THE RALSTON RANT
Nugget #1: This tweet from “journalist” Jon Ralston during Thursday night’s GOP presidential debate was precious: “If that King-Gingrich exchange had not occurred, Newt would be losing this debate to Romney/Santo(rum).”
Which is kinda like saying, “If that atom bomb hadn’t been dropped, the United States would be losing the war to Japan.”
For such a smart, well-informed guy, Jon’s liberal bias sure does make him look silly sometimes.
TAHOE BOY CLIMBS TO THE TOP
Assembly Republicans (thankfully!) elected a new leader this week: Reno Assemblyman Pat Hickey.
Hickey – whose autobiography “Tahoe Boy” is extremely interesting and still available on Amazon.com - replaces Minority Leader Pete “Tax My Meat” Goicoechea, who was a disaster of a leader in the 2011 legislative session for conservatives.
Now here’s the thing: Hickey’s voting record in the 2011 session was pretty moderate. Which led Jon Ralston to write: “It must really infuriate the folks upset about last year's extension of tax sunsets that Hickey, who voted for it, was elected. Expecting news releases seething with outrage any moment from Americans For Prosperity and Citizen Outreach.”
Which once again shows just how little Ralston knows about conservatives and how ignorant he is of the conservative movement here in Nevada. Because while I can’t/won’t speak for AFP, I can assure you I am neither “infuriated” nor “seething with outrage” in any manner whatsoever over Hickey’s election – and I doubt AFP is either.
In fact, I URGED it immediately following the 2010 elections (knowing full well in advance just how bad Goicoechea would be), PREDICTED it many months ago during the legislative session, ENCOURAGED it after the session, and SUPPORT it now.
Indeed, I emailed and congratulated Assemblyman Hickey on his election as soon as I heard about it (and would have done the same thing if either Assemblyman John Hambrick or Assemblyman Cresent Hardy, who mulled runs for the position, had been elected instead).
I got to know Pat a bit back when he first served in the Assembly in the late 90’s. In fact, he once arranged a scholarship for me to attend a conservative conference in Washington, DC back then. And he and I have had an open line of communication both during his campaign in 2010 (against Ralston’s candidate and BFF, Orrin Johnson) and throughout the legislative session in 2011.
No, we certainly haven’t agreed on every issue….and I’m sure we’ll disagree from time to time in the future. But we have a solid, cooperative working relationship – something Goicoechea never had an interest in developing. Pete’s attitude was always “What happens in the Legislature, stays in the Legislature. We know best. Outside tea party and conservative activists need not apply.”
So for the public record: Congratulations, Leader Hickey. If we can ever be of any assistance, you know where to find me.
FROM THE DIRTY TRICKS DEPARTMENT
Word on the street is that Assembly Assistant Minority Leader Lynn “Bug Man” Stewart (R-Las Vegas) is planning to NOT run for re-election this year – which would be GREAT news for conservatives since Stewart has the worst, most-liberal voting record of any Republican in the state Assembly despite falsely running as a conservative year after year.
However…
Rumors are also flying that Stewart is scheming to hand-pick his successor by filing for office, along with his chosen successor, and then withdrawing from the race on the last day of filing. This would likely keep any serious contenders for the seat from filing – as many potential GOP candidates won’t run against an incumbent Republican.
Which means after Stewart’s withdrawal, it’s likely his hand-picked successor would be the only candidate left in the race on the GOP side.
Now, if these rumors are not true, Assemblyman Stewart is free to provide a statement to that effect and I’ll be happy to publish it right here. However, absent any such definitive denial, I’d suggest that any Republican candidate mulling a run in Stewart’s district who does not want to run against Stewart himself bear the above in mind and start making contingency plans.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“The odds are right now that (Mitt) Romney, he pulls it off. But he doesn’t even have a guarantee in a week. The whole thing can shift rather quickly.” – Ron Paul in the New York Times acknowledging he might not get the GOP presidential nomination
UPCOMING EVENTS
· February 3: First Friday Happy Hour from 5-7 pm at Swingers Club, Plaza Hotel, Las Vegas
· February 4: Nevada Republican presidential caucuses
· February 9-11: CPAC at the Marriott/Wardman Park in Washington, DC.
· February 11: Washoe County Lincoln Day Dinner in Reno
· February 16: Third Thursday center-right coalition Leadership Lunch (invitation only)
· February 25: Clark County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner
· March 2: First Friday Happy Hour from 5-7 pm
· March 5-16: Candidate filing in Nevada
· March 10: Clark County Republican Party Convention
· March 15: Third Thursday center-right coalition Leadership Lunch (invitation only)
· May 2: Campaign Training Seminar, Libertarian Party National Convention at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada
· May 3-6: Libertarian Party national convention at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, NV
· May 4-5: Nevada Republican Party state convention a the Nugget in Sparks, NV
· June 8-10: 2012 Conservative Leadership Conference in Las Vegas
· June 12: Nevada Primary Election
· August 27-30: Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida
· November 6: General Election
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