Of barbarians and box lunches: notes from the election trenches

Detailed analysis of how Harry Reid won? Not here. Just an offering of tidbits, factoids and observations after hanging with Democrats at the Aria for five hours on election night.

At 7 p.m., the party was lifeless, but when the first early voting numbers from Clark County became available showing a 50-42 split in the Reid-Angle race, the energy bumped up a notch. The governor's race was 47-47, and the only competitive House race was 48-48. Suddenly it became a real party, not a wake, even though only the Senate numbers stayed solid.

After the Rebel game, the crowd grew larger and younger. By that time, it was obvious U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wasn't just squeaking by, as I had anticipated. With all the coming and going, it looked as if about 2,000 people came to the party. Everybody loves a winner.

BACK STORY: You want the back story on Rory Reid's graceful concession speech, when he asked his supporters to "treat the new governor with respect and treat his family with dignity."

He didn't mention his fury that his own children had been booed by Brian Sandoval supporters while in the Nevada Day Parade in Carson City.

Now who boos children?

Just one more example of how politics has turned people into barbarians.

NUMBERS: During early voting, MGM Resorts International properties bused 26,072 workers to the polls. Now in a race Harry Reid won with a 40,550-vote advantage, that's a generous chunk of people who might not have voted otherwise. The MGM provided box lunches for its employees, which is nothing extra because employees get free meals at the hotels anyway. But when resort officials discovered Culinary Union Local 226 officials were putting a list of endorsed candidates in those lunches, they quickly put a stop to that. Too obvious.

Think any workers were influenced by the company's top dog Jim Murren plugging Reid in ads? Or was that too subtle?

MORE NUMBERS: Harry Reid adviser Billy Vassiliadis said he predicted about two weeks ago, based on the senator's internal polling, that Reid would win by 4 or 5 points. "Our internals showed he had a nice lead and stayed there."

But believing it is different than knowing it, and Vassiliadis looked worried.

When the statewide numbers popped up showing Reid was up 5 points in Washoe County and leading in Clark County by about the same, Vassiliadis told me that marked "the first full breath I've drawn since 7 a.m. this morning."

The political consultant said the Reid campaign "was the best campaign I've ever seen in my life." It simply did a better job of targeting voters, he said, and the Latino get-out-the-vote effort was key, as was the focus in Washoe County to get moderate Republicans to cross party lines.

GUBERNATORIAL SPEECH: Secretary of State Ross Miller's acceptance speech sounded so gubernatorial I wondered why he didn't announce right then that he'll be a candidate for governor in 2014. If Sandoval can't fix the state's economic problems in four years, a fickle electorate may be ready for yet another change. If Sandoval, who campaigned as an optimist, can fix our state's woes in four years, he's also a superman.

PREDICTIONS: Magickal Marissa called it exactly right, actually better than the Las Vegas Review-Journal polls. The psychic said weeks ago that Harry Reid would win. She made the easier prediction that his son would lose, and he did. And her charts showed Rep. Dina Titus was due for a disappointment on Election Day, and that turned out to be true when she lost to Dr. Joe Heck. "For me to have all three right, in the psychic world, is pretty good," Marissa said.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.