* Marc Caputo of The Messenger reported late yesterday that the Nevada Republican Party is charging GOP presidential candidates “as much $55,000 to participate in the Feb. 8 caucuses run by the state GOP.”
* Oh, “and they’ll be banned from participating in the state’s rival primary just two days before.”
* Caputo notes that Iowa, one of the few other states that still hold a caucus instead of a primary, does not charge a fee.
* “The rules are very, very easy,” Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald told Caputo. “If you want to come into Nevada, you've got to go through the caucus on February 8.”
* And pay through the nose for the privilege.
* Caputo reports that only Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy have committed to participate in the caucus so far, which means their names will not appear on the primary ballot.
* In which case, it’s highly likely that Trump will win the caucus, but another candidate will win the primary.
* Nah, that’s not gonna p*ss off a lot of Republicans whose choice in the primary won’t get any delegates to the Republican National Convention despite winning the primary.
* McDonald also told Caputo that he’s not tied at the hip to the Trump campaign but admitted that, at the Trump campaign’s direction, the Nevada GOP is refusing to work with PACs affiliated with his opponent’s campaigns.
* From an AP story last week…
“Donald Trump’s campaign is seeking to blunt the efforts of a super PAC supporting rival Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign by sending a letter to all state Republican parties on Thursday arguing that they cannot work with a super PAC as if it is representing a candidate. … While the letter does not specifically cite the well-funded Never Back Down organization, it’s aimed at the super PAC.”
* No wonder no GOP prez candidates other than Trump himself and Ron DeSantis have campaigned in Nevada to this point. Why pay to play against a stacked deck?
* In response to a court decision this week nailing the City of Las Vegas with another multi-million-dollar judgment in the Badlands golf course cases, Nevada Republican National Committeewoman Sigal Chattah tweeted…
“This was gonna be my crown jewel as AG (attorney general). The endless government corruption would have resulted in at least 6 high ranking indictments. They knew I was coming for them.”
* But she forgot one thing. And it’s a biggie. She forgot to, you know, WIN – like Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, her nemesis, did with the exact same electorate last year.
* Ending on a light note…
* Thanks to a heads up from our friend Daniel Braisted, I got tickets last night to be in the audience for the taping of an upcoming episode of Penn & Teller’s “Fool Us” television show. What a blast.
* During breaks between “takes,” Penn would riff off some quick jokes. Here’s one I remember that’s actually re-printable:
“My grief counselor died, but she was so good, I don’t give a sh*t.”
* Laughter is, indeed, the best medicine.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“(Nevada GOP Chair Michael) McDonald’s entire point of holding a caucus rather than a primary is widely believed to be deliberately giving an advantage to McDonald’s dear leader, Trump. … The state party can determine how its delegates to the national convention are selected. McDonald and company can simply ignore the results of a Nevada primary, whoever wins it. But the national media wouldn’t ignore it. …
“Trump will win Nevada’s caucus handily. And the only notable or memorable thing about Nevada’s role in the process of selecting the 2024 Republican presidential nominee will be the chaotic confusion wrought by a petulant Nevada State Republican Party and its serial anti-democracy buffoonery.” – Hugh Jackson, Nevada Current
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.