(Chuck Muth) – I read a “dead-on balls accurate” quote today by conservative icon M. Stanton Evans: “We have two parties here. One is the Evil Party, and the other is the Stupid Party.” I think we all know which is which. Which brings us to the Nevada Republican Party under Chairman-for-Life Michael McDonald… Last week, “shadow” chairman – and Nevada GOP National Committeewoman – Sigal Chattah lost her lawsuit to block the state from holding a Republican presidential primary next year. Instead, the party will hold a competing “caucus” on February 6. The winner of the small, private caucus will get Nevada’s delegates to the Republican National Convention, not the winner of the statewide public primary – unless a candidate happens to win both. The GOP’s decision to hold a competing caucus is going to confuse – not to mention p*ss off – a lot of Nevada Republican voters. Brilliant PR strategery there. In fact, most GOP voters have no idea what a caucus is or how it’s conducted. So let’s try to simplify (and if I get any of this wrong, I’ll correct it in the future)… With a primary, every legally eligible Republican voter statewide will be able to vote on which GOP presidential candidate they prefer. The election will be conducted by the various counties just like any other election – including mail-in balloting, early voting and election day voting at multiple polling locations. Not so with a caucus. A caucus would be conducted by the Nevada GOP itself in each of the 17 counties. For most, if not all, it will be conducted at one central location on election day. No government-funded mail-in or early voting. Which will contribute to the PR disaster awaiting the McDonald/Chattah party…
- If you’re an out-of-state college student, you won’t be able to vote in the caucus.
- If you’re an out-of-state or overseas member of the military, you won’t be able to vote in the caucus.
- If you’re elderly or sick and can’t attend in-person, you won’t be able to vote in the caucus.
- If you have a job (most Republicans do) and can’t get out of work that day, you won’t be able to vote in the caucus.
- If you’re stuck home watching the kids or washing your socks, you won’t be able to vote in the caucus.
But if you’re one of the hard-core Republicans willing to show up and participate in the caucus, it won’t be a quick matter of stepping into a voting booth, casting your secret ballot, and leaving. No, no, no. You’ll be segregated into groups, will be ushered into separate rooms, will have to sit through usually dull, dry speeches by campaign surrogates, and finally cast your vote – which may or may not be private. Sometimes you have to stand up and voice your vote or raise your hand for each candidate in front of everyone else in the room – risking browbeating, ridicule or harassment from supporters of other candidates. Oh, joy. Now let’s throw another monkey-wrench into the proposed operation… It appears registered Republicans will be allowed to vote in both the public primary AND the private caucus – even though their primary vote won’t count as it relates to awarding delegates to the National Convention. So riddle me this, Batman… Democrats obviously can’t vote in both the Democrat primary and the Republican primary. However… What’s to stop a Democrat from voting early or via mail-in ballot in the Democrat primary, then, using Nevada’s same-day registration option, immediately changing their registration to Republican and voting in the GOP caucus? Since the caucus isn’t state-sanctioned, you wouldn’t be illegally voting twice, right? Of course, the GOP could implement an in-house requirement that you be registered to vote as a Republican at least 30 days before the caucus. But if it did that, it would undermine the ability to use the caucus to recruit new members to the party. Psst…you win elections by addition, not subtraction. Has the Nevada Republican Party’s Executive Board and Central Committee thought this all the way through? More importantly, I’m hearing this decision on holding the competing caucus was made by Chairman McDonald without the knowledge, let alone approval, of the E-Board or Central Committee. It’s good ta be da king. And you know the really ironic thing here? The Nevada GOP’s caucus – designed to shut people out rather than welcome them in – will be held on Ronald Reagan’s birthday. What a mess. I’m telling ya, these people could screw up a two-car funeral. 7 Worst Habits of Highly Unelectable People
- Picking the wrong race
- Picking the wrong district
- Picking the wrong issues
- Picking the wrong time
- Picking the wrong consultants
- Picking unnecessary fights with the media
- Picking door-knocking over fundraising
FAMOUS LAST WORDS “While Republicans are burning through resources in a divisive primary focused on who can take the most extreme MAGA positions, we are significantly outraising every single one of them.” – Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez announcing a $72 million second-quarter haul 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.
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