* ‘Tis the season. And our own Gov. Joe Lombardo make Santa Grover’s “Naughty & Nice” list this year…
“NICE: Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo (R) for setting a new veto record in rejecting left-wing legislation and protecting Nevada’s status as a low-tax state.”
* Yeah! A coal-free stocking this year!
* The Democrats’ chess pieces are starting to fall into place. Today they announced their endorsement of Ryan Hampton for Assembly District 4, currently represented by Republican Assemblyman Richard McArthur.
* I only did some cursory research on Hampton. He’s pretty much a single-issue candidate: addiction treatment. His campaign website states…
“Like many in our state and across the country, in his twenties, Ryan went through a period of addiction after being prescribed painkillers for a hiking injury.”
* Prescribed painkillers. The average voter will have empathy for that. But is that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Hmm…
* On a separate website, I found this quote by Hampton – from before he became a candidate – which tells a rather different story…
“Here I am today, not only a person recovering from heroin, but a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, and I think that shows that we are everywhere.”
* There’s a world of difference between someone addicted to prescription painkillers from a hiking injury and becoming a heroin junkie. Gee, I wonder why he left that part out on his campaign website?
* I’m happy that he’s reportedly recovered from his addiction, but this deception by omission is concerning.
* Gov. Lombardo has already endorsed a GOP candidate for this seat: Lisa Cole. She’s got one helluva resume of success, including her work in developing the Apex Industrial Park that no one said would succeed (it has…”bigly”).
* Another Republican, Jacob Deaville, has “carpet-bagged” into the district and has also announced his candidacy for the seat. He’s a Lombardo critic who lost his primary race for AD37 in 2020 and lost the general election for AD37 in 2022.
* I guess the grass looks greener in AD4.
* There are still some people who don’t believe the Nevada Republican Party is “rigging” the GOP presidential caucus in favor of Donald Trump. Well, doubting Thomases, here’s what Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald said at a rally in Reno this weekend…
“You come out to your (caucus) location, you walk in with your neighbors, you sit with your neighbors and tell them how great it is. And then you cast your ballot for Donald Trump.”
* If you support Trump, fine. But don’t tell me the party isn’t tilting the scales here. Or put another way, don’t tinkle down my leg and tell me it’s raining.
* Republican Assemblywoman Alexis Hansen is advising her constituents that if they vote in the official state-run Presidential Preference Primary that “your vote will only count” if you vote in the competing Nevada GOP’s “caucus.”
* While it’s true that the presidential candidates can only win delegates to the GOP national convention through the caucus, your vote in the caucus WON’T count as a vote in the Secretary of State’s database.
* If you want your vote to count in your vote history record, you need to vote in the primary. If you want to vote in the caucus, as well, you can do that.
* Hansen went on to note that Nikki Haley will be the only credible name on the primary ballot - as Mike Pence and Tim Scott have dropped out and the Nevada GOP wouldn’t allow candidates to file in both.
* So Hansen is advising voters who are supporting a candidate other than Haley to vote in the primary BUT vote for “None of the Above” (NOTA) since DeSantis and Trump won’t be on the primary ballot.
* When Pence and Scott dropped out, it was assumed that Haley would then breeze through and win the primary, virtually unopposed. But The DeSantis and Trump camps have a vested interest in her not doing well in Nevada.
* If they’re able to rally their supporters to vote for NOTA in the primary before the caucus, Haley could instead emerge with a huge egg on her face.
* If you’re a conservative and aren’t quite sure what to make out of the sudden “surge” in media attention Haley’s been getting, click here to read a detailed column titled, “Nikki Haley: Last Gasp of the Bush Republicans.”
* Meanwhile, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) is not a happy camper with Joe Biden’s illegal immigration policies. On Friday she announced an executive order sending the Arizona National Guard to the border, saying “the federal government is refusing to do its job to secure our border.”
* Welcome to the party, pal.
* And in conclusion, because I’m just here to help…
* Gentlemen, you might want to dial up this “doghouse” video before settling on that Christmas present for your wife. Hilarious…but, oh, so true. Click here.
* Don’t be a “dual-bagger.”
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“If Trump loses, he will say it's stolen no matter what,” – Ron DeSantis responding to a question about the possibility that Trump might lose Iowa and/or New Hampshire
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.