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Election \u201916: Some Democrats I\u2019m Supporting and Why<\/strong><\/p>\n It took six years for Theo Epstein<\/strong>, the Chicago Cubs\u2019 president for baseball operations, to win the World Series and break that 108 year curse.<\/p>\n And guess what?\u00a0 They\u2019re going to have to start all over again from scratch next spring.\u00a0 That\u2019s the nature of the sport.\u00a0 There\u2019s always next season.<\/p>\n Epstein knew and said that building a winning club would take time.\u00a0 Rome wasn\u2019t built in day, and neither are world championships.\u00a0 His objective was to get stronger season after season.\u00a0 And in the process, losing some seasons in the short-term, as painful as they were, was necessary to move towards success in the long run.<\/p>\n Which is the same way conservatives need to think in politics.<\/p>\n No matter what happens on Tuesday, there will be all new elections in 2018.\u00a0And 2020.\u00a0 And 2022.\u00a0 And\u2026<\/p>\n However, in some cases an individual loss this cycle could be devastating for the long term.<\/p>\n For example, if Republican Joe Heck<\/strong> loses to Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto-Reid<\/strong>, that not only would saddle Nevada with Reid-in-a-Pantsuit for six years, but could saddle the nation with Chuck Schumer<\/strong> as Senate Majority Leader for a decade or more.<\/p>\n On the other hand, there\u2019s the Nevada Legislature.<\/p>\n Voters elected a Republican majority for both houses in 2014.\u00a0 However, they didn\u2019t elect a CONSERVATIVE<\/u> majority in either GOP caucus.\u00a0 And so we got screwed.<\/p>\n In the Senate it was 9 RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) and 2 conservatives.\u00a0 In the Assembly, it was 13 RINOs vs. 12 conservatives.<\/p>\n As such, it was Republicans, led by a RINO governor, who gave us the largest tax hike in Nevada history.<\/p>\n Reminding us once again that it\u2019s not enough to just elect more Republicans; you need to elect better ones as well.<\/p>\n So the question before Nevada conservatives is this\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Do you want to reward this betrayal of GOP principles by re-electing bait-and-switch Republicans who stabbed us in the back\u2026or look at the long-term and set a precedent NOW that clearly demonstrates that such traitorous actions won\u2019t be tolerated and will have serious consequences in the future?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been in this game full-time for over 20 years.\u00a0 And God willing will still be in it for another 20.\u00a0 So I\u2019m playing for the long term.\u00a0 As such, this question is easy for me.<\/p>\n Screw the RINOs.<\/p>\n Make no mistake: That attitude could well put the Democrats back in the majority for the 2017 session.<\/p>\n Then again, how much more damage could they do than the Republicans did to us in 2015?<\/p>\n In fact, had it been a Democrat governor proposing that $1.4 billion tax hike, most Republicans never would have gone along with it.<\/p>\n So let\u2019s take a look at the Nevada State Senate\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Control of the State Senate, currently split 11-10 in favor of Republicans, depends on the outcomes of three races\u2026<\/p>\n If Republicans lose two of these three, Democrats will regain the majority \u2013 and all three are close.<\/p>\n None of the Republicans are incumbents who voted for the tax hike, so I\u2019m not out to \u201cget\u201d them in their individual races.\u00a0 However, all three are under the control of GOP Senate Majority Leader Tax Hike Mike Roberson<\/strong> \u2013 the Prince of RINOs (Gov. Brian Sandoval<\/strong> is the King).<\/p>\n Seaman, in particular, is a problem.<\/p>\n Although she voted against the $1.4 billion tax hike as an assemblywoman last year, she broke her Taxpayer Protection Pledge nine times on other bills, has refused to re-sign it, and has gone completely over to the Dark Side by pledging fealty to Darth Roberson.<\/p>\n For her part, Gansert was a GOP establishment shill when she was in the Assembly and would also be a rubber stamp for Sandoval\/Roberson next year.<\/p>\n As for Buck, I know her and like her a lot\u2026but she, too, will owe her election to Roberson since Roberson has been her main funder for the campaign.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a pretty crappy situation.<\/strong><\/p>\n In these cases, I can\u2019t bring myself to support any of the Democrat candidates.<\/p>\n Then again, I have no desire to reward Roberson for his treachery by returning him as majority leader.\u00a0 Indeed, if the GOP loses its majority Tuesday night I won\u2019t lose minute of sleep.<\/p>\n That said, if I lived in Buck\u2019s district, I\u2019d vote for Buck and hope for the best.<\/p>\n She\u2019s never served in office, so we don\u2019t know for sure how she\u2019d vote.\u00a0 Yes, she\u2019ll be highly influenced by Roberson, but she\u2019s a pretty strong-willed woman.\u00a0 She deserves the benefit of the doubt until\/unless proved otherwise.<\/p>\n On the other hand, history has shown that Gansert and Seaman will sell out conservatives and stab them in the back at the drop of a hat.\u00a0 Knowing this, I couldn\u2019t vote for either.<\/p>\n So in the Seaman race I\u2019d symbolically vote for \u201cnone of the above\u201d by simply leaving that race blank on my ballot.\u00a0 (The actual \u201cNone of the Above\u201d option only appears on ballots for statewide races.)<\/p>\n And in the Gansert race, I\u2019d vote for the Libertarian candidate.<\/p>\n SIDEBAR<\/u>: Which reminds me: None of the Supreme Court or Appeals Court justices drew opponents.\u00a0 That\u2019s not right.\u00a0 They also killed ESA\u2019s.\u00a0 So I\u2019m symbolically voting \u201cNone of the Above\u201d in each of those races, as well.<\/em><\/p>\n One last Senate race: District 3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The incumbent is Democrat Sen. Tick Segerblom<\/strong>, my favorite unapologetic liberal.<\/p>\n His challengers \u2013 one Republican and one Libertarian \u2013 have been all but invisible on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n Segerblom, on the other hand, is THE<\/u> legislative champion of the marijuana industry.\u00a0 If you oppose legalizing marijuana, vote against Tick.\u00a0 But as everyone knows, I don\u2019t.\u00a0 And regardless of what happens with Question 2 on Tuesday, marijuana advocates will NEED<\/u> Tick in the Legislature next session.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also, surprisingly, found common ground with Tick on a number of other issues, such as criminal justice reform.\u00a0 Plus, he doesn\u2019t seem to care for Tax Hike Mike any more than I do.\u00a0 So even though he and I disagree on 95 out of 100 issues\u2026he\u2019s my guy in this race.<\/p>\n Now on to the State Assembly\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n There were 13 RINO turncoats who voted for the largest tax hike in Nevada history.<\/p>\n Four of them were scared to death of facing their betrayed constituents in a re-election battle and quit.\u00a0 Two others were defeated in primary challenges.\u00a0 And five now face viable general election opponents.<\/p>\n One of these races is easy for conservatives\u2026<\/p>\n RINO Assemblyman James Oscarson<\/strong> in District 36 is facing Libertarian challenger Dennis Hof<\/strong> – with no Democrat in the race.\u00a0 Hof has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.\u00a0 So there\u2019s no downside for conservatives to replace Oscarson with Hof. (Disclaimer: I\u2019m a paid consultant to Hof\u2019s campaign.)<\/p>\n\n