Nevada part of deferral to Arizona

Nevada officially cast its votes for the Republican nomination in Wednesday night's roll call on the floor of the convention.

The first time around, Nevada was one of several states that passed so the roll call could come back to John McCain's home state of Arizona to put him over the top.

"Madam Secretary, I'm Sue Lowden, chairman of the Nevada Republican Party and a hockey mom," Lowden said into the microphone when the state's turn came. "On behalf of our lieutenant governor, Brian Krolicki, who is head of the Nevada McCain campaign, Nevada passes."

The next time around, Lowden had a commercial pitch for the tourism industry.

"Madam Secretary, from the Battle Born state, Nevada, the fastest growing state in the country, a great place to live, work and retire and the best place on earth to have a vacation -- the Nevada delegates vote 34 votes, it's a unanimous vote, for a true American hero, a reform with results, a senator with substance -- our next president of the United States of America, Senator John McCain."

REMEMBERING REID

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid got a couple shout-outs, none positive, on the floor of Wednesday's Republican convention.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani brought up the Senate majority leader's comment, more than a year ago, that "this war is lost."

"Well, if America lost, who won?" he said. "Al-Qaida? Bin Laden? In the single biggest political decision of this election, John McCain got it right; Barack Obama got it wrong."

Then vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin noted a more recent remark of Reid's.

"Harry Reid" -- the mere mention of his name produced resounding boos from the convention floor -- "the majority leader of the current do-nothing Senate, he said, quote, 'I can't stand John McCain.' Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we've heard this week provides better proof we've chosen the right man.

"Clearly, what the majority (leader) was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain," Palin said. "That's only one more reason to take the maverick out of the Senate and put him up to the White House."

HISPANIC REPUBLICANS

Democrats and Republicans agree on one thing: the importance of the Hispanic vote.

Danny Vargas heads the 37-year-old Republican National Hispanic Assembly with a chapter in Nevada formed last year. He said John McCain has the potential to do well with Hispanic voters, whom he noted have supported him in his Senate campaigns in Arizona.

Polls have shown Hispanics back Democrat Barack Obama by a wide margin over McCain, both nationally and in Nevada. Vargas brushed them off.

He acknowledged the Republican name has been damaged in Hispanic eyes, largely thanks to "the tone and tenor of the immigration debate."

"Republicans have to be about reasonable, rational, pragmatic solutions," he said.

"Hispanics are independent, self-reliant, entrepreneurial, freedom-loving people," he said. "Those are wholly Republican principles."

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.