MUTH’S TRUTHS

One reader of Nevada News & Views called yesterday asking, “Why are you so intent on moving this thing up to January 19th?” Legitimate question. The answer is simple: Because it is, without a doubt, the best thing for the Nevada Republican Party in particular, and for the state overall.

Just look at the facts. The fact is, Nevada Democrats will now be the second state in the nation to cast a vote on who their presidential nominee is going to be. In return, ALL of the Democrat presidential candidates have been coming to Nevada in numbers and frequency NEVER seen before. And they continue to come. In fact, every one of them will be here for a SECOND presidential forum in Las Vegas this weekend, complete with the media attention these candidates are getting which overshadow anything the Republicans try to do or say.

Nevada is definitely a “swing” state. Remember, we went for Clinton in 1996, and barely eked it out for Bush in 2000 and 2004. As closely divided as we are, this new, early Democrat caucus, with all the attention and organizational and financial rewards that are coming with it, could very well swing this state back over to the “blue” Democrat category in 2008.

Some Nevada Republicans have instead proposed moving our caucus up from April, but only to February 7th…two days after Giga-Tuesday or Mega-Tuesday…or whatever it’s being called this year because of so many states, perhaps as many as 20, moving their primaries and caucuses up to February 5th.

So do the math. If Nevada Republicans hold their caucus on February 7th, we’ll be somewhere around the 23rd or 24th state to weigh in. But if we join the Democrats and hold our caucus on January 19th, we’ll be second. Which do YOU think will be better for Nevada Republicans?

Me, too. And THAT’S why I’m doing this.

WHY THE BOAT HAS TO BE ROCKED

The penalty for Nevada Republicans if they break the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) rules and move their caucus up to before Super Tuesday is a loss of half our allotted delegation to the national convention in Minneapolis later this year. That’s just 17 people. But one person called yesterday and suggested it would be better not to rock the boat this time around and to work within the RNC to get the rules changed for the future.

With all due respect, it ain’t gonna happen. Been there, done that.

Nevada, and a lot of other states, have been trying to get the rules governing who and when states get to weigh in on the presidential primary selection process changed for at least the last dozen years. My old boss, former Nevada GOP Chairman John Mason, was one of the leading reform advocates in the late 90s. But the folks in Iowa and New Hampshire guard their sacred early voting roles in the process like the Holy Grail and fought every attempt to change it “tooth and nail.”

Indeed, the folks in these two states often exhibit a sense of entitlement combined with an air of superiority, as though THEIR people are somehow special. But as former Chairman Mason says, “They are not smarter, more sophisticated nor more deserving of national attention and a say in the presidential selection process than the people of Nevada.” Amen, brother!

Maybe many of you aren’t aware of just how far this reform effort has gone in the past…and why Nevada Republicans sitting back waiting for it to change through the “normal channels” in the future is a fool’s errand.

Back in 1999, the RNC set up a special commission, the Brock Commission, to study alternatives to the current presidential primary system. The commission presented the RNC members with a comprehensive reform plan called the Delaware Plan. In essence, it set up a primary system where the smaller states got to vote first, then the medium-sized states a few weeks later, then the large states last.

The plan made a lot of sense for a lot of different reasons. You can read more of the details here

Long story short, the plan passed through all the proper RNC channels and was sent - with much fanfare, pomp and circumstance - to the 2000 GOP national convention in Philadelphia for an up-or-down vote. Alas, in front of television cameras and a gaggle of national press reporters, the plan was shot down due to opposition by the Bush campaign which didn’t want anything controversial to come out of the convention.

If a reform plan was ever going to pass, it was then in 2000. It didn’t.

IT’S NOW OR NEVER

One final point on this subject: It DOES make sense to at least add some kind of regional aspect to the early selection process. And maybe, just maybe, the RNC *might* consider doing something along the lines of what the Democrats have done this year. In the past, only the Midwest and the Northeast were represented prior to Super-Tuesday. The Democrats added the South and the West by putting South Carolina and Nevada into the pre-Super Tuesday mix. But here’s the thing…

IF…and that’s a big “if”…the GOP decides to add a Southern and a Western state to the pre-Super Tuesday mix in the future, the odds of Nevada being the state from the West are…well, slim-to-none.

Nevada only got the Democrat nod as the Western state because of Harry Reid and organized labor. There’s no such reason for Republicans to award Nevada. The fact is, if the GOP selects a Western state for a pre-Super Tuesday primary or caucus, it would most likely be Wyoming, Montana, Idaho or Utah. Not Nevada.

The bottom line: Either Nevada takes this opportunity RIGHT NOW to move its caucus up to second-in-the-nation on January 19th with the Democrats…or forever hold its peace. As Elvis Presley, the patron saint of Las Vegas, once said, “It’s now or never.”

LET’S CONVENE ON 1/19

To sign our “Let’s Convene on 1/19” online petition urging the Nevada Republican Party to move its presidential caucus to January 19th, making us, along with the Democrats, the second state in the nation to weigh in on the 2008 presidential selection process, just click here

Posted on March 21st, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada