Montandon wins GOP straw poll
Long-shot gubernatorial candidate Mike Montandon got a boost Tuesday when Republicans in Nevada's most populous county chose him over incumbent Gov. Jim Gibbons and money and poll leader Brian Sandoval.
Among 227 Republicans voting in a straw poll, 34 percent chose former North Las Vegas Mayor Montandon, while 29 percent picked Gibbons and 26 percent liked former federal judge Sandoval.
Montandon, who won the favor of just 7 percent of likely voters in the most recent statewide poll from Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, seized on the results from Clark County partisans.
"As the incredible victory in Massachusetts showed last night, this campaign is going to be won on issues, and not money," said Montandon, referencing Republican Scott Brown winning the U.S. Senate seat once held by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
Others say the hard-core partisans who attended the meeting, which was held to elect board members to the county party's central committee, are nowhere close to representing mainstream voters and render the result meaningless.
"It is irrelevant," said Fred Lokken, a professor of political science at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, noting Sandoval's fundraising and name recognition advantages.
"The most important measure, I would say, is campaign contributions," he said.
On that front Democrat Rory Reid is the leader, having raised $2.6 million in 2009. On the Republican side Sandoval raised $900,000 since joining the field in September. Montandon has raised about $300,000 and Gibbons $165,000.
Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon, said straw polls like the one Tuesday are typically good for insider chatter but poor barometers to forecast an outcome.
"They're fun to talk about at the beginning of the campaign," Coker said.
At most, the vote suggests Montandon has some grass-roots support and Sandoval may have some work to do to win over that group, even though former Clark County Republican Party chairman Richard Scotti is Sandoval's county coordinator.
"If Sandoval's more liberal social stands are important to people and they get exposed, it might have an effect," Coker said in reference to Sandoval's stances in favor of reproductive rights for women and domestic partnerships.
Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.
