If this column doesn't send Democrats into seething rage, nothing will.

I always make odds on elections but haven't bet money since I wagered $20 on Jim Bilbray to beat Rep. Walter Baring in the statewide 1972 Democratic primary. I won and quit winners.

Last week, I ran into two Republican operatives who appeared unsurprised when I said that were I betting today, I'd make the top of the GOP ticket 11-10 favorites in November.

"But (Adam) Laxalt's so boring," said one young conservative moonhowler who shall mercifully remain nameless.

"How many boring people do you know who got elected?" I responded.

I related that light observation to a veteran Nevada journalist.

"I agree with you."

Huh?

Jawohl. The longtime reporter stated that Democratic gubernatorial nominee Steve Sisolak has not gotten his campaign off the ground, at least outside his home base in Gomorrah South.

We talked about how former US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Searchlight, has made a pair of major errors. First, he anointed freshman Rep. Jacky Rosen, D-LV, to oppose incumbent US Sen. Dean Heller, R-Carson City, who's generally agreed to be the nation's most vulnerable Republican incumbent.

Then, Reid backed Clark County Commissioner Sisolak against fellow commissioner Christina Giunchigliani in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Chris G turned the big guy into Sisosausage up here, winning Washoe 52-39 but losing statewide by the same score. [UPDATE: She just announced that she will endorse no one for governor. Zounds. The ghost of NAGPAC is back. See the return of the None of the Above for Governor Political Action Committee, Barbwire 6-20-2018.]

The old stripper rule stands: WIth media saturation, you can buy the Las Vegas Strip but not the Washoe-Carson strip.

Reid gave former State Treasurer Kate Marshall a cold shower. She's now running for Light Guv and will probably smoke State. Sen. Bulldog Roberson, R-South Egotrip.

The dynamic Kate has run statewide 6.5 times (thrice for state constitutional office and once in a special election to replace Heller in the northern Nevada congressional seat). Marshall thus has a built-in statewide base which Ms. Rosen lacks.

With Kate and Chris at the top of the ticket, Democrats had Wonder Woman and Joan of Arc to rally behind.

Rosen's lackluster campaign shows that she failed to pay heed to former Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-LV, who earlier this year advised Dems to hire locally, something Berkley learned the hard way in losing to Heller in 2012.

Sisolak has it worse: Laxalt is just plain cuter, which is apparently what his campaign managers are banking on. They are keeping the political novice away from the media and sending him to the Cow Counties, according to my journalist friend.

Proving that great minds think alike, we simultaneously blurted "Chic Hecht."

Jacob "Chic" Hecht was a downtown Las Vegas dress shop owner, about 5-feet-4 with a thick lisp. But he photographed like a million dollars in small unmarked bills.

Bob Brown, a future Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Columniator Hall-of-Famer, sold Cold War vet Hecht as James Bond and in 1966 elected Hecht as Clark County's first-ever Republican state senator.

In my 1970 maiden voyage in Nevada follytix, Brown charged me with producing Hecht re-election ads. I found him self-effacing with a great sense of humor. He was also a very honest man.

In 1982, powerful four-term US Sen. Howard Cannon, D-LV, survived a bitter primary against Rep. Jim Santini, D-LV. Because Cannon was deemed invulnerable, the GOP fielded a lackluster primary slate which Hecht easily beat.

Hecht was sent to the Cow Counties under the guidance of Carson City Republican pro Pete Kelley. Hecht beat the mortally wounded Cannon largely by being underestimated and looking better on TV, never talking on his commercials.

Although prone to rhetorical gaffes and ridiculed for being "the least prepossessing US Senator" by National Journal, Chic Hecht was not a dogmatic moonhowler or a threat to human rights.

I'd vote for him over Laxalt or Heller today.

The underqualified Laxalt is running the Chic Hecht playbook.

As the old saying goes, Democrats don't win elections, Republicans lose them.

Right now, the GOP is not self-destructing at the top.

BARBARA ANN PELLET STONE, 1936-2018. Barbara Stone, a Winnemucca native and former Hawthorne resident, was a longtime casino employee (El Capitan, Boomtown) who raised five children as a single mother. She was the fiercest friend you could ever have, generous to a fault.

Dear Barbara served with me on the City of Reno cable TV board 15 years ago. We were both impressed by a fellow appointee, attorney Kate Marshall, whom we immediately recognized as future US Senate material. Guess we should'a told Harry.

A high-hearted remembrance commences at 2:00 p.m. this Saturday Sept. 8 at Walton's (formerly Ross Burke) Events Center, 600 W. 2nd in Reno.

I wish Barbara were still around to knock some sense into a few Democrats.

Barbara, old friend, I don't need to remind you to...

Be well. Raise hell.

Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.) / être bien, élever l'enfer (And my French.) / Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
_______
Andrew Barbano is a 49-year Nevadan, executive producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration, first vice-president and political action chair of the Reno-Sparks NAACP, labor/consumer/civil rights advocate, member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO and editor of NevadaLabor.com and BallotBoxing.US and SenJoeNeal.org and DoctorLawyerWatch.com/ As always, his opinions are strictly his own. Check local listings for other Nevada cable systems. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988 and received its 8th Nevada Press Association award and 5th first-place at the 30 Sept. 2017 NPA annual convention in Carson City. (That trophy and about six bucks will get you a Latte Mocha Cotsafracas Chingade at just about any Starbux worldwide, guaranteed.)

WEB XTRAS & SMOKING GUNS —>

THE BIG 3-0. Sunday, August 12, marked 30 years since the first Barbwire appeared in the Rail City's newspaper of record since 1910. "The Chilling of Hot August Nights" brought the first of my eight Nevada Press Association awards. I'll add more memories of the early days of the Barbwire as time, space and the political season allow.

Whom to blame: How a hall-of-famer's hunch birthed the Barbwire in August of 1987
Tempus fugit.

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