I’ll be writing about the house, senate and governor’s races for NRO’s new Battle ’10 blog through the election.

You can click the Nevada tab to see only Silver State info or Battle ’10 to see posts from Nevada, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.

I’ll still post other Nevada-related stuff here, though, so do check back from time to time or sign up for an email alert (over on the top left side of the page) each time we publish a new item.

And I’m making this post “stick” to the top of the page so look below to see any new posts.

E.

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The state of California has an estimated $500 billion in pension debt, CalWatchdog has reported.

The Cali proposal is of such wide national interest that the man who started it, Jeff Adachi, a public defender in San Francisco, was added as a speaker at the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy being held at the University of California, Hastings School of Law this week.

In remarks made on Sunday, Adachi described the frustration he and other California taxpayers felt after learning that one out of every five dollars collected in local taxes were paying benefits for government employees. Adachi said he was motivated to act as he witnessed budget cuts in the public defender’s office, the closure of public parks and other program cuts driven by cost accelerations in the pension plan.

In past comments about the proposal, Adachi has insisted, “This isn’t an attack on labor. It’s a math problem.”

Michael Moritz, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur best known as an early investor in Google, YouTube and Yahoo, has supported and helped publicize the measure which no doubt helped Adachi in his efforts to gather enough signatures.

If approved by voters in November, the proposal will save San Francisco taxpayers some $170 million by requiring most public employees to contribute 9% into their own pensions. Police and fire employees, with comparatively more generous benefits, will begin to contribute 10%.

As reported earlier this year by our own Sean Whaley here at the Bureau, Nevada has pension problems of its own that the state’s Public Employee Retirement Board has since agreed needs examination.

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David McGrath Schwartz writes that according to police, surveillance video from Stoney’s confirmed Von Tobel’s account of the event and a criminal complaint has now been filed against Lauer for misdemeanor battery.  His court date is August 24.

Memory refresher if you have forgotten the details:

Lauer was accused of manhandling Jennifer Von Tobel who, we discovered later, is (1) a professional political fundraiser and (2) suffers from a weakened physical condition as a result of having multiple sclerosis.  Lauer flatly denied the allegations, saying he was just showing Von Tobel some sweet self defense moves from his glory days as a military police officer.

In a police report filed later that night, Von Tobel claimed she got a sprained wrist and inflamed shoulder that forced her to wear a sling as a result of the assault.  Lauer also filed a police report, claiming Von Tobel (1) was drunk and (2) grabbed his right buttock and put him in a headlock and then challenged him to demonstrate a reverse wrist lock.

(A police spokeswoman says that case has been suspended.)

A few days after the incident, Lauer pestered Von Tobel at an event they were both attending, and she promptly filed a restraining order against him.  Fast forward to today.

Convicted or not, I’d say Mr. Lauer’s shot at the Secretary of State’s office is, as it ever was, slim to none.

And Slim is at off at military summer camp working on his sweet moves.

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A majority consider themselves well informed, 52 percent, while 43 percent consider themselves somewhat informed.

Would love to know how the subjective meanings of “well” and “somewhat” translates into actual factual informed-ness in and among our citizenry.

Of course, Dear Readers, each and every one of you are exceptions to my skepticism.

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From her blog:

True fact! Former State Senator Bob Beers has opened an online store called Reid-Be-Gone. Get it? See the extra “e”? [If you want to visit, navigate to reid-be-gone.com. No links from here.]

Reid-B-Gone is a nice name, except it is taken. It is mine and I’ve been using it since November 2009. Adding an “e” and calling it your own original idea doesn’t exactly cut it.

This blog is the original Reid-B-Gone and Bob Beers is the copycat, the Johnny-come-lately, the arrogant establishment politician picking on the little guy.

Mr. Beers is well aware I don’t want him to use my blog name for his store. He maintains that I will just have to get used to it, because if he can’t sell his stuff using my blog name, then Harry Reid has already won.

I see no difference between Bob Beers calling his online store Reid-Be-Gone and Scott Ashjian calling his new party Tea Party of Nevada.

So here we are in this unfortunate place: I’m asking readers to stand in solidarity with the original Reid-B-Gone by not purchasing from Bob Beers store.

Stay tuned for updates.

So unhappy with Beers is Miss B that in addition to calling for a boycott of his similarly named store, she has gone to the trouble of producing this short YouTube video entitled “Robot Republican Infighting Theatre – VegasVoter vs. Bob Beers” starring, yes, two robots representing Miss B and Mr. Be, er, Beers.

This is where I run out of words and just marvel at the inhabitants of the world in which we live.

It really is a wonderful life.

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Guinn, a Republican who was well liked in the state, was first elected in 1998, then ran for re-election and won in 2002.  He was 73.

Guinn leaves behind his wife, Dema, and two sons.

I’ll update this post with a round-up of statements about the tragedy later today.

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In the process of logging thousands of miles in Nevada, I had the great pleasure of spending a good deal of time with Brian Sandoval, who we Nevadans sincerely hope will be the next Governor of the Silver State.

Brian is a devoted public servant who gave up a lifetime Federal judgeship to pursue the Governor’s office. He will face Senator Harry Reid’s son, Rory, in the November election. While Nevada currently has a Republican governor, there can be no doubt that the Reid machine will work tirelessly to help Brian’s opponent. Although Brian is presently holding a strong lead, with 44% of Nevada registered Democrat, it will be a tough fight. One Reid is bad enough.

On August 25th, Diane and I, together with Paul Singer, Anthony Scaramucci, Gail Jaquish and Steve Kenninger, will host a reception for Brian Sandoval from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at the St. Regis Hotel. If you are in New York we would be very grateful if you would come and support Brian’s effort to keep the Carson City governor’s mansion in the right hands.

For some of you receiving this, you will shortly be receiving a refund check of campaign funds you provided to me that I, regrettably, didn’t get to deploy in the general election. I hope you’ll think hard about re-deploying that check to Brian. Attached to this email are the invitation and the necessary donation form and information about the event.

America needs more leaders like Brian and we know you would enjoy meeting him in person.

We hope to see you there.

Diane and John Chachas

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The first debate will be sponsored by Sunbelt Communications and the Las Vegas Sun and will air statewide on KRNV, KSNV, and KENV on October 19, 2010. The debate will happen in Reno and will include a panel of three Nevada journalists including Ralston, Anjeanette Damon, and a third journalist to be named later.

(Um… I checked my calendar and do happen to be free that evening, just in case anyone was wondering.)

The second debate will be hosted by the Nevada Broadcasters Association Foundation in Las Vegas sometime in October and will be moderated by Mitch Fox, producer and host of Nevada Week in Review.

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Total Contributions Election Cycle-To-Date = $3,545,132.86

- Total Contributions 2nd Quarter Report (dates 5/20 – 6/30) = $2,290,936.53

- Total Contributions this Report from Individuals = $2,222,186.53

- Total Contributions this Report from PACs = $68,750.00

- Total Disbursements/Expenditures this Report = $656,773.25

- Debts & Obligations = $0

- COH at Beginning of Period = $132,016.59

- COH as of 6/30/2010 = $1,767,671.91

Reid raised about the same amount in the same period, but he has a whopping $9 million COH.  He’s raised about $19 million so far this cycle and will probably raise at least $25 million by time this is all said, done and won.

And:  Does anyone doubt that a couple of Reid’s many millions has already been flagged for a huge ad buy in September and October?

Not me.

Great year to be a Nevada media group with ads to sell.

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Fighting from the blue corner, the lefties of NetRoots Nation gather for the fifth time in as many years at the Rio Hotel & Casino from Thursday, July 22nd through Sunday the 25th.

In red, the conservative RightOnline is at the Venetian beginning Friday morning and concluding – if the blogger bashes of past years are any indication – sometime during the wee hours of Sunday morning.  (Yes, I know it’s shocking:  Conservative activists and bloggers drinking, snarking it up and (gasp) having fun!)

This fun annual face off was first conceived in 2008 when the conservative non-profit organization Americans for Prosperity (AFP) decided to sponsor and organize a conference opposite NetRoots in Austin, TX.  The effort was repeated last year in Pittsburgh, making this year’s Las Vegas events the third time the two conference have convened in the same city on the same weekend.

Last year’s RightOnline conference had less than half of the 2,000 attendees at NetRoots and featured fewer speakers, yet attendance grew significantly over the Austin kickoff and AFP – now with over one million members and 25 state chapters – hopes to do even better this year in Las Vegas.

Conference speakers on the NetRoots agenda include:  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Al Franken, Elizabeth Warren, Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Ed Schultz, Sen. Jeff Merkley, Sen. Ben Cardin, Rory Reid, Nevada Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, Rep. Alan Grayson, Rep. Raul Grijalva, Rep. Jared Polis, Rep. Donna Edwards, Van Jones, Markos Moulitsas, Tarryl Clark, Bill Halter, George Goehl, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins and Deepak Bhargava.

(That’s right:  Harry and Rory Reid are both going to be in Las Vegas next weekend, speaking at the same event. Although:  Rory will be speaking Friday at 3:00 as part of a DGA panel on governors’ races, while Reid the Senior is speaking on Saturday at 3:15.  I am sure their appearances on separate days, as with all prior “gosh, I guess we’ll miss one another again” occurrences, is sheer coincidence.)

Speakers at RightOnline include:  Judge Andrew Napolitano, Congressman Mike Pence, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, David Jaget, Erick Erickson of RedState.com, John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, Ed Morrissey of HotAir.com, Jim Pinkerton, comic and Fox News Contributor (and my dear friend) Stephen Kruiser, plus talk radio hosts Herman Cain, Guy Benson, Curtis Sliwa and Roger Hedgecock.

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Though there has been no formal endorsement (yet) of U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle by Sarah Palin, the SarahPAC did recently stroke Angle a check for $2,500.

The coveted Palin endorsement will come for Angle at some point.  Sarah Palin is no way, no how going to refrain from formally endorsing the woman the GOP hopes can ride this year’s anti-incumbent wave to a demoralizing victory over the Democrats in the form of a Harry Reid defeat.

Palin is already lending moral support to Angle, who has been under fire from the Reid Campaign from the moment she gave her acceptance speech on June 9.  In two Tweets posted yesterday, Palin defended Angle on Social Security:

“Sharon Angle’s right: new workers should get to invest some Social Security withholdings in their own savings accounts”

“What part of ‘The System is Going Bankrupt’ don’t you understand, Mr. Reid?”

That Daily Caller piece noted that Palin also went directly after Obama for remarks made during his visit to Las Vegas last week, including this statement:

“He’s got most disconnected, backasswards plan ever imposed on the country we love,” Palin said…

Though the president is being pummeled regularly on the economy and it’s likely the Democrats will suffer for it in November, Politico this morning noted that many of Obama’s policies will not take effect until after his first term, or well past the second.  Assuming he wins a second term, of course.

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“President Obama’s recycled stump speech and partisan one-liners can’t explain how six more years of Harry Reid will turn around Nevada’s ailing economy. While Harry Reid and Barack Obama sing each other’s praises, more than 192,000 unemployed Nevadans are still looking for jobs.” — Jahan Wilcox, RNC Spokesman

This will be the one and only time I regurgitate one of these press releases, even though there will be plenty of them.  No need to do so, because they all essentially read the same.

These blurbs fall under the Campaign 101 header of “It’s the economy, stupid.”

The RNC and GOP and their surrogates will be singing this tune all season long.  And on November 2nd we’ll all see how moved the audience was by their performance.

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As Ralston pointed out when he Flashed this earlier, this is an amusing development because Sandoval, although he is of Hispanic descent, does not speak Spanish.

But Rory does.  But he does not have a Spanish ad.  (Yet.)

Rory learned to speak fluent Spanish when he lived in Argentina for two years, which is where he did his mission.

It would be amusing if Rory challenged Sandoval to a debate in a Spanish forum, and Sandoval was the one who needed the translator.  (Don’t hold your breath.)

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And it’s all because of Sharron Angle.

You know how our good Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign have that decade-long gentleman’s agreement (aka non-aggression pact)(<— the photo there is worth the click-thru) not to go after one another?

This is surely the beginning of the end of that beautiful friendship.

You read that right, Dear Readers.

After calling Angle’s positions too “rigid” and declining to endorse her in June, Barbara Vucanovich, the godmother of the Nevada GOP, received a phone call from Senator Ensign. He proceeded to persuade her to meet with Angle to give her some feedback (i.e. that Angle ought to soften up her views).  As Vucanovich told Ralston:

“John said, ‘You need to tell her that. We need to defeat Harry Reid,’” Vucanovich told me…

Read the rest of Ralston’s story (good stuff, including some rather pointed remarks by our former senator about Angle), but the thrust of my post here is this:

No way, no how, is Harry Reid going to let this one slide.  I predict gloves off, Dear Readers.  Whether later this year when that ethics investigation heats up (wait for it in September/October) or when Ensign is running in 2012 (should he survive that long, which I doubt), there is going to be payback.  And how.

As an aside, all primary season we talked about whether Republican candidates in Nevada would or would not want the scandal-tainted John Ensign to “help” them (which might hurt them) during the general election.  Sharron Angle last year said she didn’t really relish the idea of assistance from Ensign, but then softened her position (she seems to be getting good at that) in a recent interview.

In this case, Angle got Ensign’s help whether she wanted it or not, and – ironically – it’s probably going to cost Ensign a lot more than it costs her.

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My two cents on this is that it was rather silly for Team Angle to so stridently object to the re-publishing of a campaign website she thought was just fine and dandy from October through June 9.

What possible rational justification could there be (and why would you think it is politically smart) to issue a “Cease and Desist” to try to prevent people from reading your past (recent) policy positions?  Especially when you just spent 9 months on the campaign trail repeating the slogan “Don’t read my lips, Read my record” every five minutes?  And more especially when, as it turns out, you do not have a legal leg to stand on…?

Anyhow, here’s the Team Reid press release:

Sharron Angle’s Pre-Scrub Website memorialized online…now permanently

After 24 hours of caution following frivolous legal threats to censor our free speech, Democrats resurrect Angle’s website with her truly-held views

LAS VEGAS – Just how pathetic have Sharron Angle’s new DC handlers become in their efforts to hide her extreme and dangerous agenda from Nevadans? Well, immediately following Angle’s primary win, they pulled down 3,000 words of text from her website that outlined her extreme views in great detail. And yesterday, they threatened legal action against the Reid campaign.

For what, pray tell, did tort reform crusader Angle threaten this frivolous legal action? For resurrecting Angle’s pre-primary, pre-scrubbed website – quoting her radical agenda in her exact words without edit – to illustrate the extent to which she has tried to hide her dangerous plans like eliminating Social Security and abolishing the Department of Education.

Summoning all the fake indignation possible, the Angle campaign called the maneuver a “dirty trick” and suggested the attempt to simply memorialize Angle’s pre-scrubbed record had purely nefarious motives. Nevermind the fact that the Reid campaign announced publicly in the media their intention to publicize the record of Angle’s old website even before Angle began promoting her new one.

Out of an abundance of caution, the Reid campaign decided to temporarily remove the website in question while we investigated their allegations. Well, the phony legal threats and the feigned indignation are over – and we’re not going to let Sharron Angle retroactively censor Sharron Angle. The original website, including Angle in her own words on her dangerous and extreme agenda, has been re-launched at: www.TheRealSharronAngle.com.

Just to be clear to Sharron Angle and her handlers, it’s called free speech and it’s nearly absolute under the First Amendment. (We know, these “big Constitutional issues” are tough for you – like when you said separation of Church & State was “unconstitutional” exactly one week ago.)

“The question is: what will Sharron Angle do now to hide her extreme views on killing Social Security and eliminating the Department of Education from Nevada voters? Perhaps she’s checking to see if there are any Second Amendment remedies,” said Jon Summers, spokesman for the Reid campaign.

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