Clark County Commissioner Christine Giunchigliani hit the Washoe-Carson-Douglas strip a week ago. Smart.
Nevada is the most urban state. More than nine in ten residents are concentrated in Gomorrah South and these parts. Those demographics made Catherine Cortez-Masto a U.S. Senator and carried the state for Hillary Clinton.
Chris G has all but announced for governor. Her principal June Democratic primary opponent will be fellow Commissioner Steve Sisolak whom she has already defeated once.
Sisolak has a lot of negatives on his home turf. I don’t see him beating Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt next year.
Ms. G’s experience is broader than both. Sisolak served as a university regent before moving up to the most powerful elected body in the state. (The Clark County Commission has life or death power over the Las Vegas Strip.) Laxalt never held office before lucking out narrowly in the 2014 anti-Obama red wave.
Giunchigliani was president of the Nevada State Education Association before 16 years in the Nevada State Assembly.
Her presence on the November 2018 general election ballot could decide the U.S. Senate race.
Rep. Dina Titus has all but jumped into the primary against fellow Las Vegas Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen. The winner faces U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev. He was a very good public official before getting bitten by DC moonhowlers, most recently trading in his health care vote.
Former Sen. Harry Reid pushed freshman Rosen into the race. He’d better hope Chris becomes the November Democratic nominee against Laxalt. She could pull Titus/Rosen with her.
We are still very tribal. The Old Testament tells why: Saul was named King of Israel because “Saul stood head and shoulders above any other man.” People have long supported the biggest, baddest dude to protect the clan.
When Titus ran for governor in 2006 against Congressman Jim the Dim, I noted her handicap. Back then, I stated the obvious and got serious heat. There are three jobs where Americans want daddy to make them feel safe at night: President, governor and network news anchor. Alas, the bias held. Titus lost to the worst governor of the last 100 years and Katie Couric, who had just been hired, crashed and burned as anchor of CBS News. The three majors remain a boys club.
Reid often said “It’s women and minorities who elect Democrats.” But the underfunded “estrogen ticket” of 1998 failed with the exception of already well-known Atty. Gen. Frankie Sue Del Papa. (Barbwire 9-17-2000)
If the “Year of the Woman” is ready for another re-run, Giunchigliani will have to lead it by becoming Nevada’s first woman governor. That race will tell Nevadans a lot about themselves.
NVEnergy SECURITY BREACH? After I paid my power bill, I awaited the usual confirmation. Just before it arrived to an unpublished e-mail address, I got two pieces of spam to that same address.
The subject lines stated “Second Attempt Your July Electric bill is zero” and “Study Reveals The #1 Tiny Device SAVES Electricity Bills In Your Home.”
Too close for coincidence.
I contacted NVE. Stay tuned.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
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Andrew Barbano is a 48-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us> Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988.
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