general election

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A close adviser to Gov. Brian Sandoval says there are alternatives to balancing the state budget besides cutting programs or raising fees and taxes, and he identified some possibilities that could find their way into the proposed spending plan to be released later this month.

CARSON CITY – The total number of active voters in Nevada increased by more than 30,000 following the Nov. 2 general election, the secretary of state’s office reports.
The increase is due largely to the thousands of registered voters designated as “inactive” who turned out to vote on Nov. 2, thereby changing their status to “active.”

Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – Rural Nevada lawmaker Pete Goicoechea was elected as minority leader today by the 16-member Assembly Republican caucus.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Veteran Republican state Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, won’t be minority leader in the upcoming 2011 session, withdrawing his name from consideration for the leadership post today after getting GOP criticism for backing Sen. Harry Reid in the Tuesday general election.

Assemblyman John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, has been unanimously elected as Speaker for the upcoming legislative session.
Oceguera has served as majority leader under former Speaker Barbara Buckley, who could not run again because of term limits.
The vote of the 26-member Democratic caucus on Wednesday will be formalized on the first day of the legislative session on Feb. 7.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada’s “actual� unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2010 increased to 22.3 percent from 21.5 percent in the second quarter, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

(Updated at 11:45 a.m. on Oct. 21, 2010, to include Gov. Gibbons comments.)
Questionable attack ads and the role of the federal government in job creation were the top issues in an energized debate Wednesday between Rep. Dina Titus and Republican challenger Joe Heck in one of the most closely watched house races of the Nov. 2 general election.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said today his biggest concern about a “lame duck� session of Congress following the Nov. 2 general election is the potential for tax increases.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – While concerns have emerged elsewhere this campaign season about encouraging people to vote by offering free food, a state election official says Nevada law is not excessively restrictive on the practice.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
RENO – An enthusiastic crowd of several hundred Tea Party supporters showed up to cheer on former GOP Alaska Gov. and U.S. Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin today at one of what will be many stops across the county in advance of the Nov. 2 general election.

Hundreds made their way to the Carson City Courthouse today, the first day for early voting in Nevada.

A record number of people could be voting in this election, said Alan Glover, Carson City Clerk-Recorder.

"I think it's going to be high again, just like 08. I see maybe a 90 percent turnout when this is done," Glover said. "I think the Senate race is cranking them out."

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
A much-anticipated face-to-face debate between U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and his GOP opponent Sharron Angle on Thursday displayed stark contrasts between the two candidates but provoked little in the way of controversy.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A national group that supports judicial restraint is opposing a measure on the Nevada ballot to change the way judges are selected from direct elections to appointment and retention.
The Judicial Crisis Network also presented a survey of Nevada voters’ views on the change that shows a majority oppose the idea of appointing instead of electing members of the state Supreme court.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
A debate Wednesday between Democrat Secretary of State Ross Miller and his Republican opponent Rob Lauer spent most of the time on past controversies, including Lauer’s alleged assault of a woman in a bar and Miller’s track record of prosecution as a Clark County deputy district attorney.

By Nevada News Bureau
(Updated at 3:20 p.m. on Oct. 13, 2010)

By Nevada News Bureau
Barry Herr, the Republican candidate challenging state Controller Kim Wallin in the November general election, said today he would bring a GOP point of view to the office and use the position to bring conservative influence to the discussion of taxes and other issues.

By Nevada News Bureau
Republican state treasurer candidate Steve Martin faced off against Democratic incumbent Kate Marshall in a debate Monday, with Martin continuing to criticize his opponent for failing to fully disclose details of a $50 million failed 2008 investment.

CARSON CITY – Republican state treasurer candidate Steve Martin said today the Democratic incumbent is playing politics by delaying a discussion involving an unprecedented $50 million investment loss until after the Nov. 2 general election.

Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – The number of active registered voters in Nevada grew by 14,770 in September, nearly double the new registrations added in August, the secretary of state’s office reported today.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – With the Nevada campaign season kicking into high gear in the four weeks remaining before election day, candidates and their supporters are also starting to focus on what could mean the difference between victory and defeat: voter turnout.

CARSON CITY – Nevada state Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, said today he will voluntarily file his campaign contribution and expense report before early voting begins to give the public adequate time to review the information.
Goedhart, who is running for re-election, said he is joining with Secretary of State Ross Miller in filing his report well ahead of the deadline now in state law.

The chief justice of Texas’ Supreme Court said at a forum last week that he supported a ballot measure before Nevada voters to change the way judges are chosen. A legal scholar from Vanderbilt University argued against the measure at the same forum, held at the Boyd School of Law on the campus of UNLV.
Both brought unique perspectives. Texas is a state that elects its judges who collect campaign donations from those who may appear before them creating bright-line conflicts-of-interest.

CARSON CITY – Catherine Cortez Masto points to a number of accomplishments in her first term as attorney general, from reducing methamphetamine production in Nevada to cracking down on mortgage fraud, all while having to live with major budget cuts and fewer staff.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
Republican Congressional candidate Joe Heck said today he expects the race between him and incumbent Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., to be decided by no more than 2 percentage points in the November general election.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – With less than four weeks to go before early voting begins for the Nov. 2 general election, military and civilian voters located overseas are already taking advantage of a new online system that verifies their marked ballots have been received by local election officials.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Long-time Nevada resident Art Cooke says he is now officially a disenfranchised voter.
After voting in every primary and general election in Carson City for a decade, Cooke sold his Bodie Drive home and became a full-time recreational vehicle resident upon retirement five years ago. Cooke and his wife Rita spend time out-of-state every year, wintering in Yuma, Ariz. and visiting other states in their luxury recreational vehicle.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – While Secretary of State Ross Miller has announced he will voluntarily post his campaign contribution and expense report early so voters can review the information prior to casting their ballots in the Nov. 2 general election, other candidates are not ready to follow suit.

Assemblyman John Hambrick this week said he will vie for chairmanship of the Republican Assembly Caucus against sitting chairman Pete Goicoechea if he wins reelection in November. He also expressed concerns about what he characterized as an abuse of power by some in Democratic leadership in Carson City.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – In an effort to convince his fellow elected officials that filing campaign contribution and expenditure reports online and before early voting is not too onerous for candidates, Secretary of State Ross Miller said he will do so voluntarily in advance of the Nov. 2 general election.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – Nevada’s active voter rolls increased by 7,882 registrations in August, with Democrats picking up just over 2,600 new voters compared to just over 2,000 for Republicans.
Democrats now have 461,461 active registered voters just about two months before the Nov. 2 general election compared to 402,960 for the GOP, a 58,501 edge for Democrats and a slight increase from July.