Could Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson have two — count ‘em, two! — Republican presidential candidates indebted to him for their standing in the race? It’s a question on the minds of national campaign observers as the Adelson family continues to pump money into the super PAC supporting former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s increasingly long-shot campaign for the White House.
The tiny box that NV Energy is installing on customers’ homes to monitor energy usage and transmit that data to the company has become the latest target of a vocal cadre of activists.
Eager for Nevada to once against become a political epicenter, some Nevada Republicans have one message as their party continues to fight over whom to put up against President Barack Obama in November: Let’s get on with it!
State Sen. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, who is running to represent Nevada’s newest congressional district, seems to have overlooked filing his federal personal financial disclosure form.
As expected, state Sen. Bill Raggio’s funeral Monday drew dozens of the state’s political elite — the governor, a U.S. senator, half the state Supreme Court, current and former legislative leaders.
It’s the Sophie’s choice for any primary voter: Should I be an idealist or a pragmatist? Do I go with the candidate who I think has the best shot at winning the general election but doesn’t precisely match my political philosophy? Or do I remain ideologically pure and throw my lot in with the candidate who best reflects my beliefs, even if it means a diminished chance at beating my party’s main adversary?
As the embattled Nevada Republican Party prepares to name a new chairman, one description of the man poised to take the reins highlights the party’s dire straits: “At the bottom of it all, the man has never been indicted for anything,” said GOP official Jordan Ross.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Republicans of “harshness, bitterness, meanness” and of “catering to the tea party” in their approach to immigration policy during a conference call Monday.
To say Nevada will never see another politician like Bill Raggio isn’t hyperbole. It’s fact. By the time Raggio took over as majority leader of the state Senate, in 1987, he had already spent 15 years in the Legislature.
Assembly Democrats who may have violated campaign finance laws by not reporting the spending of thousands of dollars in campaign funds to support themselves during legislative sessions have now decided to report those expenses.
Some political observers laughed it off when it was reported that Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson had promised to spend $20 million to help elect GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich.
Many Democrats in the Assembly have not publicly reported the expenditure of thousands of dollars in campaign funds, including money for rent and living expenses during legislative sessions, the Sun has learned.
In a risky attempt to help Democrats hang on to their majority in the state Senate, Democratic state Sen. Sheila Leslie has resigned her seat to run against Republican state Sen. Greg Brower.
The question begging to be asked in the wake of the Nevada GOP’s chaotic presidential caucus isn’t simply whether the Republican National Committee should bestow early-state status on Nevada ever again.
U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who faces a difficult bid for the U.S. Senate, is walking a careful line on whether religiously affiliated organizations should be required to provide female employees insurance coverage for contraception.
Reid's ideal candidate for Congressional District 1 bows out of race, leaving Titus poised to claim the seat
Monday, Feb. 13, 2012
The almost universally acknowledged master of Nevada politics, Harry Reid and his lieutenants anoint candidates, eliminate contested primaries and, ultimately, win elections. Few dare cross him. So when Dina Titus, a former state senator and one-term congresswoman, decided, against Reid’s wishes, to run for the safest Democratic Congressional seat in Nevada, some observers were waiting for Titus to be pushed out.
Early last fall, when Florida Republicans defied the national party and moved their presidential primary to January, Nevada Republican Chairwoman Amy Tarkanian issued a defiant statement.
A slow hand count of Clark County’s presidential caucus vote delayed final results, prompting accusations, doubts and derision from national political observers, who called for Nevada’s status as an early caucus state to be yanked.
Mitt Romney cruised to an easy victory in the Nevada Republican presidential caucuses Saturday by relying on a campaign organization he spent four years building and carefully maintaining. That organization became a firewall of sorts that allowed him to fend off a series of threats from Republican rivals who surged in popularity, including picking up victories in early states, but had no similar turnout machine to fallback on in Nevada.
In his final campaign swing through Nevada before Republicans caucus on Saturday, Mitt Romney found himself fending off not attacks from his GOP primary opponents but a more nefarious campaign foe: positive economic news.
Four years ago, Reno-area Republicans caucused overwhelmingly for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. On Thursday, hundreds of them packed a Reno convention hall for a speech many saw as key to their decision on whether to caucus for him again.
Newt Gingrich’s national advisers are feuding with his Nevada team over the candidate’s campaign here, sources said, highlighting the shortcomings of a hastily assembled local operation.
Activists agree on whom not to choose, but they haven't put their own alternative in the race
Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012
While the Tea Party in Nevada and elsewhere has had some small successes in local and congressional races, they are now so fractured that nominating a presidential candidate to carry their mantel is all but impossible.
Newt Gingrich just suffered a crushing defeat in Florida. He has virtually no campaign organization in Nevada and what little he does have wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders Wednesday. Despite that, the former House speaker drew an overflow crowd Wednesday at a Reno brewery.
Real estate mogul Donald Trump said he will make an announcement that “will pertain to the presidential race” on Thursday in Las Vegas, sparking speculation that he will endorse former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
The $10 million that casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam donated to the super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich isn’t the first eye-popping sum to flow from the Las Vegas Strip to presidential campaign coffers.
Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who has given millions to help GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, was not involved in organizing an evening caucus for Orthodox Jews to be held at the private school bearing his name, according to a spokesman.
If Florida hadn’t muscled its way into Nevada’s early presidential primary spot, the Silver State would have been the proving ground for the Republican candidates to test their messages on economic hardship.
Dr. Miriam Adelson, the wife of Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, will match her husband’s $5 million contribution to a political action committee supporting Republican Newt Gingrich’s presidential bid, a source close to the couple confirmed today.
For a decade, the mining industry has aligned itself with interests that have backed a broad-based business tax, betting it would be a strong position from which to withstand the more politically popular alternative — to increase taxes solely on mining companies. But after the industry became the sole target of a multi-front legislative attack last year, some companies appear to be rethinking their alliances.
Democrats in Nevada don’t have a lot to get whipped up about yet this campaign season. There’s no Republican challenger yet to focus their ire upon. No fiery primary fight to drive crowds. The economy is puttering along with some signs of improvement, but nothing yet to get excited about.
Vice president squeezes every minute out of speaking engagement
Friday, Jan. 20, 2012
Even a raging wildfire has a hard time quieting Vice President Joe Biden. Known for his long-winded speechifying, Biden had just captured the attention of his audience inside the Galena High School gymnasium Thursday when the fire began to close in.
Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has deployed personal and corporate wealth on political causes for years. But it’s a well-timed $5 million contribution to rescue a faltering Republican presidential campaign that has placed him in the spotlight as a potential kingmaker on the national stage.
Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson’s $5-million donation to supporters of Newt Gingrich may have helped fund distribution of a brutal anti-Mitt Romney video, but he’s not necessarily endorsing its message.
Two states down, two to go until the Republican presidential primary battle reaches Nevada. Here are five questions to be answered as the campaign trail winds west.
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum betrayed his professed family values when he tipped off his friend, former Sen. John Ensign, that a story about his extramarital affair was about to break, said Doug Hampton, husband of the woman with whom Ensign had been having the affair.
The comparisons aren’t difficult to draw between U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who may be on his way to becoming the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.
State has libertarian bent, but has supported 'family values' candidates before
Friday, Jan. 6, 2012
In the final week of the Iowa campaign, when it was finally Rick Santorum’s turn to surge against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, it was socially conservative, often evangelical, Christian voters who pushed him to within eight votes of a victory.
Nevada’s presumed front-runner in the Republican presidential primary, Mitt Romney, essentially shared a victory with come-from-behind candidate Rick Santorum in a razor-thin finish in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday night.
As Nevada heads into another election year, an onslaught of third-party campaign ads — many of them paid for by anonymous donors — are sure to come, particularly in the presidential and U.S. Senate races.
Primaries offer a clean, quick transaction. Enter a voting booth, press a couple of buttons and you’re done. Caucuses are more like a Tupperware party from hell.
Mid-cycle fundraisers raise questions about his political aspirations
Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011
Secretary of State Ross Miller says a pair of fundraisers he held in Reno and Las Vegas this week were simply to replenish his campaign coffers. He’s still paying off bills from 2010 and he uses campaign funds to travel the state when his activities have any connection to politics, Miller said. Describing them as small-dollar fundraisers (the requested donation for the Reno event was $250), Miller said he doesn’t yet have his eye on any 2014 races.
Gov. Brian Sandoval’s response to Nevada’s foreclosure crisis could be described as a keen example of dogma clashing with reality. Or, as his critics put it, a failure to hold true to his professed philosophy of avoiding government interference in the private sector.
The goal of the Legislature’s new Sunset Committee is a worthy one: Scrutinize the alphabet soup of boards and commissions that make up the state’s tangled bureaucracy and decide whether they can justify their existence.
As most of the political world’s attention is captured by the circus of the Republican presidential primary, Barack Obama’s campaign has been assiduously reactivating the formidable infrastructure that helped drive him to victory four years ago.
A party in Carson City to celebrate the Nevada Ethics Commission’s 35th anniversary last week has some elected officials questioning whether the public’s watchdog is juggling stones in a glass house of public perception. As a way to recognize the often thankless task assigned to the Ethics Commission, its executive director, Caren Jenkins, organized the party at a Carson City barbecue joint.