* Ron DeSantis suspended his presidential campaign today. After Iowa, the writing was on the wall.
* Some Trump supporters are now dancing on his grave. Dumb. Trump’s gonna need those DeSantis supporters in November. Try to be a gracious winner. Trump himself has.
* With DeSantis’ withdrawal, the Nevada GOP’s decision to hold an exclusive, separate presidential caucus looks even dumber. Had it allowed Trump to appear on the state-run presidential primary ballot, he’d have won in a landslide and there wouldn’t be any confusion.
* Now, there’s no real reason for the average voter to show up at 5:00 pm on Thursday night, February 8th, to cast a ballot for Trump. It’s a foregone conclusion. He's the only name on the ballot A total waste of time and money.
* Don’t be surprised if turnout ends up being the lowest in history.
* In response to anger and complaints about the “Chaos Caucus,” Nevada Republican National Committeewoman Sigal Chattah wrote recently on social media…
“NV voters are wondering why Donald Trump isn’t on ballots they’re getting in the mail? Because the NV SOS refused to cancel the NV GOP Presidential Preference Primary even AFTER being told that @NVGOP was going to caucus.”
* That’s simply not true. Not even close.
* The Presidential Preference Primary was passed by the 2021 Nevada Legislature and signed by then-Gov. Steve Sisolak. The Secretary of State had no ability to cancel it.
* The only reason Trump’s name isn’t on the primary ballot is because the Nevada GOP prohibited his campaign from filing in the primary if they wanted his name (at the hefty price tag of $55,000) to appear on the party’s in-house caucus ballot.
* Indeed, Chattah herself sued the state in an effort to cancel the primary. As is quite often the case, she lost in court. What a doofus.
* The Assembly Republican Caucus (ARC) still hasn’t worked it out among members so the caucus can join Gov. Joe Lombardo in officially endorsing candidates in various legislative races on this year’s ballot.
* This is not exactly rocket surgery.
* I mean, ARC can’t even agree on officially endorsing INCUMBENT members who are running for re-election. In the past, it was automatic unless 2/3 of members voted NOT to endorse an incumbent.
* In the 2022 election cycle, the in-house rule was a non-incumbent Republican candidate could get the caucus’s officially endorsement if 2/3 of members voted for the endorsement.
* Pretty simple, right? Why don’t they just continue to do that? As it is, David Brog, running to flip Assembly District 37 from blue to red, has already been personally endorsed by all 14 incumbent members of ARC.
* I know I’m bad at math, but it seems to me that 100% is more than 2/3, isn’t it? So what the heck’s the hold-up? Many donors are keeping their checkbooks closed until ARC makes an official endorsement.
* In some contested primaries, I can understand why the caucus wouldn’t endorse, especially before filing opens in March.
* But what about the candidates the governor has already endorsed?
* Is the caucus really going to endorse a candidate running against a candidate endorsed by the governor? Are they really gonna flip him off when he’s spending time and resources to get them out of their super-minority status?
* While ARC dithers and wrings its hands, the candidates themselves are marching forward. Here’s one to keep an eye on: Brandon Davis in Assembly District 34 (Clark) which leans Democrat in voter registration.
* Davis ran as the Libertarian candidate for governor in 2022. He’s since re-registered as a Republican and is running to flip the seat currently occupied by Democrat Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod.
* But word on the street is that Bilbray-Axelrod is mulling a run for Clark County Commission rather than re-election to the Legislature. If so, that becomes an “open” seat and puts it into better play.
* It’s still an uphill climb, but doable. And Brandon’s a sharp candidate. Check him out (electbrandondavis.com).
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.