political Consultant Says Angle Tea Party Endorsement, Expenditures on TV Ads Could Blow U.S Senate Race Wide Open

By Elizabeth Crum | 10:02 pm April 16th, 2010

In an interview on Ralston’s Face to Face tonight, Sharron Angle acknowledged that she needs to be “up on TV” with ads and said that is exactly where she will put the money she raises from the Tea Party Express endorsement.

Respected political consultant Ryan Erwin, who followed Angle on the show, said the Tea Party Express endorsement is definitely helpful to Angle and anybody who says it’s not is “fooling themselves.”

“What it really has the potential to do is to blow this race wide open, depending on what what the Tea Party does, depending on how they handle their independent expenditures.  You’ve got a chance of them spending resources and blowing up the two frontrunners to try get Sharron Angle in there, and blowing this door wide open not just for Sharron Angle but for Chad Christensen and John Chachas as well.”

Erwin pointed out that the frontrunners do not have huge sums of money while others, including the candidate whose campaign he manages (Chachas), have plenty.

“Look at the cash on hand numbers.  You are looking at Danny Tarkanian and Sue Lowden at $248,000. John Chachas is still sitting on $1.2 million.”

As for whether he thinks the Tea Party Express will really spend the money needed to change the game here in Nevada, Erwin said they may be willing as well as able because it is so inexpensive to buy television time here compared to other places.

“If you look at the races that they targeted across the country, this is the cheap one.  They can get a lot more bang for their buck spending money here than they can in California or anywhere else across the country,” said Erwin. “If they spend a few hundred thousand dollars, a half a million dollars, they could have a huge impact on the race.”

“$150,ooo gets you a statewide week of television. If you spend 3 weeks of TV, this is a whole new ballgame,” said Erwin.

Erwin also said he thinks the Tea Party Express and/or Sharron Angle will have to go negative with ads against Lowden and Tarkanian in order to really gain traction.

“To come from this far back when she is third place, a point ahead of Chad Christensen and two points ahead of John Chachas–  She’s not only got to separate from those two, but she’s got to pass two other people to have a chance at this thing,” said Erwin. “I think somebody’s going to have to go negative.”

As for the latest poll results and the surveys showing Harry Reid in the high 30s, Erwin did not give them much credence.

“I think on paper that is the case. The electorate is very different, and right now the electorate is voting against Harry Reid, the independentes are voting against Harry Reid,” said Erwin.

“Once you have a Republican nominee and that person starts to define themselves and, more likely, be defined by Senator Reid, I think you’re going to start to see those numbers move,” said Erwin.

“This is going to be a nail biter down to the end of it,” he said.

WSJ Blog: Sharron Angle Sounds Like Sarah Palin

By Elizabeth Crum | 12:03 pm April 16th, 2010

Not too sure this WSJ blog post comparing Sharron Angle to Sarah Palin is a good thing for the Nevada U.S. Senate candidate who has said she wants to reach out to Independents (with whom Palin’s popularity has recently waned) in the general election.

The WSJ post piece said Angle “played well” with/to the activists who gathered to hear her speak at the National Press Club after she was introduced/endorsed by the Tea Party Express, giving a speech filled with “quirky metaphors, folksy syntax and hot conservative buzzwords.”

Sharron Angle: I Have Tea Party and Conservative Endorsements, I Won All the Straw Polls, and I Can Beat Harry Reid

By Elizabeth Crum | 8:16 am April 16th, 2010

As part of her whirlwind media tour re: yesterday’s endorsement by the Tea Party Express, Sharron Angle just finished up a quick interview with Allan Stock on KXNT.  A few of her remarks (and my comments):

“The Tea Party Express has joined with a lot of other conservative endorsements including Phyllis Schlafly…and Gun Owners of Nevada…because, they are saying, “She has that battle-tested, proven conservative record you can trust.”"

On who the Tea Party Express is and why voters shouldn’t confuse them or the Tea Party movement with the Tea Party of Nevada political party:

“This is a movement, this Tea Party movement. We have a bunch of conservatives across nation who have gotten off their couches.”

“We need a rallying point, and the Tea Party Express has become one of those rallying points…”

“The Tea Party party, they just kind of came out of the blue and, like a lot of people in this race, saw there was blood in the water, that there might be some notoriety and maybe even some wealth that comes from running against Harry Reid.  But we’re not looking for a third party.  What we’re looking for is the conservatives to get their brand back.”

What does she mean by that?

“We’ve been getting people who talk Right and vote Left.”

“But I’ve been consistent.”

“People want to know, “Who can we trust?” It’s not just about Republicans this time.  There is a big Independent vote out there, and they are cynical, they are saying “Both parties have failed us,” and what they are looking for, is, “What have YOU done?”"

On the election:

“The whole nation is looking at Nevada.”

“People ask me, what do I mean by saying we are being “waterboarded by Harry Reid”?  I mean here in Nevada we are tortured:  by unemployment, by the crashed housing market, our tourism industry down by 27%. There is no more tortured state in the nation than Nevada.”

On the polls and how she is doing (last weekend’s Mason-Dixon poll had her at only 5% in the GOP primary, while an April 5th Rasmussen poll showed her at 51-40 in a head-to-head match-up against Reid, which put her ahead of Tarkanian who polled at 49-42 against Reid):

“I don’t know why there is the disparity, except that two different companies are doing the polling, but it is a very small sampling of the population and I am not sure it is an accurate measure of primary voting.”

“What we are looking at is Rasmussen, and that is:  “Who can beat Harry Reid?”

“I can beat him. I will beat him.”

“We also have won all of the straw polls, and those are the the people that are going to come out to vote.”

Angle was on Fox and Friends earlier this morning and will be on KXNT with Mark Levin at 4:30 this afternoon.

And Speaking of Harry Reid’s Campaign Coffers…

By Elizabeth Crum | 12:59 pm April 15th, 2010

As Flashed by Ralston just now:

Harry Reid reports $1.75 mil in quarter

$9.5 million on hand

$16 million raised

$1.75M is impressive. But not as impressive as what he’ll likely raise in Qs 2 and 3.

US Senate Candidate Chad Christensen’s YouTube Message to You

By Elizabeth Crum | 6:17 am April 11th, 2010

Christensen’s up with his first YouTube ad.

Two minutes, 44 seconds.

Christensen will participate in a debate with fellow candidates John Chachas, Sharron Angle, Danny Tarkanian and Sue Lowden at 5:00 PM on Friday, April 30, at The Orleans Showroom.  Sponsored by KDWN and moderated by local talk show host Heidi Harris.  (CD-1 and CD-3 candidates will also debate.)