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FacebookRepublicans get around to us, now that all’s muddled
Thu, Jan 17, 2008 (2 a.m.)
Presidential Debate Recap:
- Political Kumbaya
- Timing may sink lawsuit aimed at Strip voting
- Markets pick 'em better than polls
- 11th hour, Ron Paul holds to his maverick strategy
- Undecideds find little help in debate
- Out in droves
- Democrats engage in substantive, tranquil and focused debate
- Video: MSNBC Debate Highlight: Yucca Mountain
2008 Caucus Coverage
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With the scramble for the Republican presidential nomination increasingly muddled, the Nevada caucus finally is on the national party’s radar.
Before Mitt Romney won Tuesday’s Michigan primary, his representatives had been coy about a rumored visit here before Saturday’s caucus.
But within hours of his victory, an e-mail announced that the former Massachusetts governor would be touring Nevada.
Romney is scheduled to arrive in Las Vegas at midday today, and plans to campaign throughout Southern Nevada, in Reno and in Elko.
Romney’s victory in Michigan slowed -- Arizona Sen. John McCain’s momentum from his win in last week’s New Hampshire primary. It also meant that three different candidates had won the Republicans’ first three major contests, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee having won the Iowa caucus this month. (Romney also won Wyoming’s caucus, which was barely contested and received scant media coverage.)
That makes Nevada’s caucus Saturday much more meaningful nationally.
“It is now even more of an even playing field,” said Steve Wark, the communications director of the party’s Nevada caucus. “It’s a highly unusual landscape. Things are so evenly distributed among the top five candidates.”
Of the presumed GOP front-runners, only Romney has plans to campaign in the state before Saturday.
“People want their votes taken seriously,” said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. “They’d resent it if candidates ignored them.”
Some political observers interpret Romney’s campaign swing through the Silver State as a tacit acknowledgement that he won’t win South Carolina, whose primary also will be held Saturday. Three polls of likely South Carolina Republican voters released Wednesday found Romney in third place, well behind McCain and Huckabee.
McCain is unlikely to visit Nevada as a candidate again unless he is the party’s nominee, adviser Robert Uithoven said.
A loss would be especially troubling for Romney, said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Romney has the second-largest Nevada staff among Republican candidates, behind U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who is polling in the single digits here.
“The problem for Romney is the way expectations have been set,” Duffy said. “This would end up being man biting dog if Romney were to lose here.”
A win here, however, would cushion the blow of a potentially poor showing in South Carolina, Duffy said.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is polling well in Nevada, won’t appear here before Saturday’s caucus, a spokesman said.
Many political observers are surprised that Giuliani, who has been dropping in national polls, has stuck with his original strategy of allowing his rivals to compete over the early states with fewer delegates while he focuses on the bigger states, notably Florida, with later primaries.
“It’s a really stupid strategy that might work,” Sabato said.
Discussion: 7 comments so far…
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The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
With all the Ron Paul ads we have seen I am suprised the Sun has glossed over him in this commentary. Mr. Eckhouse seems at least a little critical of the rest of the field for ignoring Nevada but ignores the candidate that has concentrated his very well funded campaign here because of our spirit.
Didn't Ron Paul win the Conservative Leadership Conference Straw Poll here a little while back? He sure sounds a lot like my neighbors when he talks about the economy and liberty. We should all take a look at the one candidate that looks at Nevada as valuable, not the hooligans that come here only when it's tight for them.
Wow...check out the dirt on Huckabee...
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/10/24/qu...
No way I'm voting for him after reading this shocking information....
Ron Paul is the only candidate who's in line with Nevada voters. Against the ever-expanding war in the middle East, in favor of abolishing the income tax, anti-Patriot Act, pro-liberty and pro-privacy, against the incentives for illegals (i.e., free education, free healthcare, and free public assistance), and the only candidate to speak out against the Fed's inflation of the currency (which we're already feeling, and will feel more in a huge way very shortly) and its devaluing of the dollar. Oh, and by the way, did you know he was the only Republican to oppose the Yucca nuclear waste dump? There's only one choice this election, and that's Ron Paul.
I think the clear choice for Republicans is John McCain.
He is the only candidate capable of being commander in chief on day one.
A man who has displayed tremendous personal and political bravery across 25 years of political service and 22 years of national service in the armed forces. A man who has lived American foreign policy, first as a naval aviator and then as a prisoner of war. Sen. McCain speaks from personal experience about subjects like torture and deploying our young men and women overseas.
Sen. McCain is the only candidate who has consistently shown in poll after poll the best chance of beating the Democratic nominee, no matter who it is. This “electability” and his popularity with Republicans, Democrats and independents stems from his record of forging bipartisan links and moving complex and controversial legislation through Congress, instead of standing on the sidelines scoring political points.
Our next president must have the ability to reach out across the aisle and fashion innovative answers for America. And yet, we can’t afford someone who will abandon his principles in the face of political pressure or expedience. Despite his widely-held reputation for bipartisanship, Sen. McCain was an important ally to President Reagan, and Presidents George H. W. and George W. Bush in advancing their conservative agendas.
And, Sen. McCain is not afraid to tell the truth. With the significant issues facing the country, we need a commander-in-chief who won't shift with the sands and or be blown over by the winds of public opinion and tell us only what we want to hear.
No, the choice is clear. The GOP needs John McCain to win in November. America needs John McCain to lead us to victory and prosperity. Nevada should choose John McCain in Saturday's caucus.
To voters in Nevada, As you go to vote, go informed and prepared. Know the facts, not the media's interpretation or the phoney automated calls. Who has a specific plan to secure our borders, will NOT grant amnesty under any circumstances to illegals, save Social Security, lower our taxes, protect the unborn child, and more? The ONLY candidate that WILL do what he says is Fred Thompson. Check it out at www.fred08.com. Find the truth, Fred can lead this country and you can count on him. He is the only conservative on the ballot- help save our strong family and moral values in this country vote for Fred Thompson.
End the nation-building in the Middle East -- we can't afford it, either in terms of dollars or in the threat it brings to our national security. Neither McCain nor Thompson have the political will to return the GOP to its conservative roots. The Dems will pulverize any candidate in the general election but Ron Paul because they will hang Bush's multi-trillion dollar failure around the neck of any other candidate.
Support the Constitution, support the dollar, support the Second Amendment, support the only candidate who wants to remove the incentives for illegals, and vote for the only Republican who means what he says not just when he wants your vote, but lives by the princples he advocates -- Ron Paul.
Best of luck to Mitt and Ann Romney today. Romney is the best candidate for the economy, immigration, and family values. Romney is in Nevada and cares about Nevada, unlike the other candidates. Support Mitt Romney and come out and caucus for him tomorrow. Let's win him the votes and the delegates. The Nevada newspapers have agreed in supporting him because of his interest and effort he has put into Nevada. He is the best candidate for our state.