Friday, September 30, 2011

Florida moves up GOP primary date causing four States to make changes

Florida has chosen to move its Primary date to January 31, 2012, which means that the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 6, the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 14, the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 18, and the South Carolina primary on Feb. 28 will all be looking to change their dates.

By moving the date, Florida will sacrifice half of it primary delegates at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fl.,  August 27-30, 2012.

Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina are the only four states allowed to vote before March 6, 2012 under Republican National Committee (RNC) rules, and they have collectively vowed to move the dates of their caucuses and primaries ahead of Florida to protect the early voting status. Which means it is possible that we could see the Iowa caucus in December 2011, possibly between Christmas and New Years.

Besides losing 50 percent of their delegates at the convention, RNC members are also mulling stiffer penalties for rule-breaking states, like banishing those delegations to far away hotels in the Tampa area and giving their delegations the worst seats inside the convention hall.

Florida’s move will also cause the republican candidates that are currently running to reschedule their fundraisers and campaign visits to the early caucus and primary States.  And it will cause any potential new candidates such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie or Fox “News” contributor Sarah Palin to decide whether or not to get into the race in the next few days.

Amy Tarkanian, Chairman of the Nevada Republican Party, release a statement regarding Florida's decision to move the date of its primary.

"Florida's decision to move its primary is disappointing and, frankly, disrespectful of the other early primary states and the process as a whole.  Because the date of Nevada's caucus is, by rule, four days after New Hampshire's, we will move Nevada's First in the West caucus if the New Hampshire GOP moves theirs.  No matter what, we will not allow this disruption to interfere with our goal of creating a Presidential caucus that will be the pride of the western states.  This situation gives Nevadans the opportunity to showcase our ability to adapt and establish our state as a major player in national politics."

The four States that were ahead of Florida will work together with the RNC to pick news dates for their States.



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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Anti-Freedom of Choice group plans 2012 ballot initiative to end abortions in Nevada


A Nevada organization called the Nevada Pro-life Coalition is planning an initiative petition to ban abortions in Nevada. In order to qualify their initiative on the 2012 ballot they will need to gather 72,352 valid signatures.

The initiative would grant human status at the moment of conception and prohibit “the intentional taking of a prenatal person’s life” and defines a prenatal person as “every human being at all stages of biological development before birth.” Which is diametric to actual medical and scientific facts.

From the Las Vegas Sun:

The group, however, is not yet properly registered with the Nevada Secretary of State’s office to advocate for or against an initiative petition, said deputy secretary of state Scott Giles. To begin collecting signatures the group would first have to file the necessary paperwork.

A coalition of abortion rights groups has already formed to oppose the initiative petition.

“This initiative is an attempt to prevent a woman from making her own personal, private decisions about her health with her family and doctor,” said Elisa Cafferata, president of Nevada Advocates for Planned Parenthood Affiliates. “It would bring government, lawyers and the courts into our personal lives. It would affect literally thousands of laws, costing our state a fortune to litigate.”

There is nothing wrong with people being against abortions, in fact you would be hard pressed to find any would who likes abortions, but when another person or another group pushes their own beliefs onto others, then there is a problem.

The choices we all make in life are our own and we must live with those decisions whether we like them or not. After all, it is our life.

Those that want to limit individual freedom’s because of their own beliefs, have forgotten what it means to be an American.




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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Reid: Democrats will not ‘cave’ a government shutdown is possible

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in a press briefing today said "I’m not confident a government shutdown can be avoided”. Current government funding expires September 30, 2011 at midnight. The new fiscal year begins October 1, 2011.

"If they want to stay into next week, that's fine, we can do that...we can work all next week. The government doesn't shut down until I think it's a week from Saturday," Reid told reporters at his weekly Capitol briefing. "Senator McConnell said there will be no shutdown. I'm not that sure. I'm not that sure. Because the Tea Party-driven House of Representatives has been so unreasonable in the past I don't know why they should suddenly be reasonable."

A stop-gap bill to fund the Government until Nov. 18, 2011 is now needed because Congress has not passed any of the 12 regular spending bills, they’re too busy arguing and playing politics with one another.

And the hold up on the stop-gap bill is the relief funding for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). The House republicans support a package of $3.65 billion in emergency relief .The Senate voted last week and passed a $6.9 billion package with no off setting budget cuts. The Senate vote included 10 republicans.

FEMA helps States that have been struck by natural disasters, such as fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, and earthquakes. FEMA has been kept very busy this year with parts of 48 States already being declared disaster areas. So they need additional funding.

Republicans have held our economy and Americans hostage on several occasions over the last two years, most recently republicans were willing to allow the United States to default on its obligations by not allowing the debt ceiling to be raised unless republicans were allowed too cut spending on programs that help millions of seniors, children and students, as well as cuts to programs that help the middle class. That particular republican hostage taking cause the United States credit worthiness to be downgraded by Standard and Poor’s for the first time in our history.

In Senator Reid’s briefing he also said, "We're not going to cave in on this ,it's a matter of principle."

It appears that we will all find out together soon enough.







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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Governor Brian Sandoval endorses Rick Perry for 2012 - Las Vegas Democrat | Examiner.com

Governor Brian Sandoval endorses Rick Perry for 2012 - Las Vegas Democrat | Examiner.com

Governor Brian Sandoval (R-NV) announced today, that he is endorsing Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) for President.

In his statement Sandoval said:

“Our nation needs a leader in the White House who understands the role of government and our economy. Governor Rick Perry has the strongest record of job creation, fiscal discipline, and executive branch leadership among the presidential candidates. As a governor, Rick Perry created a tremendous blueprint for job creation and as President, I know he will get America working again. I consider Governor Perry a friend and I am proud to endorse his campaign for President.”

In 2008, the Republicans in the State of Nevada backed former Governor Mitt Romney. Romney who was here earlier this month to announce his jobs growth plan, has the advantage of Nevada’s large Mormon voter base.

Nevada does have a large Tea Party base which propelled Sharron Angle (R-NV) to win the Nevada primary in 2010 for the US Senate race, where she faced off against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the General election, and lost.

Governor Sandoval who did not court the Nevada Tea Party, still received their backing in the 2010 General election.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Nevada CD2 Special Election results, easy online site to follow - Las Vegas Democrat | Examiner.com

Nevada CD2 Special Election results, easy online site to follow - Las Vegas Democrat | Examiner.com

Tuesday September 13, 2011 the Special Election for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional district takes place from 7am to 7pm, after which all eyes will be awaiting the results. Early voting ended this past Friday, September 9.

Secretary of State Ross Miller has set up a website so you can track the numbers as they come in. SilverStateelection.com.

The candidates on the ballot and links to their websites for the Special Election:

Kate Marshall (D)
Mark Amodei (R)
Tim Fasano (IAP)
Helmuth Lehmann (I)


Turnout is expected to stay under 35 percent out of the nearly 400,000 registered voters in the district.

Carson City Clerk/Recorder Allen Glover, hoped to get the turnout near 50 percent. “For an off-year election, 50 percent isn't all that bad,” he said.

UNOFFICIAL EARLY VOTING AND ABSENT BALLOT COUNT BY PARTY TO DATE

Democrat 7379
Republican 10182
Other 3912
Last updated date: 9/9/2011 6:37:33 PM




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