The 2010 political season begins

The heady mid-term elections of 2010 began in earnest yesterday in Boulder City as eight candidates gathered at the Republican Women's Club to give 7-minute previews of their candidacy.

I moderated the event for the club and performed excellently, which only means we finished on time and I didn't mispronounce anyone's name. The Boulder City Review, the best newspaper by a dam site, was of course present. The Vegas newspapers sent political reporter Ben Spillman of the Review-Journal, and Sun political columnist Jon Ralston.

Spillman played it down the middle. Jon Ralston wrote a column discounting the chances of Republicans against Harry Reid because the Republicans now have too many candidates. Ralston again proves how far he's fallen as a reliable political analyst. What good is political knowledge if you can't (or won't) see the forest through the trees.

The bigger point of yesterday's gathering is that thanks to the continued overreach of Democrats nationally, Republicans everywhere feel like they have a chance at redemption after the licking they took in the last presidential election. And polls seem to bear that out.

The BC event drew a standing room only crowd. Of late, this kind of energized, grassroots participation has not been unusual for the GOP in Nevada.

In this race, the field is not only large, it is strong.

While conventional wisdom puts Danny Tarkanian and Sue Lowden as the frontrunners, several others deserve a look. In particular, I was struck by Mark Amodei, Sharron Angle, John Chachas and Robin Titus. All had something to say and all connected with the audience. Make a note, however, that out of all the candidates at lunch yesterday, it was only Sharron Angle that went the extra mile to attend a dinner meeting of GOP women in The Lakes that evening. She worked the crowd hard. File that tidbit away should she be able to break out of the pack.

From left, Sue Lowden, Mike Wiley, Bill Parson, Robin Titus, Chuck Kozak, Sharron Angle, John Chachas, Mark Amodei and Danny Tarkanian,