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Molly Ball
Las Vegas Review-Journal
March 9, 2009 One of the telltale signs that Republicans were going to get killed in the 2008 election in Nevada was the voter registration statistics that showed more and more Democrats, and fewer and fewer Republicans, on the state's voter rolls with every passing month. Tactically, Democrats did a lot of things right along the way to winning the state for Barack Obama by 12 percentage points, but perhaps none was more important than their voter registration effort. By the time registration closed for the November election, there were more than 100,000 more Democrats than Republicans among Nevada's 1.2 million active registered voters; at the 2004 election, they'd been even. Republicans countered only feebly. If they're going to start winning elections in Nevada again, the GOP is going to have to do better, said Chris Carr, a Las Vegas-based consultant who's started a state political action committee aimed at reversing the trend. "Before this last election cycle, the party and the activists had done a relatively good job," Carr said. "This past cycle, Democrats just did a better job. This is going to be one vehicle for Republicans to help hopefully close the gap." The Republican Renewal Project has a Web site and is meeting with supporters and donors to "hit the ground running." It's seen as part of Sen. John Ensign's vow to help rejuvenate a disorganized, demoralized state Republican Party; Ensign and Rep. Dean Heller are on board with the group's program, Carr said. The well-liked Carr, an easygoing Louisiana native, is a former state party staffer who worked on Ensign's and Heller's campaigns as part of the local firm November Inc. In 2007 he served as regional political director for the Republican National Committee; in 2008 he worked for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, then chaired by Ensign. The Democrats' voter registration operation is ongoing and year-round, party spokeswoman Phoebe Sweet said. "We're not taking anything for granted," she said. "We're proud of what we accomplished last year, and we're going to continue to build on that momentum through 2010 and beyond." Link |
