(Chuck Muth) – Remember the story about The Emperor’s New Clothes? Everybody saw that his highness was wearing nothing, but nobody dared say anything for fear of retaliation – until a kid blurted out the obvious and people realized they’d been fooled.
I thought about that story yesterday while reading a few emails complaining about what I wrote about Sam Brown’s sinking U.S. Senate campaign.
Folks, you don’t get rid of mice in your house by pretending they’re not there. And ignoring the obvious problems in Sam’s campaign ain’t gonna fix them in time to pull off a critical win on November 5th.
And I’m not the only one sounding the alarm.
David Nir and Jeff Singer of The Down Ballot wrote this morning that “Republicans have reportedly been in a ‘panic’ about…Sam Brown’s hopes of unseating Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen in the perennial battleground of Nevada.”
The pair note that “Brown has never led in a single survey” and that the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has “canceled its planned $7.4 million independent expenditure that was intended to last for the rest of the campaign.”
“Brown was supposed to be a top-tier candidate,” the authors write. “An unnamed Silver State GOP operative, though, tells NOTUS’ Alex Roarty that what Brown has done instead is ‘run a very, very, very bad campaign, one of the worst campaigns we’ve seen in Nevada in a while.’”
The column concludes…
“The polls agree that Brown does indeed have a serious problem. Rosen leads Brown 50-41 in 538’s averages even as Kamala Harris sits on a minuscule 47.6-47.1 edge in this closely divided swing state.
“And Brown’s side is running out of time to turn things around in a state where most of the vote will be cast before Election Day: Nevada election officials will mail out ballots to all registered voters on Wednesday, while in-person early voting begins three days later.”
And it’s not just that he’s not resonating with non-partisan voters. He’s losing his base, as well. No wonder he’s polling so much worse than Trump here in Nevada.
“Sam hasn’t told us what he stands for and I’m sick of hearing about him being wounded,” wrote a Muth’s Truths reader yesterday. “Unless he can come up with what he stands for, he’s not getting my vote or any of my family’s vote or my friends.”
Another conservative recalled a meeting he had with Brown a couple months ago.
“After the hour was over,” the GOP donor wrote, “I said to myself there’s no way he’s gonna be aggressive enough to win this election. He relies too much on his war injuries, which we all know are horrible. But as harsh as it may seem, people don’t care.”
“Sam has no Nevada roots and little Nevada political experience,” wrote another longtime GOP operative. “I have seen him ONCE at a political event this year. A bad campaign and a flawed candidate.”
“Sam Brown is just a crappy candidate,” wrote another longtime GOP activist. “He is aloof, comes across as arrogant, relies totally on his war wounds, and leaves voters wondering what he would accomplish in the Senate. Had we nominated Tony Grady, we would be in the catbird seat!”
Indeed, the emperor has no clothes. We all see it. So don’t shoot the messengers.
But just in case you’re not sure if the campaign is really as bad as critics are saying it is, just take a look at this video he posted on X yesterday. It’s 12 minutes of pure cringe. I barely made it through the first 50 seconds before I stopped watching.
And while I place most of the blame on Sam’s ham-handed DC-based consultants who are running a lifeless, cookie-cutter campaign, it’s SAM’S campaign and he’s going along with it.
He either doesn’t see, or doesn’t want to see, the iceberg lying dead ahead.
Is it too late to bring in a relief pitcher? Yes. But it’s not hopeless…yet.
Stand by. I’m launching a “Saving Private Sam” mission tomorrow…
THE REAL JACKY ROSEN
“There are a pair of old sayings our moms taught us: ‘You’re known by the company you keep’ and ‘Birds of a feather flock together.’ Sen. Rosen and Biden/Harris are joined at the hip.” – The Other Side of Jacky Rosen
NEVADA NEWS & VIEWS
UNR volleyball will forfeit match against SJSU over transgender player
Players were upset when the school committed them to facing SJSU and transgender player Blaire Fleming without consulting the team. Players voted and they will forfeit the scheduled match on Oct 26. (NSN)
Las Vegas man found with guns outside a rally for Trump in California
Miller said that he is a Trump caucus captain who received a special invitation to the Coachella Valley rally from the head of Clark County’s Republican Party. (LVRJ)
Trump rally gun suspect called a ‘sovereign citizen.’ What’s that?
Suspect Vem Miller, who’s charged with carrying a loaded shotgun and pistol to a Trump rally, may be linked to the radical antigovernment movement. (RGJ)
Kamala Harris Is Courting Nevada Latinos, but She Hasn’t Closed the Deal
Inflation and the economy top the list of concerns for this critical voting group in a must-win state for Democrats. (HuffPo)
‘Squishy’ state Assembly district sees Lombardo-backed Republican challenging Democrat
Elaine Marzola must defend her seat from Republican April Arndt. (Nevada Current)
X MARKS THE SPOT
- Incredible: “A skyscraper went into space, returned to earth, and parallel parked.” X
- “I can’t even pick up noodles with chopsticks and SpaceX just caught a 232 ft rocket booster on its way back from space.” X
- Trump vs Harris on Columbus Day. X
- Kamala gives an astrology lesson during an interview. X
- Kamala Harris plagiarized at least a dozen sections of her criminal-justice book, Smart on Crime, according to a new investigation. X
- THIS should be the first women president of the United States! X
- Black guy absolutely cooks Kamala and explains why Trump is the President we need. X
- Good gal with a gun: Woman shows Tim Walz how it’s done. X
- Incredible exchange: J.D. Vance obliterates ABC’s Martha Raddatz “Do you hear yourself?” X
- Speaker Mike Johnson would not let NBC’s Kristen Welker get away with any of the lies she was trying to push. X
- A Day Without Steve Inman is a Day Without Sunshine. X
CANDIDATE RECOMMENDATIONS
For my most up-to-date list of recommendations, click here.
NOTE: These recommendations are subject to change right up through Election Day.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“Kamala chose a white husband. Why can’t black men choose a white president?” – @KarluskaP
“If the media demands to see Trump’s cholesterol levels, then I demand to see Kamala’s blood alcohol levels.” – Tim Young
“I believe it is very important that Kamala Harris pass a test on Cognitive Stamina and Agility. Her actions have led many to believe that there could be something very wrong with her. … We just went through almost four years of that, we shouldn’t have to do it again!” – Donald Trump
“A source within the Harris-Walz campaign describes the toxic work environment as having reached a boiling point last week. A heated argument, involving personal insults, erupted during a meeting between senior advisors… The meeting ended with a senior staff member chucking an easel board across the room after being called an ‘f-cking boomer.’ The joy is gone.” – @badhombre
“10 sources say tensions between the Biden and Harris teams are ‘fraught,’ with the Biden team purposely scheduling Biden’s events during Harris’. … According to Axios, senior Biden aides are furious that Biden was ‘pushed out’ of his re-election bid and are unhappy with how they are being treated.” – Collin Rugg
LAUGHTER IS STILL THE BEST MEDICINE
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com. You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com. His views are his own.