Welcome, conventioneers

In the event that an attendee or two at the Yearly Kos Convention being held in Las Vegas should for some reason stumble on the humble Gleaner, we've prepared a few tidbits of area color for your edification and amusement, just some odds and ends that you may or may not be interested to know and that might have been omitted from some of the better travel web sites. It seemed the polite thing to do.

The seamy underside. Gambling, drinking, whoring, generally carrying on -- Southern Nevada has a rich history and culture of which its residents are rightly proud. However, lurking just beneath that respectable veneer lies an unsavory and surprisingly widespread enthusiasm for conservatism on social issues and an affinity for what Republicans like to call traditional and/or family values. 'Tis a bit of a paradox, we'll grant you, and one that is routinely exploited by politicians.

Organized labor rocks. The workforce that is taking care of your every need is anchored by members of the Culinary Local 226 of the UNITE HERE union. Many of them are immigrants who may have a high school education, or in some cases, less. Yet they make enough to own their own homes (well, until home prices began skyrocketing, anyway), drive decent cars, enjoy solid retirement plans and are fortunate to have among the best and most generous health care benefits programs to be found anywhere in the United States private sector. That union scale, in turn, helps establish the wages and benefits that other service sector employers must offer in the valley, even if their employees aren't represented by a union. There is one and only one reason Southern Nevada has a middle class, and hence, a consumer core that has allowed all the rest of the Las Vegas economic miracle to develop the way it has, and that's organized labor.

Not everybody gets it. On the Strip, the most prominent non-union property is the Venetian. Off strip, the company that would most like to see the union disappear is Station Casinos.

We've got two of your 15. As you know, the Democrats need 15 seats to win the House. Tessa Hafen in CD3 and Jill Derby in CD2 both have genuine shots at turning red seats blue.

We're having a little fight for, you know, the soul of the Democratic Party. You know how some Democrats would like the party to be, well, Democratic, and other folks would like to accommodate the Republicans and try not to offend anybody and see if maybe they can't win an election here and there if they suck up to DLC-style corporatism and say "heartland" and "values" a lot? That's pretty much playing out in the Nevada Democratic primary for governor, where genuine Democrat Dina Titus is running against a guy named Jim Gibson, who is basically Nevada's answer to Joe Lieberman. The aforementioned Culinary union, by the way, is sitting on its hands in this one. The Culinary rocks, but it also displays an occasionally maddening Realpolitik streak.

Harry Reid supports Nevada's answer to Joe Lieberman. Officially, Reid's neutral. But his support for the conservative in the Democratic primary is one of the the worst-kept political secrets in the state.

We like Jack Carter, too. Jack Carter, who is seeking to knock off Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign, has emerged as a bit of a sentimental favorite among some of you Kossacks and within the progressive blogosphere generally, mostly because of his dad. Hopefully, many of you will get a chance to meet or listen to Jack, and learn that he is really quite likable in his own right and, indeed, would make an excellent U.S. senator, no matter who his dad is.

Harry Reid all but supports Ensign over Carter. His tepid statements vowing support for Carter notwithstanding, make no mistake, the Senate Democratic leader is harboring a known Republican senator in his own state.

The local newspaper is scary. Owned by the gloriously wealthy Stephens family who have worked so very, very hard to lobby Congress to preserve the Paris Hilton Tax Cut, the Las Vegas Review-Journal is one of the most extremist anti-government purveyors of right-wing kook propaganda and corporate apologia in all of mainstream metropolitan newspapering. If the paper does not run an editorial sneering at Yearly Kos participants for pursuing a "socialist agenda" and "failed nanny-state policies," it will only be out of a reluctance to attack conventioneers and thus potentially alarm advertisers.

You are not in Las Vegas. You're in unincorporated Clark County. The Las Vegas Strip is not in Las Vegas. The airport is not in Las Vegas. The University of Nevada Las Vegas is not in Las Vegas. If you want to see Las Vegas, walk out of the Riviera to the Strip, and look to your right (north, more or less). See that big white tower thingy? That's in Las Vegas. This is of course apropos of nothing, but tourists always seem to find it mildly interesting.

This is not the only progressive blog in Nevada. You want smart and erudite? Desert Beacon; Deliciously wicked Obsessively Wiccan? VoteGibbonsOut; Charmingly witty Obnoxiously bawdy? Reno and its Discontents; just to name a few of the most active and most progressive. More sites are listed under "Nevada Blogs," at left.

Comments

[Not Bob]

Great rundown but not sure they care Gleaner.

I notice that the guy who wrote endless articles about his campaign to be on his precinct committee (I think he won with 135 total votes) but also wrote he didn't care about the race for Governor in California is chairing about 4 panels.

I think I'll prune rosebushes and catch some of CineVegas and the cup instead this weekend

[IronJawed]

Why is the YearlyKos so expensive? They wanted like 5K just to have a table.

[CollegeStudent]

Damn, that is a lot. Where is that money going? Do they need that just to host a convention on the Strip?

[crazymonk]

The nonprofit rates weren't nearly that high.

[Myrna the Minx]

Thanks for the the mention. I am really interested in seeing how Nevada figures in this whole DKos shebang. By rights, as the host, there should be some considerable effort to support and promote local candidates (and bloggers!). I am counting on you for some extra smart commentary because you're extra smart. Duh, I guess I should have planned ahead and put some really good content on the blog instead of all that dumb crap I have on their today.....;-) Its going to take me years ot get over that "charming" comment. Its like someone calling me adorable. It just doesn't compute.

[Myrna the Minx]

I was gave this a lot of thought over lunch. I think the proper descriptive terms for my blog are bawdily obnoxious or obnoxiously bawdy......

[Nevada Scandalmonger]

I think that Monger guy has been obsessively Wiccan lately. Or, rather, Wiccan obsessed--since he only engages in secular tree-huggings.

And he really only occasionally refers to himself Dole-like in the third person.

BTW, rumor has it that he may be skulking about that bigcity blogger moonbatfest tomorrow. But don't tell anybody.

[Myrna the Minx]

Obsessively Wiccan--that sounds about right and explains A LOT.