Jarrod Brown 11/17/10

Nevada Gubernatorial Race: 2010

Nevada, the home of the infamous adult playground Las Vegas was admitted into the United States of America under Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Admission into the union was rushed to help ensure Lincoln's reelection for his second term. The state held strong ties to big business and helped lead to Lincoln winning the election. The history of Governors in Nevada is split almost even with thier being only a handfull more republicans throughout history than democrats, and a handful of silver party members serving as well. Governors in Nevada are limited to serve two terms of four years each. The race for governor this year was never really a tight one as Brian Sandoval held the lead in polls throughout the race, it was still a competitive fight between Sandoval and Rory Reid. Much controversey did however make the republican nomination interesting. (Huffington Post 2) As time led to the primary elections the bid for the democratic nomination might as well have been uncontested. Rory Reid, Chairman of the Clark County Commission,only had an opponent by definition from Frederick L. Conquest. Reid the son of senate majority leader Harry Reid, easily took the win in the primary election becoming the democratic nominee and awaiting to see who would rise to face him from the complicated republican side. (Center for Politics) The exciting part of the entire election lies within the republican primaries. Incumbant Governor Jim Gibbons who had served eight years in congress, and had also attmepted a run at governor of Nevada in 1994, was rumored to not be running for re-election. Personal and political problems plagued Gibbons reputation. A questionable divorce, rumors of affairs and the terrible state in which Nevada citizens found thier economy in, were all reasons that Gibbons was beleived to not be running. Nonetheless, in March of 2010 Gibbons pushed onward toward being re-elected and made his bid for the republican nomination. His oposition was former federal judge Brian Sandoval. Sandoval held a double digit lead in the polls during most of the months leading up to the election. The polls held true and Gibbons was the first incumbent in Nevada history to not continue on to another term. (Center for Politics) Current Mayor of Las Vegas Oscar Goodman was on the verge of running on an independent platform. With his final term coming to an end in 2011 the 69-year-old mayor considered running for Governor but decided he would rather stay closer to home. After three terms he would have surely added an unpredictable variable to the race, pulling support from unafilliated voters and those who already support him. He spoke with Jesse Ventura, former governor of Minnesota about running as an independant, that being how Ventura ran and won his election.(Ball)Without his bid there were no major third party candidates for governor in 2010 for Nevada.

Rory Reid, the democratic candidate, was born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1963. The former sports writer for the Las Vegas Sun, began his political career in 2002 when he was elected to the Clark County Commission and reelected n 2006. Reid acted as Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman in 2008 for Nevada. The law school graduate. In October of 2009 Reid formally declared that he would be running for governor and had plans for creating new jobs for the state and its crippled economy. Brian Sandoval Born in 1963 in Redding California. At the start of his career in 1994 Sandoval was elected to two terms in the Nevada Assembly. During his four years on assembly he helped push 14 bills through that became laws. After the assembly Sandoval served as a member of the Nevada Gaming Commission, helping regulate the gaming industry in Nevada. Just one year later Sandoval became the chairman of the gaming