Nevada political roundup: ‘Drill’ vs. ‘spill’ (UPDATED)

By Lisa Mascaro

Monday, Sept. 8, 2008 | 9:55 a.m.

Updated:

WASHINGTON -- "Drill, baby, drill," one of the catchier themes of the Republican convention last week, may have met its match on the steps of the Capitol today as protesters interrupted a Republican press conference with this counterpoint: "Spill, baby, spill!"

House Republicans called the 3 p.m. press conference to celebrate their historic stand during the congressional August recess. Over the month, 135 of them, including Nevada's Reps. Jon Porter and Dean Heller, returned to Washington to speak on the darkened chamber floor in favor of a House vote on an energy policy that includes more domestic drilling. Democratic leaders had prevented such a vote before the break, but now seem willing to hold one.

The press conference went something like this:

Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida opens by welcoming Democrats back to work.

Protesters: "Spill, baby, spill!"

House Minority Leader John Boehner says the time for talk on energy policy is over.

He's being drowned out by the protesters.

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan says the "deadbeat Democrat Congress" went on vacation rather than deal with energy policy.

Protesters: "Save our shores!"

And so it went.

Even with amplified sound system, the few dozen protesters overpowered the few dozen Republicans. (Porter and Heller were not on hand for the event.)

The protesters were mainly from environmental organizations. "Shame on big oil!" "Renewable is do-able!"

By 3:15, after a few questions from the press, the Republicans were done.

What a way to start the workweek.

Originally published at 9:55 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Greetings Early Liners, from the downtown office in the nation’s capital after time away for the political conventions.

As I left the Twin Cities early Friday morning, the Humphrey Terminal at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport looked like another day on the Hill.

I shared the tram to the concourse with the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, spotted Republicans Rep. Zach Wamp of Tennessee and Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia at the gate, then rode the first leg of the flight with House Minority Leader John Boehner and Utah Republican Sen. Bob Bennett.

My seatmate was a Ron Paul supporter from Texas, and you can read his thoughts about the Nevada Paul supporters’ decision to sit out the roll call on the convention floor as an olive branch after their battles with the state Republican Party.

Catch up on all our convention coverage, as well as my colleague J. Patrick Coolican’s stories from the Sun’s Western road trip, in our politics section.

No slacking into the work week with this morning’s headlines:

- Yucca Mountain is closer to reality than ever before with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s announcement this morning that it has accepted the Energy Department’s application for review.

The milestone is just what Yucca Mountain supporters had hoped for -- get the license in the pipeline before the pro-nuclear Bush administration leaves office in hopes that it would be more difficult for an anti-dump president to stop it.

Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain supports Yucca Mountain as the nation’s nuclear waste repository, 90 miles north of Las Vegas.

But Sen. Barack Obama, the democratic presidential candidate, has vowed to yank the application if elected.

The commission now begins its survey of the million pages of licensing documents, which could take at least four years.

Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, had hoped to avoid today’s step, but issued a statement this morning saying he “will continue my work to kill the proposed dump once and for all.”

We’ll have more after a conference call with the commission this afternoon.

- The Reno paper’s Anjeanette Damon blogs that McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, could be visiting Nevada sooner rather than later.

- If you didn’t hear the chants of “Drill, baby, drill!” then you missed one of the highlights of the Republican National Convention.

Energy policy will captivate Congress this week as the House and Senate resume after the August break, and Reid hosts a bipartisan energy summit Friday in Washington.

A compromise bill being crafted by the so-called Gang of 10 in the Senate would allow off-shore drilling in some states (not California, where many coastal residents, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are opposed) in exchange for reigning in oil company tax breaks.

We’ll see if the two sides are interested in striking a deal -- or prefer to keep striking out at one another on the campaign trail.

- Also, we’re monitoring this morning’s rescue plan for mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, hoping to bring you insight on what it means to Nevadans struggling in the worst housing market ever. Stay tuned.

- Finally, if you don’t regularly read the East Coast press, check out excerpts being published in The Washington Post from Bob Woodward’s new book, “The War Within: A Secret White House History: 2006-2008.” It details the military opposition to the 2007 troop surge in Iraq as voiced by the military chiefs at the time -- Gen. George Casey, the commander in Iraq; Gen. John P. Abizaid, the head of Central Command; and Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff -- even as Bush and others (including Nevada’s Republican lawmakers) said they were relying on the military pros, not the politicians, to lead their decision making. The series started Sunday and continues this week.

That’s it from the nation’s capital. I’ll be on the Hill later, with updates from there.