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Reid, Sandoval to debate Sunday on education
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Aug. 24, 2010 | 9:28 a.m.
Five of the candidates running for governor of Nevada say they're unhappy about being excluded from an upcoming debate between Democrat Rory Reid and Republican Brian Sandoval, the two major party candidates.
In a news release sent Monday, non-partisan candidates Aaron Honig and Eugene DiSimone, David Scott Curtis of the Green Party, Floyd Fitzgibbons of the Independent American Party and Arthur Forest Lampitt Jr. of the Libertarian Party say the education debate scheduled Sunday won't give voters the opportunity to learn about a majority of their choices.
The debate, sponsored by 8 News Now, the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Vegas PBS, will be at 6 p.m. Sunday at Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy.
"While the sponsors' announcement stated their intent was 'to ensure Southern Nevadans have the opportunity to learn about the candidates' they have intentionally and blatantly excluded five of the seven candidates for this important public office," the candidates wrote.
Ron Comings, news director for 8 News Now, said the decision to exclude the candidates was based on their failure to meet objective criteria designed to limit the event to candidates with viable campaigns.
The criteria include showing a campaign has reported at least $50,000 in contributions to the secretary of state, and showing the candidate has either received 10 percent of the vote in the June primary, 10 percent support in an opinion poll deemed credible by the organizers, or 10 percent of the vote in a prior election for the same or a similar office.
"It is really a fairly low threshold, just to determine if a candidate is at all viable," Comings said. "It is just a fact of life, you have got have enough money to wage a viable campaign."
The debate Sunday is the first of three in which Sandoval and Reid have agreed to participate. Reid, who trails Sandoval in the polls but leads in fundraising, has attacked Sandoval for not agreeing to more debates.
Sandoval originally said he would agree to four: two in Las Vegas, one in Reno and one in Elko.
The Reno debate, however, remains in doubt. On Monday Reid's campaign released an online ad attacking Sandoval for not yet committing to it.
Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.
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Baby Rory Reid is a hack, just like his old Papa Reid.
Sandoval will be our next governor! We can't afford any more disgusting Reids!
You know what, the other candadites could petition with signatures to get into the debate. The right to grieve government.
Wake up Nevadans! Take Nevada back from the junkies in DC. Go INDEPENDENT. Gino has the answers for all the problems mentioned here. The trouble is he's an honest working guy (owes no favors) and doesn't have $50k to throw at this. In fact he's already spent his retirement on this campaign.
Gino has the solutions. GIN! GIN! GIN!
Go Independent Nevada www.ginoforgov.com
One of these twits will have to deal with a 3 billion dollar shortfall and it is IMMORAL to cut services that taxpayers pay for and are entitled to while OVER PAYING BY 1 BILLION DOLLARS EACH YEAR IN NEVADA to public unions. PAY them what the taxpayers make, (private sector) and not a dime more. FIRE THEM and re-hire at private sector rates and we will not have a budget problem. There is no need to raise taxes and no need to cut services. The public unions are so OVERPAID it is grotesque.
Fringe candidates can hold their debate on Fremont Street while twirling hula hoops.
Judge N, thanks for your evaluation of Rory's situation. But I can't help thinking of the name Chic Hecht when I think of Sandoval's campaign.
Rory has claimed that he is the only one willing to talk about the issues, all while he runs misleading attack ad after attack ad. It will be interesting to see how much he talks about the issues at this debate. My hunch is that he spends most of his time with more misleading attacks. Rory cannot distinguish himself on the issues or on his respective record and qualifications vis-à-vis Sandoval. All that is left is mud. The sad part is that Rory seems to think that mud = issue discussion. Is that what we want as governor? Especially when certain special interests have already paid the Democratic Legislature (see Sen. Horsford letter) to do business this session?
Regardless, the debate should include all state candidates. This is fair, and the direction we should be heading for a more balanced political system. Shame on Nevada.
The Green party is very small in Nevada, less than 5000 voters.
To ask us to spend $50,000, you might as well ask for $50,000,000. It won't happen.
No credible polls name all the candidates so the criteria is impossible to meet.
Impossible is the opposite of a "fairly low" threshold.
Un-named candidates then find it improbable to raise adequate funds when the media excludes them from the gate.
This newspaper and channel 8 punish candidates whom do not advertise with them.
Most people hate political ads. Media is deciding whom the voter gets to see based on ad buys. It's a conflict of interest between corporate media needs and public office.
Please show up to the fake debate and protest.
ONLY 1 QUESTION NEEDS ASKED & ASKED & ASKED
We are 3 billion dollars short (worst in the U.S. by a factor of 3) this is over 2 yr budget.
Nevada WASTES 1 billion per year OVER PAYING public union employees beyond what the private sector gets.
DON'T EXTEND 1 MORE CONTRACT 1 MORE DAY let them work for private sector wages and benefits or go find a job somewhere else.
Nevada looses 1 billion dollars per year to cost of illegal aliens.
STOP THESE 2 destructive practices and we will have a surplus without raising any taxes.
Anyone considering voting for Dirty Harry's son Rory --- needs to remember he cast the final OK vote for the firefighters contract, knowing well they would be making in excess of $200,000.00 per year with their built in overtime. It's well past time to send "BOTH REID'S INTO RETIREMENT" ---- FACT: due to budget cuts, many schools across the U.S. are now requiring students to bring their own toilet paper to school with them --- IMAGINE THAT ??? Does anyone here think Sandoval or Reid will discuss the fact that 1 out of every 4 students currently in Nevada schools are either illegals or anchor babies of illegals ???