Lisa Mascaro

Washington Coorespondent

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Senate Democrat still crossing his fingers: Filibuster-proof majority is tantalizingly close; Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008; As slim as Republican Sen. John Ensign’s chances are of stopping Senate losses this fall as head of his party’s election committee, his counterpart, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, isn’t predicting Democrats will hit the coveted 60-seat threshold yet.
How Reid rode to the rescue after bailout rejection: Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008; About 7 Monday evening, after House lawmakers stunned Washington and Wall Street by rejecting the painfully crafted $700 billion bailout bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid headed home to sleep on what to do next.
Heller only Nevada legislator to vote against $700 billion bailout: Says more oversight needed on bill; Friday, Oct. 3, 2008; WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. Dean Heller voted against the $700 billion bailout package today in the House, the only member of the Nevada delegation to vote no.
Berkley to make U-turn on bailout: Democrat voted against it Monday, says she will back goodies-laden rewrite; Friday, Oct. 3, 2008; Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley never expected to be one of the critical votes on the $700 billion bailout bill.
Berkley to switch vote, support bailout bill: Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008; Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley said she will drop her opposition to the $700 billion bailout bill and vote in favor of the new package when it comes before the House, probably on Friday.
Bailout: Their defining moment: Moving to center, Porter voted yes; moving to far right, Heller voted no; Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008; Nevada’s two Republican representatives, Jon Porter and Dean Heller, watched from the House floor Monday as the electronic voting board lighted up, recording the outcome of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.
Behind Nevada's bailout votes: Why 'nay,' 'nay' and 'aye' are what Berkley, Heller and Porter voted respectively on the plan rejected, 228-205, by the House; Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008; Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley and Republican Rep. Dean Heller, both facing angry calls from voters back home, opposed the $700 billion bailout bill that their leaders had hoped would produce a bipartisan compromise. Only Nevada’s Rep. Jon Porter, a Republican facing the most difficult reelection of his career, voted for the bill.
Nevada delegation split as House rejects bailout plan: Monday, Sept. 29, 2008; In a stunning rejection of the $700 billion bailout plan, the House fell at least a dozen votes short of passing the proposal in a dramatic session this afternoon, with Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley and Republican Rep. Dean Heller casting no votes to help shoot it down.
Justice Department report calls Bogden firing 'arbitrary': Monday, Sept. 29, 2008; The Justice Department’s Inspector General concluded in a long-awaited report out today that the 2006 firings of nine U.S. attorneys, including Nevada’s Daniel Bogden, was “unsystematic and arbitrary” and damaged the credibility of the department.
What we can expect — and whom to blame: In Washington: Nevadans of both parties voted to relax controls over finance; Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008; As home values tank and retirement funds disappear, it’s hard not to want to find someone to blame. As in so many cases, the sins of omission can cause just as much problem as the ones actually committed, a fact that is apparent from a cursory review of the legislative record leading up to the current economic troubles.
Bailout’s biggest obstacle: Doubt: Lawmakers of both parties, objecting to $700 billion plan, no longer trust administration; Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008; Rep. Shelley Berkley was arriving at McCarran airport Friday when staff notified her that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would hold a conference call within the hour to explain the $700 billion Wall Street bailout to lawmakers.
Don’t declare Yucca Mountain dump plan dead yet, activist says: Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008; These days Nevada’s leaders routinely say Yucca Mountain is dead.
Reid and company propose a new deal: Public works project reminiscent of FDR’s would boost construction, jobs; Friday, Sept. 19, 2008; In his autobiography, and often in speeches, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid talks about how growing up, the closest he ever got to religion was the portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt hanging on the wall of his parents’ small house.
Accusations fly: ‘Irresponsible’ history; ‘prescription’ for escalation: Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008; As Republican presidential nominee John McCain refines his responses to the worst financial market meltdown since the Great Depression, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been providing another story line -- one that blames McCain for the problems.
OSHA accused of ‘secret’ rules plot: Democrat: Rushed plan would wind up delaying new safety standards; Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008; The Bush administration’s Labor Department is proposing a new process for establishing workplace health rules that critics warned Wednesday could threaten worker safety by delaying new regulations for years.
Ensign perks up on GOP’s chances in Senate: Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008; Nevada Sen. John Ensign on Wednesday shook off his typically gloomy assessment of the Republican Party’s prospects in Senate races this fall.
Raises could fell tenacious foe: Face of Nevada’s opposition to waste dump might see job stripped, agency disappear; Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008; The man perhaps most responsible over the past 30 years for thwarting the federal government’s plan for a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain slides into the driver’s seat with a mischievous grin.
Vote on GOP energy plan would put two Nevadans in a pickle: Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008; Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley has been reading the fine print on the Republicans’ “All of the Above” energy plan.
Loux not going to resign right away: Nevada officials concerned that office remains strong as Yucca fight enters next stage; Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008; CARSON CITY – The leader of Nevada’s fight against the Yucca Mountain project says he’s not going to decide immediately whether to resign, as Gov. Jim Gibbons requested on Wednesday.
Tension trails Lieberman back to Washington: Independent Democrat’s criticism of Obama hasn’t led to discipline — yet; Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008; Washington has been in knots this week over the status of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who infuriated his Democratic colleagues with a speech critical of their presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, at the Republican National Convention.
Application in, but water still an issue: Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008; As it happens so often with Yucca Mountain, today’s story is about water.
Paul backers give in, graciously: Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008; In the end, the revolution would be fought from within.
Ensign energizes first, pleads second: Friday, Sept. 5, 2008; One sure way to whip the crowd to a roar at the Republican National Convention is this: Talk about freedom, throw in Ronald Reagan and invoke impassioned responses to yes-no questions.
Meal sponsorship tells tale of state parties’ strength: Friday, Sept. 5, 2008; For all the questions directed at the Nevada Democratic Party on corporate sponsorship of events at the party’s convention last week, the state’s Republicans are suffering another kind of indignity: Digging into their pockets to pay for meals.
Black, proud of Obama, but voting her conscience — for McCain: Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008; Thirty-six.
That’s how many black delegates are reportedly at the Republican National Convention this week.
Local supporters of Paul remain steadfast and fervent: Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008; A dentist who didn’t know the definition of a convention delegate 15 months ago spends his summer vacation trying to get Nevada’s delegates for presidential hopeful Ron Paul seated at the Republican National Convention.
How the GOP handles Gustav could ripple back to Nevada races: Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008; It’s not often that politics offers a do-over, especially one as dramatic and with such high stakes as Monday’s for the Republicans, as Hurricane Gustav made landfall on the Gulf Coast.
‘Enough’ captures the feeling of the times: Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008; While I was traveling through Northern Nevada this month, a casual conversation with a Republican-leaning small-business man offered a glimpse of the political mood in this state: People are tired, he said.
Web poker banned, they play politics: Rapidly organized group attracts celebs, lawmakers in Denver; Friday, Aug. 29, 2008; Not long after Congress passed a ban on Internet gambling, PR man John Pappas knew he had to be here at the Democratic National Convention.
Add attack dog, energy maven to Reid’s titles: Senator assails GOP policies, citing ‘toxic mix of oil and war’; Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seemed to establish a new role for himself Wednesday night — party attack man on Republican energy policy.
Outside the arena, the tribes clamor: Opposition’s goal is well defined this convention season: Divert and distract; Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008; Intentionally or not, the Republicans pulled off a fairly brilliant political move that probably can’t be used again: Invite the press corps to hear potential Republican presidential running mate Mitt Romney speak a mile or so away from the core of the Democratic convention activities downtown.
Deciding when a steak dinner is education, not lobbying: Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008; An open and passionate man, Timothy E. Guertin is a chief executive with a story to tell, and he came to the Democratic National Convention to share it over dinner with potentially influential friends.
Reid’s role may signal a subtle lowering of profile: Shift could help him with reelection bid; Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008; On any given day in Congress, reporters swarm Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, surrounding his small frame and holding recorders high to capture his comments. Those moments are likely to be few in Denver.
What Mailer teaches us about politics: Author’s observations of ’68 conventions offer wisdom as ’08 versions loom; Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008; In early pages of the political convention classic “Miami and the Siege of Chicago,” Norman Mailer warns against trying to interview politicians.
Complexities of schmoozing: Teams of lawyers and boxes of toothpicks are the new tools of lobbyists’ trade; Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008; Here’s an interesting question causing much hand-wringing as the Republican and Democratic political conventions near: How much food can a lobbyist feed a member of Congress on the end of a toothpick and not violate new ethics rules that ban free meals?
Loyalists, until it comes to Internet gambling: Online poker lobby composed mainly of GOP guys fights party opposition to computer wagering; Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008; Slipped into the 92-page Republican Party platform are two sentences that drive poker players nuts.
Elections could turn on baggage avoidance: Some pols staying clear of conventions to stress their independence from D.C.; Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008; When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opens the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Monday, Dina Titus will be 750 miles away in Nevada.
Isn’t it time Iraq started paying for reconstruction? Ensign, others say yes: Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008; Not since late last year has the war in Iraq been the top issue on voters’ minds.
But turbines would scare off the deer, elk ...: Grand vision of green Lincoln County runs into hunter opposition; Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008; Before Nevada can become the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy, it will have to come to peace with the hunters in Lincoln County.
Reid summit in green spotlight: As clean energy forum nears, questions about its value, implications swirl; Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008; The biggest name on the program for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s first energy summit, last summer, was Harry Reid. And even he slipped out of the Reno Peppermill after delivering the morning’s keynote address.
Energy platforms could sway state’s voters: Visions of a nuclear waste dump 90 miles from Las Vegas and a solar revolution play out in election; Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008; The wide open Southern Nevada desert has always been home to such hope and heartache.
Feds raise Yucca price tag to $96.2 billion: Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008; It's official: The Energy Department announced today that it will cost $96.2 billion to build the nation's nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, operate it for the next 150 years and shut it down.
Porter takes center stage in GOP bid for energy bill: As parties fight edge on gas price issue, he brings petition for vote on bill to increase domestic drilling; Monday, Aug. 4, 2008; One morning last week, as Congress remained bitterly divided over how best to lower the price of $4-a-gallon gas, Rep. Jon Porter stepped into the fray with a parliamentary maneuver that was uncharacteristically aggressive.
Bogden firing may yet be explained: Ex-White House officials ordered to testify about discharge of prosecutors; Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008; If former White House counsel Harriet Miers testifies before Congress, perhaps she can explain why Nevada’s U.S. attorney was among those fired in an unprecedented upheaval by the Bush administration.
GOP stays behind as Dems turn out the lights -- literally: Friday, Aug. 1, 2008; A mini-revolution erupted on the House floor today when Democrats shut off the lights and adjourned for the August recess -- and Republicans refused to go home.
Stevens scandal makes Ensign’s job even tougher: Alaskan’s indictment puts his seat, other GOP senators’ in jeopardy; Wednesday, July 30, 2008; Sen. John Ensign’s difficult task of trying to keep Republican electoral losses in the Senate to a minimum this fall could become even more daunting after the party’s longest-serving senator was indicted Tuesday by the Justice Department.
No headway on gas prices, but mortgage bill passes: Energy still divides parties; Republicans cross over on housing; Sunday, July 27, 2008; Deep in the basement of the Senate offices, down a brick corridor not far from the Capitol subway, lies a mini-city: A travel agent. A coffee house.
Ensign votes against housing bill that passes Senate: Saturday, July 26, 2008; With one in 43 Nevada homeowners now facing the possibility of foreclosure, Republican Sen. John Ensign voted this morning against Congress' sweeping mortgage relief package now headed for President Bush's signature.
Reid pushes indirect attack on polygamy: Plan draws on approach used to clean up Vegas in mob days; Friday, July 25, 2008; There seems to be a little bit of Eliot Ness lurking in Harry Reid.
Senators demand action: Obama, Clinton, Kennedy, Reid and others sign letter to federal labor secretary; Thursday, July 24, 2008; High-profile senators including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Edward M. Kennedy have urged the Bush administration to enforce safety regulations that could prevent construction deaths similar to those that have occurred on the Las Vegas Strip.