* For the record, I have said consistently that if Donald Trump is the GOP nominee to go up against Joe Biden next November, I’m voting for him.
* That said, I just can’t ignore the Trump campaign putting out absolutely false information about next week’s Presidential Preference Primary which it labels as “meaningless.”
* First, it’s not meaningless if you take pride in your record of voting in every election. Skip this one and your record is broken. So there’s that.
* But worse, the same media release includes this self-described “fact”…
“Due to a confusing Nevada state law passed by Democrats in 2021, candidates had to choose whether to run in the Tuesday, February 6 primary OR the Thursday, February 8 Caucus. Candidates were only allowed to run in one or the other.”
* First, there was nothing “confusing” about the state law. It simply switched Nevada from a caucus state to a primary state in presidential elections. I opposed it, but it is what it is. You play by the rules as they are, not as you wish them to be.
* Secondly, it wasn’t “passed by Democrats.” Some Republicans voted for it, too. Wish they hadn’t, but it is what it is.
* Thirdly, it wasn’t the state law that forced candidates to choose one or the other. It was the NEVADA GOP that decided candidates who filed to run in the primary would be barred from participating in the party-run caucus.
* If the party “leaders” didn’t have their heads stuck so far up their own tuckus, they would have allowed candidates to appear on BOTH ballots while only awarding convention delegates to candidates who paid the party’s $55,000 “poll tax” to get their name on the caucus ballot.
* Trump would have won both, and all the anger and confusion we’re seeing with voters right now would have been avoided.
* Meanwhile, the latest turnout numbers for the Presidential Preference Primary show just under 75,000 Democrats have voted while only a little over 48,000 Republicans have cast a ballot.
* Hmmm…
* Last June, the Republican National Committee (RNC) launched a “Bank Your Vote” project which was explained thusly…
“The Bank Your Vote initiative encourages GOP voters (like YOU!) to get your vote in and make absolutely sure that your voice is heard in the critical 2024 elections. In all 56 states and territories, your Republican Party will be working hard to get our voters to vote by mail or early in-person, and ballot harvest where permitted.”
* Since 25,000+ more Democrats have now cast ballots in next Tuesday’s primary than Republicans, it appears the Nevada GOP has completely dropped the ball at working to get Republican voters to vote by mail or vote early.
* But, heck, there’s still two more days to go where a flood of Republicans could swarm early voting sites, bank their votes, and overtake the Dems. There’s also a chance you could hit the million-dollar lottery tonight!
* Bank Your Vote is a smart initiative under current circumstances. But the planning is easy. The execution is hard. And it certainly appears the Nevada GOP has been a miserable failure at implementing this effort.
* Par for the course. Republicans in Nevada have lost the last four election cycles in a row under the current party “leadership.”
* Meanwhile…
* The Assembly Republican Caucus (ARC) put out a newsletter today that included the following…
“We are proud of our Republican Governor Joe Lombardo and could not be grateful and excited that he has endorsed all returning, incumbent members of our Caucus.”
* Wonderful. But, um, I think they forgot to add the word “more” in front of the word “grateful.”
* That aside, ARC itself has yet to officially endorse its OWN incumbents for re-election. They’re still fighting among themselves over crossed “t’s” and dotted “i’s” in their rules and bylaws.
* It’s like being at a Republican central committee meeting!
* In addition, ARC has yet to endorse any of the non-incumbent/Lombardo-endorsed GOP candidates running to get Assembly Republicans out of their super-minority status – including one candidate who all 14 members of the caucus have already endorsed personally.
* The gang that still can’t shoot straight.
* Closing observation…
* I’m sure, since childhood, that I’ve watched the Wizard of Oz over a hundred times. Wonderful movie – and yes, the flying monkeys scared the beejeepers out of me as a kid.
* But last night I went to the Sam’s Town movie theater and watched it on the big screen for the first time. And it was an entirely different experience. Noticed things I’d never noticed before.
* Including noticing how much the Wicked Witch of the West truly resembles Nevada Democrat Congresswoman Dina Titus. Maybe they’re related.
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com. You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com. His views are his own.