October 25, 2004
Laura Bush visits Lake Tahoe
After two previous visits to Nevada this month, Laura Bush attended a fundraiser in Lake Tahoe on Thursday, October 18.
Posted by State at 12:27 AM | Comments (1)
Swingability of Nevada: Nuclear Waste Storage Plant a Political Issue
Who could have predicted two years ago that Bush and Kerry would spend time stumping in Nevada? But Nevada is unpredictable. Part of the reason the state keeps swinging back and forth is that more people keep moving in—this has been the fastest growing population for the past 15 years. Most of the state is empty, except for two big population centers: Reno, with Carson City and Lake Tahoe not far away, and Las Vegas, the biggest thing in the state.
In 2000, 62% of votes cast in Nevada came from Clark county, home to the Las Vegas strip. While the rest of the state went for Bush in large numbers, Gore won here by 6.5%. Kerry will try to increase that margin and take the state's 5 electoral votes.
As the October deadline for new voter registration passed, more Democrats were registered in the state than Republicans for the first time since 1999. One key issue—Yucca Mountain—Bush has endorsed the idea of putting a national nuclear waste storage site at the location, less than 100 miles away from Vegas. Kerry says he opposes the idea. With less than three weeks left, neither side was giving up on the state, making it one of their top ten battlegrounds.
Posted by State at 12:25 AM | Comments (1)
Bush Rallies in Las Vegas
The President spoke at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus on UNLV in the morning and to about 16,000 supporters at Rancho San Rafael Park in the afternoon. In both speeches Bush touted his record on job creation, healthcare and the war on terror while attempting to draw a strict contrast between his record as president and Kerry's Senate record.
The President said, "I'm proud of my record, my opponent seems to want to avoid his." He said that under his watch the nation has weathered recession and a terror attack and has created 1.9 million new jobs over the past 13 months. Bush pointed to the fact that the nation's unemployment rate stands at 5.4 percent, better than the average from the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's.
Bush also pointed to Nevada's unemployment rate, which currently stands at 4.0 percent.
http://www.time.com/time/election2004/battleground/nevada.html
Posted by State at 12:16 AM | Comments (1)
Heinz-Kerry Campaigns on Health Care in Reno
Ray Hagar
Reno Gazette Journal
Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of U.S. Sen. John Kerry, outlined a national heath-care plan Thursday in Reno, calling for heath insurance for all U.S. children, lower prescription drug prices for seniors and national catastrophic health insurance coverage.
Heinz Kerry singled out U.S. drug companies for gouging seniors, saying that if her husband were elected, he would lift the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ban on the importation of drugs from Canada.
“If they (drug companies) want to keep the cost of drugs, up, let them,” she said. “We will play the market. That is what Americans do.”
http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2004/10/14/82832.html
Posted by State at 12:03 AM | Comments (1)
October 24, 2004
Health Care Issues Raised at AARP Convention, Las Vegas
Ken Ritter
First lady Laura Bush and Democrat John Kerry received warm welcomes at an AARP convention Thursday, where in separate appearances both recalled the group's key backing for a Medicare prescription drug law and promised benefits for seniors in the next four years.
Last year, the 35 million-member organization of Americans 50 and older backed the Medicare legislation, drawing strong criticism from Democratic opponents and prompting 60,000 people to resign their membership.
Kerry, who opposed the Bush Medicare plan, followed Mrs. Bush to the podium about 90 minutes later and took a jab at the president's decision not to speak to the AARP convention. Instead, Bush spoke to a rally in Las Vegas with Republican governors.
Posted by State at 11:57 PM | Comments (2)
Kerry addresses AARP convention 10.14
Kerry also chose Nevada as the starting point for his dash to the end of the campaign trail, trying to tip the balance in a state where polls show the candidates are deadlocked. Nevada, a state with five electoral votes, is one of roughly a dozen still competitive in the final days of the race.
Kerry was addressing the Las Vegas convention for AARP, a lobbying group for people over 50 that was once known as the American Association of Retired Persons, before heading to Iowa for a rally in Des Moines.
-AP
Posted by State at 11:48 PM | Comments (1)