Opinion:

Early Caucus Not

Much Help

Party Leaders Letting

Rank And File Down

by Johnny Gunn

The Democratic National Party held a debate in Las Vegas in mid-November, the first of its kind in Nevada, that was broadcast by CNN to what has been declared a large audience.  For that audience, the only thing they know about Nevada is the glitz and jaded glamour of Las Vegas, the cutesy comments about “all in,” and vaguely that there is more to the state than this, but they don’t know what.  For the candidates, there was little comment on the fact that Nevada could lead the nation in alternative energy, that in order for Yucca Mountain to open 77,000 tons of high level nuclear waste must travel through thousands of communities nationwide, that the federal government controls more than 85 percent of the state’s land and thwarts every effort to be a good neighbor, or that the Native American population is being strangled by National ultimatums.

In other words, creating this so called early caucus Nevada has gained very little, the candidates that would gain something are those that have had a good early season raping of the money jar, and voters still haven’t had enough time to understand the candidates and their platforms.  January 19 is just barely six weeks away and we will be called on to make a decision on who we would like sitting in the White House.  At the caucus those that are registered in one or the other of the major parties will be picking delegates to represent us at the national conventions later in the summer of 2008.

At least the Democrats have had one day to showcase their talents, more than the Republican candidates.  Romney has come through a time or two, Giuliani has basically ignored the Silver State, and Ron Paul has been here and done that.  Paul seems to understand that he is truly an underdog and therefore must make himself known.  The Nevada Republican Party appears leaderless at this point even though huge numbers of legislative seats will be up for grabs during the 2008 election cycle, all three House seats of course will be contested, and yes, there is a presidential election coming up as well.

After more than two centuries of representative democracy one would think the dominant parties involved would have some idea how to make their candidates more open to those that are looking for representation.

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Cartoon by Thomas Nast, April 12, 1874