What, exactly, is a good Nevada Democrat?

I was struck a couple of days ago by a piece from the Las Vegas Sun's Patrick Coolican in which he attempts to stake out the position that moderate/conservative Democrats have no place being called a "real" Nevada Democrat. In particular, he singles out Kate Marshall. The headline on the jump page says:

MARSHALL DAMAGING
DEMOCRATIC BRAND

Patrick has been around Las Vegas a few years, so he's probably got the freeway exits down fairly well. But I don't think he has much of a clue about what a good Nevada Democrat really is.

Now, I want to be fair to Cooligan. He's a readable columnist and although I don't always agree with his thinking, I've come to enjoy his writing.

With that said, may I suggest that he brush up on some of the truly great Democrats of this generation? They were conservative Democrats by any measure. They united the state when they needed to unite the state. They visited every corner of the state and were received warmly and civilly, even though not every county voted for them. They were leaders. (Hello, Senator Reid, this is your wake up call.)

So, before we get any further out on the limb to yell at Kate Marshall as a Democratic traitor of some sort, may I respectfully suggest that we focus not so much on the Shelley Berkleys and Steven Horsfords as model Nevada Democrats and look more to the Mike O'Callaghans and Bob Millers.

PS: In first version I mangled Coolican's name. It's with a "c" not a "g." My bad.

PPS: And despite the whining from the liberal Nevada media echo chamber, I'll stand by my historical view. The great Democrats in Nevada have always been more conservative than liberal (unless you want to go back to the mining days when there was a going socialist movement). Kate Marshall therefore stands in good company. I'll put Gov. Mike O'Callaghan to the most beloved test anytime. Who they gonna put up, Dina Titus?