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发帖数: 29846 | 1 LAS VEGAS (AP) — Republican former state senator Mark Amodei won Nevada's
heavily GOP 2nd Congressional District in a special election Tuesday night,
easily trouncing Democrat Kate Marshall in this economically-ravaged state
where President Barack Obama's popularity has sagged.
Amodei entered Election Day as the candidate to take down, with early voting
and registration numbers alike heavily favoring the GOP. History was also
on his side. The district made up of rural, conservative voters has never
elected a Democrat.
With 84 percent of precincts reporting, Amodei had 58 percent of the vote to
Marshall's 36 percent in unofficial results. Amodei told supporters
gathered at a Reno casino that he would travel to Washington D.C. Wednesday
and hoped to be sworn in Thursday.
"The neatest thing about tonight is this is not an individual sport," he
said. "It's a team sport."
Marshall called Amodei to concede when less than 45 percent of the results
were in just after 9 p.m. She urged about 100 supporters at her campaign
party in Reno to celebrate their turnout.
"You are to be honored because in a democracy in this country, you expressed
yourself," she said. "You were a voice."
The candidates were competing to replace Republican Dean Heller, who was
promoted from the House to the Senate in May after former Republican Sen.
John Ensign resigned over a sex scandal with a former staffer. Amodei will
serve the remainder of Heller's term and will have to seek re-election in
2012 to keep the seat.
Republicans blamed Obama for Marshall's loss, a claim that could come up
frequently in advance of next year's presidential election despite the
district's GOP leanings. Republican leaders also sought to link Nevada's
predictable election result to an Election Day upset in New York, where a
heavily Democratic district elected a Republican to the House in a special
election there.
"Even in the home state of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, voters have
turned on the president and his congressional allies," Republican National
Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. "Not only are the
president's policies not working, but his non-stop campaigning is no longer
winning over voters."
GOP Chairwoman Amy Tarkanian announced at Amodei's victory party that his
win "is the first step telling President Obama he's done."
Nevada's worst-in-the-nation economy likely did little to help Marshall's
campaign. Angry voters steamed with politics in general might have also
depressed turnout and further hurt her cause.
The candidates both sought to appeal to centrist voters, but their
differences were stark. Amodei, a former state GOP chairman, pledged to
support a balanced budget amendment in Congress and signed an anti-tax
pledge, while Marshall, the state treasurer, was critical of Obama but still
supportive of his federal health care overhaul.
Those ties to Washington Democrats, however limited or underplayed by her
side, made Marshall a difficult sell in rural Nevada. The sprawling
congressional district covers all of northern Nevada and a slice of Clark
County near Las Vegas.
Republican voters Scott and Jean Foster blamed Obama and Democratic policies
for failing to get the country's economy on track. Both are unemployed.
Nevada has the highest jobless rate in the nation at 12.9 percent.
"Hopefully next year we can turn it around," Scott Foster said after voting
at the Fish Springs Volunteer Fire Department in rural Douglas County
Tuesday afternoon. A mathematician with degrees from MIT and Stanford, he
said he's been unemployed for two years.
Democrat Wes Hoskins, 31, who works in Reno for the conservation group
Friends of the Wilderness, predicted that Obama's unpopularity would limit
turnout. Hoskins, who voted for Marshall, said he's a "lukewarm Obama
supporter" but that he didn't blame the administration for the lingering
sour economy.
"A lot of what is going on, no administration could help," Hoskins said.
The special election was brief but heated. Marshall slammed Amodei for
supporting tax increases as a state lawmaker and sought to portray him as a
foe of Medicare in a series of TV attacks. Amodei, meanwhile, often linked
Marshall to Obama and other Washington Democrats.
The contest was Nevada's first House special election race, and the initial
uncertainty surrounding the rules of the race gave Democrats hope that they
could make history by taking the traditionally GOP seat.
The state's chief election officer originally ruled that the race would be a
free-for-all, and at one point, more than 30 candidates were expected to
enter the open contest. The Nevada Supreme Court ultimately ruled that major
political parties would choose their candidate.
The contest attracted political heavyweights early on, with former President
Bill Clinton and Reid pushing for Marshall as House Speaker John Boehner
and Nevada's Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval rallied for Amodei.
But national Democrats seemed to quickly abandon the campaign, declining to
financially lift Marshall, even as outside Republicans spent more than $1
million on TV attacks that tied Marshall to Obama.
Robby Mook, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee, downplayed the lack of financial support Tuesday afternoon as the
polls were about to close.
"We think she's done an outstanding job," he said. "She's really run a
flawless campaign."
___
Associated Press writer Scott Sonner in Reno contributed to this report.
Sonner and Chereb reported from Reno. |
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