politics

LAS VEGAS-On the heels of Assemblywoman Susan Gerhardt's surprising announcement last week that she would not be seeking reelection, Nevada Democrats announced today that April Mastroluca, a 40-year-old education and child welfare advocate would be seeking her seat in the 29th District.

"I have already started working hard, meeting people and getting campaign donations, and with the backing of [Assembly Speaker] Barbara Buckley and the rest of party, I feel really confident that this is a district that Democrats can win," said Mastroluca.

Today is Tax Freedom Day according to The Tax Foundation.  The link takes you to their page that explains how today is the nationwide average for how long it would take you to pay all taxes first and then earn your own salary.

The bad news for Nevada is that according to the state-by-state breakdown, we have three more days of taxes to pay before our tax freedom day on April 26th.

The worse news for Nevada is that we only beat California by four days.

LAS VEGAS-Democrat Marilyn Dondero Loop, a 56-year-old retired teacher, announced yesterday that she will be seeking the 5th Assembly District seat currently held by Republican Valerie Weber.  Weber, who announced last year that she will be leaving the seat to run for the open Clark County Commission District C seat being vacated by Chip Maxfield, has endorsed Republican Donna Toussaint to succeed her.

"As a life-long Nevadan, I am not satisfied with the status quo in our state, where we rank near or at the bottom of almost every list that compares our quality of life with other states," said Dondero Loop.  "When it comes to educating our children, making affordable, quality health care available for all and making sure people feel safe in their own neighborhoods, we can do better."

The state is asking air charters to show if there would be cost savings to have chartered flights to and from Las Vegas for official state travel.

The state spent over $3 million last year on official travel with the airlines. Full story here.  read more »

David Mason, campaign manager of Jill Derby for CongressLAS VEGAS-Every Monday, PolitickerNV.com profiles one of the staffers and consultants who work so hard to get these guys and gals elected and us something to write about. Today's subject: David Mason, campaign manager for Jill Derby for Congress.

Representing a new generation of political operatives is David Mason, 26, newly hired campaign manager for Jill Derby's second attempt at winning the 2nd Congressional District seat now held by Republican Dean Heller. A suburban Bostonian by birth, Mason comes to CD2 having already helped to engineer one second-time win and hopes to make it a second here.

"I got the bug in 2000 when I was volunteering for the Gore campaign," said Mason. "I come from the school of campaigning that has seen Democrats get the short end of the stick for years and it's exciting for me to get out there and do the hard work."

Let’s start by stipulating the obvious: A Republican, particularly one named Rudolph, could wind up winning next year’s presidential race, denying Democrats simultaneous control of the White House and Congress at least through 2012.

But let’s say that doesn’t happen. Let’s suppose that, for the first time since the Republican tidal wave of 1994, Democrats end up next year with total control of the federal government.

It’s not an unlikely prospect.