Nevadans complained about their mailboxes overfilled daily, and front door knobs heavily laden with political campaign materials from all candidates running for various offices – U.S. Congress, state, office of attorney general, district and municipal judges, board of education, state comptrollers seats, and what-have-you.
In what is perceived as one of the most bitter fight for U.S. Senate in Nevada history, both Democratic and Republican campaigns have thrown their all-out support to their respective candidates not only in terms of financial donations and material contributions, but also in mud-slinging. Both campaigns threw in the worst name-calling and witch-hunting gimmickry never before seen in the Silver State.
Four-term incumbent and re-electionist Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the only politician from Nevada who has reached the highest position in national office, is challenged by newcomer Sharron Angle, who was voted on by the Nevada Tea Party and beat the Republican establishment candidate Sue Lowden in the primary.
The name of the game is who will be able to do most for Nevadans in the coming years. Nevada has the highest home foreclosures in the nation, the highest unemployment at present, and currently reeling at the worst economy it has ever found itself in decades.
Incumbent Senator Reid touts his decades of illustrious service to the people of Nevada, his works and service records unmatched by any one or all of Nevad’s past politicians combined; challenger Sharron Angle has yet to show what she could do for the state in the face of the worst recession which started in 2007, untested and well known for her fighting the establishment and ultra-conservative politics.
On the other hand, the fight for Nevada’s Third Congressional District between incumbent Dina Titus (D-NV, D3) and challenger Dr. Joe Heck, is characterized by voracious accusations and counter-accusations ranging from major issues to petty mud-slinging which make voters memorize and familiarize themselves of numerous fact-finding websites of all kinds and political colors.
In the state gubernatorial race, the Rory Reid campaign has issued more information and political attacks clearly differentiating the Democratic candidate as “the only candidate with a solid plan for Nevada,” from his rival Republican Brian Sandoval, who has remained quiet and unmindful of the tirades against him.
Both candidates, in their previous debates, were not clear on how they would solve Nevada’s economic woes without raising taxes. As to Nevada’s education system, which is the lowest in the nation, they both have the same goal but differ in strategy and solution to the problem. While Rory Reid believes in improving education to strengthen Nevada’s economy, and has offered detailed plan and strategy to realize this goal, Sandoval, who is known for being a fiscal conservative, proposes (according to the Reid campaign) to cut $533 million from school budget. Sandoval refused to provide details of his plan to improve Nevada’s education system. He kept mum about his plans and solution to negate the worsening education system in Nevada. Efforts to reach Sandoval or his political aides, for comment remained futile.
One political pundit and community activist retorted that Sandoval’s silence meant that he was winning the race, so he need not go into rhetorics about what he would do if elected governor of the state.
While Rory Reid continues his attack on Sandoval’s silence and refusal to unveil his plans to address job creation, economic development, green energy, ethics reform, and education, the Democrat offered his six-point solutions to the current ills plaguing Nevada including “balancing the budget without imposing taxes, and without any cuts to education.”
The Rory Reid campaign further accuses Sandoval of planning “to force local government to raise taxes, by implementing property tax hikes at a time of record home foreclosures and families already under water in their mortgages.”
On Tuesday, October 26, eight days to the general elections, the two faced off in a statewide debate at 6 p.m. broadcast live on KSNV (Las Vegas), KRNV in Reno, and KENV in Elko.
(Zen S. Laluna)
balita.com
