Jim, Sigal, and Michele just living their best lives

 You may think Nevada Republican candidate for secretary of state Jim Marchant is just a despicable election denying conspiracy peddler who, given the opportunity, would eagerly reject the will of Nevada’s citizens if more of them voted for a Democrat than a Republican.

And he is.

But he’s also a businessman! Or was? Whatever.

Last week the Review-Journal reported that Marchant’s entrepreneurial enterprises had a habit of getting sued over the years, and losing, for breaching contracts and not paying bills. You can see why Donald Trump, America’s deadbeat-in-chief, would call Marchant a “legendary businessman.” Well, a Marchant campaign person told the Review-Journal that’s what Trump said once.

Maybe Trump said that in 2020, when Marchant was losing an election for Congress. Trump endorsed him that year. Trump does not appear to have endorsed Marchant this year as yet.

Marchant has however been endorsed by Adam Laxalt. And Trump has endorsed Laxalt. So Marchant is only one degree removed from a Trump endorsement? Hmm, I seem to be digressing. Where was I?

Oh right. Deadbeat businessman. In fairness to Marchant, the qualifications required to run a business haphazardly and ineffectively – or even right into the ground – may be entirely different from the skill-set (hate, paranoia, hostility to facts, affection for QAnon, etc.) needed in any effort to deprive voters of their choice and steal an election from them. Apples and oranges. Maybe.

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You may think Nevada Republican candidate for attorney general Sigal Chattah is just a rootin’ tootin’ MegaMAGAhead who coined this campaign cycle’s most distinctive if disturbing campaign slogan when she said the Black man who currently has the job “should be hanging from a f***ing crane.”

And she is. 

But she’s also a lawyer! Granted, she’s a lawyer who, when asked a question about the legal status of abortion rights in Nevada, gave the wrong answer. But a lawyer nonetheless. 

Which is an important point in this instance because the Legislature passed a law that says you can’t be attorney general unless you are a member of the state bar.

And that’s an important point in this instance because a Libertarian non-lawyer filed to run for AG, so Chattah got fellow rootin’ tootin’ MegaMAGAhead and Republican gubernatorial primary loser (though he’s in denial, sniffle) Joey Gilbert to sue to get the Libertarian off the ballot. To which the office of Nevada’s Republican secretary of state said yikes you should have asked earlier because it’s too late now, or words to that effect, and a judge agreed, the Nevada Independent reported Wednesday.

Before you start sending sympathy cards to Chattah, you should know the Libertarian non-lawyer says he wanted to be taken off the ballot and has no intention of campaigning because goshdarnit the law’s the law. Which seems sort of a squishy position for a libertarian to take – if people want to elect a non-lawyer AG they should have the liberty to do that, amirite? Darned burdensome freedom-crushing government regulations. 

Come to think of it, how come instead of trying to get Big Government to uphold that law, Sigal, and Joey too for that matter, aren’t calling out its underlying un-Americanness? Why aren’t Sigal and Joey championing her fellow freedom-loving libertarian’s rights and… Hmm, I seem to be digressing. Where was I?

Oh right, squishy Libertarian will probably be on the ballot whether he likes it or not. 

Yes, Libertarian votes are votes that otherwise would go to the Republican. Conceptually. In practice, though, you may have noticed over the years that Libertarians rarely if ever perform as well as polling might suggest, or as Republicans might fear, or as Democrats might hope. It seems a gut check kicks in when it’s time for right-wing voters to cast their ballots, and they vote for the candidate they think has the best chance of winning, i.e., the Republican. Whether Chattah wins or loses won’t hang, er, hinge on the performance of a third party candidate. 

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You may think Republican state treasurer candidate Michele Fiore is a scandal-ridden grifter and carnival loon barking at the moon and hoping for the moon and the loons to notice her.

And she is.

Some things never change.