Nevada political roundup: Dems launch Web sites

By Michael Mishak

Thursday, July 31, 2008 | 12:12 p.m.

-- The Nevada Democratic Party unveiled a new Web site this afternoon aimed at chronicling Gov. Jim Gibbons' missteps. The site also "invites the public to help us keep track of the governor."

-- Congressional challenger Dina Titus is leading incumbent Rep. Jon Porter in Nevada's 3rd Congressional District -- according to a poll commissioned by Titus' campaign.

We took the temperature of the race Tuesday, observing that Porter has been nearly absent from the campaign trail this summer while Titus is hitting the gas pumps and seizing on the energy issue.

A note on that story: Porter spokesman Matt Leffingwell e-mailed us to emphasize, as we noted, that because of the district's makeup (a split district in 2006; it now leans Democratic by more than 20,000 voters) Porter is used to tough races, and thus "the campaign never stops." He also noted that the three-term congressman is in the district every weekend.

Leffingwell did not, however, respond to our request for a list of constituent and campaign events.

-- As for Porter, the congressman filed a petition in Congress Wednesday seeking to force the House to vote on offshore drilling.

The R-J reports the politics of drilling and gas prices as Congress readies itself for the August recess. Both Titus and Porter support offshore drilling. Titus adds the caveat that it would have to be an individual state's decision though. And if Porter's comments are any indication, the campaign is now fully joined.

"It is also time for my opponent to call on Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats to do the same thing," Porter said. "This legislation is exactly what (Titus) says she is supporting. The question is how many Democrats can my opponent get" to embrace more offshore drilling.

-- The Sierra Club used a Las Vegas gas station this morning to highlight the record profits of oil companies. Exxon Mobil, The New York Times reports, saw its best quarterly profit in history today.

-- The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has launched a new Web site attacking Freedom's Watch, the independent expenditure group it's deeming "the biggest threat" to Democratic congressional candidates this cycle.

The site has a Las Vegas theme, complete with mock sign and the slogan "Gambling Away America's Future." As Roll Call puts it, the site is largely aimed at exposing the man believed to be the group's largest financial backer: Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.

From the article:

“We think it’s very important that voters in all of these Congressional districts understand who’s paying for and financing the ads they’re listening to and they understand that these are essentially surrogates of the Bush campaign,” DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said in an interview Wednesday.

Freedom’s Watch is expected to play heavily in Congressional races this fall as a supplement to the efforts of the cash-strapped National Republican Congressional Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee. At the end of June, the DCCC had close to $55 million in the bank, while the NRCC had about $8.5 million. The gap between the parties’ Senate committees was smaller but still substantial.

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza detailed the group's connections to the Bush administration earlier this month.

And the liberal Huffington Post reports that Freedom's Watch recently signed former Bush strategist Karl Rove to a multi-thousand dollar consulting deal.