POLITICAL MEMO:

Buried but embarrassing news: GOP unable to host convention

Sun, Aug 3, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Amid all the other mishaps and scandals that have sullied the Republican brand recently, the state party’s canceling of its convention may seem insignificant.

Little wonder, what with the other news in just the past few days: New revelations about the Justice Department’s hiring only lawyers who subscribed to President Bush’s conservative orthodoxy, and last week’s indictment of longtime Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens on charges of concealing home renovations and other gifts from a contractor.

These damaging headlines, among numerous others, have largely drowned out the news about the Republicans’ inability to make their convention happen.

Here’s the backstory:

In April the party held a convention in Reno to elect delegates to the national convention. This is often a largely ceremonial process and party leaders probably figured — and certainly hoped — it would be this time around.

Although Arizona Sen. John McCain was not the preferred Republican presidential candidate among Nevada conservatives, by the day of the convention there was no doubt he would eventually be the party’s nominee.

But an emerging wing of libertarians and opponents of an immigration law overhaul sought to secure a majority of those delegates for libertarian Texas Congressman Ron Paul. No one won that late April Saturday; party leaders called a halt to the convention before delegates were assigned.

Wayne Terhune, an outspoken Paul supporter, contends the party did so to prevent his candidate from capturing the delegates.

Sue Lowden, the party’s executive director, disputes this, saying a quorum no longer was present to continue with voting.

In any event, the party called for another convention, on July 26, also in Reno. But among the nearly 1,400 invitations sent out, only 230 were returned — falling short of the necessary quorum, Lowden said. So party leaders decided they would select the delegates for the national convention without reconvening.

Republican leaders, including Lowden and county party Chairman Bernie Zadrowski, attribute the poor response to burdensome travel costs versus disarray within the party apparatus or a fear that the noisy Paul supporters could win out. (State Democrats, who were more sharply divided among presidential candidates, hosted their best-attended state convention ever.)

Another theory for the failed Republican convention is that party leaders couldn’t excite rank-and-file Republicans. Political scientists call this an “enthusiasm gap.”

Republicans “can throw money around, but if the establishment here is not enthusiastic, what are they going to do?” said David Damore, a professor of political science at UNLV. This is against the backdrop of the Barack Obama campaign which, he notes, already has precinct captains in place.

If the state Republican Party can’t muster interest in its convention, the McCain campaign can’t be too encouraged that Nevada, a traditional red state that’s looking increasingly purple, will ultimately support him. McCain desperately needs Nevada and other vulnerable states in the Mountain West, as his travel schedule seems to attest.

The campaign wouldn’t confirm any of this; a spokesman deflected questions to the state and national parties.

Robert Uithoven, a prominent Republican consultant in Nevada and informal adviser to the McCain campaign, concedes that state Democrats hold edges in enthusiasm and money. But he doubts that will translate into votes in November, pointing to opinion polls that demonstrate a tight race between McCain and Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

His theory will be strengthened if former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, an immensely popular figure among Mormons and business conservatives, is selected as McCain’s running mate. Unlike McCain, Romney campaigned here before the January caucus and could more easily tap into the state party’s machinery.

A McCain-Romney ticket, political observers predict, could generate the excitement the state party could not with its convention.

Discussion: 15 comments so far…

By esquared

8/3/08 at 11:04 a.m.

Suggest removal

"Another theory for the failed Republican convention is that party leaders couldn’t excite rank-and-file Republicans. Political scientists call this an “enthusiasm gap.”

There isn't enough viagra on the planet to excite the Nevada Republican Party nor get them up and doing something useful.
By jfnance32

8/3/08 at 11:40 a.m.

Suggest removal

You were right about a month ago.

The polls being tight has caused the party to wake up. Historical polls should that the Democratic Party is 10 to 15 points ahead of the Republican at this point in time. McCain is either tied or 1 or 2 points behind. This is extremely encouraging to the base.

Also, McCain is attacking Hussein which is exciting the base, too.

You should be concern about the Democratic base.

The white woman are mad at Hussein on how he treated Hillary.

Each day that Hussein takes a closer step to Bush's policies, like voting for FISA, keeping troops in Iraq, is perplexing to the liberal base.
By neiman1

8/3/08 at 11:44 a.m.

Suggest removal

A couple on INS raids and an exodus of the illegal workers in Las Vegas and the democrats will lose 10 points at the polls
By ksand99

8/3/08 at 12:16 p.m.

Suggest removal

This is funny. I guess the republicans are depressed? They don't want to be around each other?

I am glad the Democrats got together and chose their delegates the fair way. Having the elite leaders of the party pick and choose which republicans will represent at the convention them seems unfair and undemocratic.

It sounds like the republicans are not very enthusiastic about their candidate.
By esquared

8/3/08 at 12:48 p.m.

Suggest removal

Well, it's nice to see the vitriolic racism boiling over here in Nevada. If you think calling Senator Obama Hussein is an insult, look at the family of any of our lost soldiers in Iraq and explain to them why that name is an insult.

If you think a month is enough to assist the sham that is the Republican party, just read neiman1 and jfnance32's comments. They represent the rotted core of a morally bankrupt party.

The Man from Illinois is going to stomp on that old poop from Panama, which, coincidently, is the home of Yellow Fever.
By jfnance32

8/3/08 at 1:47 p.m.

Suggest removal

Why are you ashamed of his name?

If it is bad then he can go to court and change it to Fred.
By CybScryb

8/3/08 at 3:20 p.m.

Suggest removal

The biggest problem I've seen with the polls are the use of previously existing registered voters by the majority of the pollsters. With the emerging majorities of young voters registered on the Democrat side, all the Obama campaign needs to do is keep them motivated through election day.

McCain should enjoy his false competitiveness in the polls while he can. Come election day, Obama might well see a 10 point victory in the polls.
By jfnance32

8/3/08 at 3:32 p.m.

Suggest removal

You might be right.

There is also another problem with polls.

Many white people are known to say that they are voting for Obama because they are afraid to say otherwise over the phone.

It is why in many of the primaries Hillary was much better on election day than what the polls said.

So who knows what will happen on election day?
By That_Anonymous_Guy

8/3/08 at 4:59 p.m.

Suggest removal

National polls are meaningless. If national popular vote was all that mattered, Al Gore would have won the presidency cleanly in 2000.

The race boils down to 50 state contests. And in that match-up, McCain is getting clocked.

Pollster.com puts the current EV tally at Obama 284, McCain 147 -- 14 EVs over the magic number of 270. What states are complete toss-ups? Virginia. North Carolina. Florida. Indiana. Missouri. North Dakota. Montana. Colorado. Nevada. ALL red states. The keystone of the 2004 race, Ohio, is leaning Obama.

Oh, and did I mention that Obama is starting to catch up in Georgia and South Carolina?

Can McCain win? Sure. But he has to win every last one of the above toss-up states while pushing Ohio back into the GOP column.

I suppose that's why we're seeing nothing but dishonest and juvenile B.S. from the Republican camp these days, as opposed to substantive proposals and respectful debate.

If I was in their position, I'd be desperate too.
By thebs

8/3/08 at 5:44 p.m.

Suggest removal

It's three months out. There's absolutely nothing right now that can tell us what to expect in November.

Not too long ago, the polls were telling us that it would be a Hillary/Guiliani race in November.

At the very least, wait for the conventions, Veepstakes and a few debates to be over.
By jfnance32

8/3/08 at 6:01 p.m.

Suggest removal

1) Bush was ahead 49% of Gore 43% one week before the election. Bush DUI story hit that week and Gore closed the gap by election day.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS...

2) Pollster.com is run by a Democratic professional pollster Mark Blumenthal. Obviously, he is going to trend his numbers in flavor of the Democrats.

3) If you want unbiased reporting on poll numbers than go to http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/

It gives an average based on many polls.

RCP average is 2.7% in favor of Obama which is within the margin of error which means that race is probably a dead heat.

Their electoral map does favor Obama at 238 McCain at 163 and 137 tossup.

In Ohio, Obama's lead is down to .05%.
In Colorado, Obama's lead is down to 1.7%.

Usually, Democratic nominees are up by 10% to 15% at this point in time.

But this is a crazy election with a lot of unknown factors.

Nobody has any clue on who is ahead.

I am guessing that Obama is slightly ahead but the momentum is in McCain's favor.

But I am pretty sure that the Obama crowd are sweating about the numbers. Obama should be 15% to 20% ahead of McCain. It is a down economy and there is a war.

Why has Obama not taken a huge lead?
By ClaySeason

8/3/08 at 6:12 p.m.

Suggest removal

Eckhouse is right, a ceremonial process was all it was intended to be. The entire voting process in NV is a nothing but a phony ceremonial process. All the voting at the precinct level, at the County Conventions and the State Convention was nothing but staged theater for the ignorant masses.

All the way to the State Convention, we were told "we the little people" the tax payers, would be selecting the delegates which we would send to the National Convention to select the Republican nominee for president. But at the State Convention we were told the Republican Party's inner circle had already made the selections for us. But then a funny thing happened. Two-thirds of the delegates at the State Convention rose up and told the Party's elite they wanted to be Americans and choose their own delegates. The rebels managed to get the Convention to hold an honest election but when the Party's elite began counting the votes and saw they were losing, they called the Convention to a halt with a promise to reconvene at a later date which they never fulfilled. Then ultimately, the Party elite simply appointed the delegates of their choosing to the National Convention without any input from "we the little people". Which was their intentions from the beginning. When they failed at the State Convention to appoint THEIR choices, they shut down the Convention and appointed THEIR choices at THEIR executive meeting.

The straw vote on the day of the caucus meant nothing. The elections of county delegates meant nothing. The voting at the County Conventions meant nothing. The voting at the State Convention meant nothing. Nothing but ceremony for the ignorant masses. All that mattered was who the Republican Party's elite chose to send to the National Convention.

America is no more. What we have now is an Ex-America ran by corporate interests. "We the people" are now "we the insignificant" to be yoked and saddled like beasts of burden for the good pleasure of the corporate interests who buy the govt via the bribery known as "campaign contributions".
By jimwelch4

8/4/08 at 11:32 a.m.

Suggest removal

What people tend to forget about McCain is he is so linked to George III (aka George Walker Bush) that NO ONE who cares about this country could possible vote for him. Forget about the electoral fraud, think about the following facts:
- Started a war we did not need (Iraq)
- Did not listen when told by the pros how long we would be there, the number of troops we would need, nor anything else.
- Has boasted he does not read the newspapers; he has people for that, you see.
- Has run up the largest deficit in the history of the US.
- Torqued off our allies, AFTER 9/11, when everyone in the world was sympathetic.
- Violated our long tradition of the rule of law with his "enemy combatants" scam.
- Violated our tradition of treating POWs well (started by the well-known liberal, George Washington) with tortures outlawed by the Spanish Inquisition (such as waterboarding).
- Seems to think the Doonesbury spoof during the Bork confirmation, "But the monarch has unlimited power" is valid constitutional law.

Anyone calling themselves a conservative is supposed to value the rule of law and a balanced budget. Come on, guys, you either have to call yourselves something other than Conservative or admit George III is the worst president we have ever had. Seriously, George III could be indicted for war crimes in the International Criminal Court, and when was the last time we had a president like that?
By NevadaFive

8/4/08 at 2:52 p.m.

Suggest removal

TO ALL REPUBLICANS - important news update. Your voting day will be on Tuesday, November 18. DO NOT go to the polls or early vote on or before November 4 - as your vote will not count. Please call the elections department for further information. 455-VOTE.
By joeZ

8/4/08 at 4:24 p.m.

Suggest removal

The GOP voters and those who became delegates had their voice squashed. Mccain took 3rd in Nevada, yet the "elite" chose him ahead of 2nd-place Ron Paul.

Other than the policy of war in the middle east, Mccain's voting record is pure-bred liberal.

Check out his voting record: voted against Bush tax cuts twice, create legislation to restrict 1st ammendment rights, created legislation to restrict 2nd ammendment rights.

Mccain is ranked F-- on gun rights, while Obama is ranked just an F.
http://gunowners.org/mccaintb.htm