(From the November 1 edition of the Las Vegas Penny Press)

Markets, Economy Make 2008
Race Murkier
Oil at over $90 a barrel. Gas over $3 a gallon. Gold approaching
$800 an ounce. The dollar sinking against all major currencies including
the Euro. Even the Canadian loonie is worth more than a dollar!
Republicans in charge of the White House. Democrats in charge of
Congress.
This is good news for who?
Not the Republicans, worn by total internal bickering and indecision.
What do the Republicans believe in. Are they conservative, or just CINO
(Conservative In Name Only).
Not the Democrats, who after a year of acting like they’re harder
working than the Republicans, will be falling back to the three-day work
week of their predecessors. Democrats are more and more coming under
fire from their own supporters for not getting the job they were elected for
done!
Nope, this isn’t a year that either party relished running an election on
the issues.
No wonder so much of the focus continues to be on the personalities.
With the track record of both parties, neither one deserves your support at
the polls.
Who could be the real winner?
None of the above.
On the Democratic side of the line, it’s so far shaping up to be a
two-candidate race. With all the attention being focused on Hillary and
Barack, it would be nearly impossible for anyone else to garner the nomination.
Although Bill Richardson is gaining significant momentum by
staying above the fray and taking to the high moral ground. Focusing
on issues is the right thing to do, although you’ll see very little of that
amongst the front runners.
On the Republican side, the relentless chant for Rudy is becoming
deafening. Although Mitt Romney’s money advantage and significant
spending is pumping his numbers up in early primary states. Some
believe that advantage will disappear once Rudy takes the padlock off his
war chest. Ignoring Ron Paul and his grass roots support is also the only
way to neutralize his campaign. Every time the mainstream media notices
him and the significant amount of money being raised by his campaign in
dribs and drabs, it brings more people into his camp. Imagine if he was
being covered like the so-called “big players”. If Paul were to withdraw
from the Republican race, there’s a ready made third party candidacy.
Here is where the real story lies.
In a normal campaign year, with the usual parameters, primaries in
March, April, and May, convention in August, election in November, third
party candidacies can be marginalized and be non-factors.
But this is anything but a normal campaign year.
Primaries as early as December, with the real possibility of a candidate
having enough delegates to wrap up the nomination by late January or
early February. That’s a good 60 to 90 days advantage that a third party
can use to organize and build momentum.
Could a third party candidate actually gain the momentum to knock off
the big two? Is it possible for a non-Republicrat to actually garner enough
attention in the media to win a major elected office?
Ask Jesse Ventura.
It can be done, but I sure hope that some people are laying the groundwork
now.
I’ve occasionally questioned the wisdom, or lack thereof, at the RTC
and CAT, but the recently released October schedules remove any questioning.
A number of routes have been set up with alternative routing, so
sometimes the bus you take to get home or to work will get you there, but
sometimes not.
And rather than have a bus run one route all shift, they have bus routing
set up so that the same bus crosses multiple routes. I would like to
know who the rocket scientist was who decided that the Rainbow, Craig,
and Nellis routes should all be combined. Daytime busses running from
Rainbow & Russell to Rainbow & Craig to Craig & Nellis to Stephanie &
Horizon Ridge in Henderson and back! Sounds like someone’s thinking
way too hard...
The reason that I continue to work with the esteemed publisher of this
newspaper is that he truly believes in community service. Over the years
red has learned the lesson that you can still be profitable and serve your
readers well. That is a fact that has been lost on far too many people in
the media these days.
So when I heard the many reports of the good work done by many
broadcasters in the coverage of the wildfires in Southern California, I
again became proud of what the media in general, and radio in particular,
can do.
When the power goes out, and the WiFi pops go down, one source can
still be there for you. Radio. It is a factor not promoted enough by stations
large and small. Hopefully the job done by these stations reminds
the listeners of who they can turn to in an emergency.
WYATT COX
Wyatt Cox still has his Freeplay wind-up radio for when the big one hits.
Hit him up at rant.wyattcox.net