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Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry is interviewed at Red Rock Resort on Monday, Oct. 17, 2011.
Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011 | 2 a.m.
Sun archives
Sun coverage
With a new poll showing Rick Perry battling Rick Santorum and “some other candidate” to not finish dead last in Nevada’s Republican caucuses, it can now be said that Gov. Brian Sandoval did not provide a lasting lift to the Texas governor’s presidential campaign here.
And with Perry recently throwing a “birther” haymaker — questioning President Barack Obama’s U.S. citizenship — after dining with Donald Trump, it might also be time to ask if Sandoval erred in endorsing Perry at all, or at least so early.
Sandoval has of late spent more time distancing himself from Perry’s remarks and controversies than underscoring what he sees as the his fellow governor’s strengths.
After Perry called Social Security an unconstitutional “Ponzi scheme,” Nevada Democrats tried to tar Sandoval with the comments, saying he was throwing Nevada seniors “under the bus.”
After a pastor introduced Perry with a declaration that Mormonism — the faith of fellow Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and about 7 percent of Nevadans — is a cult, Sandoval’s political adviser, Mike Slanker, was forced to issue a brief statement: “No, Gov. Sandoval does not believe Mormonism is a cult.”
Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston reported that Sandoval has distanced himself from Perry’s questions about Obama’s citizenship.
Sandoval, the popular Hispanic governor of this swing state, was widely considered the state’s top endorsement prize. But so far he stands alone among Nevada elected officials in getting behind Perry, bringing to mind the awkward image of a drum major marching down the middle of the street without a parade in tow.
(On Wednesday, Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, joined a long list of Nevada elected officials to endorse Romney.)
Soon after Perry announced his candidacy, polls showed him doing well in Nevada and nationwide.
Perry, it seemed, was the candidate Republicans had been waiting for.
It has been a tough stretch since then, with a string of poor debate performances and controversies.
Some of the difficulties of Perry’s campaign are hurting Sandoval’s political standing, according to political observers.
“Perry should be running a strong second” to Romney, said Fred Lokken, a political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College.
Lokken said “time will tell” whether Sandoval made a mistake in endorsing early, but Nevada would benefit by being viewed as a battleground and if its top elected officials stayed neutral in the presidential politics.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., did not endorse a candidate in the 2006 Democratic presidential caucuses; Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., has declined to endorse any candidate so far.
Pete Ernaut, a close adviser to Sandoval and supporter of Perry, said the Nevada governor’s endorsement of Perry was more personal than political. Perry, while in leadership at the Republican Governors Association, was an early supporter of then-candidate Sandoval over incumbent Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons.
In October 2009, Perry visited Sandoval in Las Vegas for a meeting that coincided with Perry’s son’s bachelor party.
“If you look at it (Sandoval’s endorsement) in terms of a purely political move, there are those who may criticize it,” Ernaut said. “It was done on a much more personal level. They’re friends. Where Gov. Perry is in polls today is inconsequential.”
Sandoval should produce HIS birth certificate, right Rick "the Rock" Perry? "My kids don't look Hispanic" Sandoval and Rick the "racist rock" Perry, birds of a feather. I wonder what the lass poll was showing Sandoval was "popular?"
Sandoval showed his incompetence by the endorsement of Perry. Jones Vargas blew this one!
At the same time, endorsing ANY of the TeaGOP candidates is hilarious!
Rick Perry, aka "The Reverend Mr. Black" with a leather-bound book of Hash.
Everyone of these Republicans would lead us into a country that no one would want to live in...even Republicans.
"In October 2009, Perry visited Sandoval in Las Vegas for a meeting that coincided with Perry's son's bachelor party."
Governor Perry should have been frisked before the bachelor party. I bet he was packing a concealed hand gun when he visited Las Vegas.
Can't have a guy drinking at a bachelor party who's on record definitively that he's deathly afraid of desert coyotes.
Dangerous.
We're all lucky here we didn't get shot.
Sandoval is a fruad and Nevada and the country knows it. If Pete Ernaut thinks Sandovals endosement of perry in inconsequential he is dead wrong. I can guarantee you if Ernaut were on the other side of this issue and advising a candadte running against someone who did what Sandoval did Nevada would not hear the last of it.
Not a big surprise that one governor of no substance would endorse another.
Of course our wonderful governor chose to endorse the biggest idiot in the entire goofy GOP field...Perry also cuts public education funds in Texas, so maybe that was the common ground?
Expect more of the same. More corruption, more wasted tax money, more services cut, more job losses, and more inflation.
Our current list of bought and paid for candidates will go along with whatever the corporate and banking agenda happens to be.
It's sad how corrupt all these candidates are, this is the best the USA could produce... Kinda scary.
Alot of great comments here but Orca17 said it best.
There's usually at least some debate on both sides of the fence on most of these articles. More and more, I never see any comments favoring or defending Sandoval. Makes one think...
The 'other guy' is Ron Paul, the only viable candidate on the stage but certainly not part of the RepubPod group like the Crossroads GPS crowd that bought the Sandoval election, or Perry's election bought by big Oil. I may not agree with all of Ron's policies but he has stood by them for 30+ years; hates BUSH & Co, et.al., supports ending all wars, flat tax rate, ending NAFTA (slapping a sticker on a finished product from another country does not give corporations immunity to import taxes), ending the Patriotic Act and does NOT support the Supreme Court's decision to a)Elect a president and violate the constitution (election of Shrub, Jr.), b)A corporation is NOT an individual American Citizen (Citizens United 'evangelical' soliciation of anonymous corporate donations for the purchase of political power), and c)WalMart does not have the right to discriminate against women, pay lower wages and reduce hours to circumvent healthcare benefits.
Why endorse Perry? Road to millions of dollars of petroleum industry dollars.
Why endorse Romney? Road to over 250 million 'anonymous corporate' dollars (to date). Rove tried to get Perry to the well but he refused to drink, was already full of petroleum. Sigh. Looks like he'll have to back Romney since he couldn't get Christie to run, maybe VP? Any way you slice it, you can run Ron Paul and have a chance or you can run Mitt Romney and lose. Those evangicals are not going to put up with a Mormon, they'd rather cut their noses off to spite their face. That is why we have SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. Ron Paul isn't going to violate that.
Maybe I'm totally out of the loop, but since when has Sandoval been popular? I guess, compared to Gibbons, but really??
The last great governor we had was Bob Miller. The guy was full of common sense, wisdom, and a sense of duty even if it cost him political points. We can't allow that anymore, can we? Also, he didn't look pretty on camera. A death-knell to candidacy today. Sigh.