Nevada in AFL-CIO ‘firewall’

Working to save Democratic seats in Congress, the AFL-CIO is erecting a "firewall" in six states holding key elections this fall including Nevada, according to a report Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal's politics blog.

"Republican victories in the Massachusetts Senate race and elsewhere have worried union officials. But they also say they see an opportunity to make a populist pitch to voters angered by bank bailouts, an approach that also could work against Democrats who voted for the legislation," the post said.

California, New York, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania are the other states with a relatively high number of union households where organized labor is focusing "its biggest political campaign ever this year," the Wall Street Journal blog said.

The AFL-CIO plans to surpass the $53 million it spent to help elect President Barack Obama in 2008.

voter registration drops

February's voter registration numbers posted on the secretary of state's Web site show the total number of active voters statewide decreased by 69,661 for the month.

Democrats lost 37,421, and Republicans lost 16,597. There were 11,673 fewer active nonpartisan voters. The Democratic registration advantage over Republicans declined from 84,436 in January to 63,612.

If the Democratic lead continues to shrink at the current pace, Republicans would catch up in May.

But Democrats still have a lot more voters than they did before the Obama-led voter drives of 2008. Obama aired his first television ads in Nevada in December 2007.

Back when those first Obama ads aired, there were 397,247 active Democrats statewide, 59,285 fewer than there are today. At the current rate, the Democrats would be back to pre-Obama levels in less than two months.

Republicans are at almost the exact same place as they were back then, having gained just 558 new active registered voters in the ensuing 27 months.

Yucca mountain 'wake'

Yucca Mountain activists plan to celebrate the pending demise of the long-reviled nuclear waste repository project at a "wake" to be held Tuesday at ghostbar.

Former U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan will deliver the eulogy for the Yucca project. Others who want to offer their memories of the long fight against the Department of Energy also can do so, longtime activist Judy Treichel said.

The party was put together after the Department of Energy filed paperwork this week seeking to terminate its construction license application.

The request still must be approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but Treichel said the end is in sight. That brings smiles to groups such as Citizen Alert and the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force that have been fighting for decades against storing high-level nuclear waste in the state.

"We are just so happy," Treichel said. "It is delightful. I always thought we were going to win, but you are always surprised when it happens.

Jenna and Michael Morton of N9NE Group, which runs the bars and the restaurants at the Palms, are making ghostbar available for the party, Treichel said.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@ stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.