Romney Rallies Reno Republicans

Republican Mitt Romney told a cheering crowd of about 4,500 in Reno they will play a big role in deciding who’s the next president. Romney said during a lunch-hour speech Wednesday he’s confident Nevada will help send him to the White House in November.

The former Massachusetts governor appealed to everyone in the crowd to go out and find one person who voted for President Obama last time and persuade them to “come out and vote for us this time.”

Obama carried Nevada last time partly because he became the first Democrat since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to win the Republican-leaning Washoe County.

Meanwhile, Obama is in Las Vegas for a campaign rally featuring a free concert by pop singer Katy Perry at a park near downtown. The rally drew more than 5,000 people, with a fire official estimating several thousand more in long lines waiting to get in.

Prior to Obama’s arrival, Democratic Congresswoman and U.S. Senate candidate Shelley Berkley told the crowd Nevada is the key to re-electing him.

Then there’s a top advisor for Governor Brian Sandoval whose predicting Romney will lose the state November 6th. Lobbyist and former Republican lawmaker Pete Ernaut says Obama will carry Nevada by one to three percentage points.

Rasmussen Reports conducted a statewide presidential poll that shows Obama has a 2-percent over Romney at 50-48. Third party candidates and undecided voters were both at 1-percent statewide.

The former chief of staff to Sandoval is now the special assistant to the president for external affairs at University of Nevada, Reno. Heidi Gansert will help involved in university outreach and building partnerships with business and industry, organizations and other agencies.

Gansert served as Sandoval’s chief of staff from January 2011 until her resignation in September. Before that she served six years in the Nevada Assembly, representing District 25 in Reno.

After four days of early voting, 17 percent of active Nevada voters have already cast ballots in the upcoming election. The secretary of state’s office shows 214,609 people have voted, either in person or by mail, since early voting began Saturday.

Of those, ballots received from Democrats total 99,415, compared with 79,697 cast by Republicans. The remaining ballots are nonpartisan or voters registered with minor political parties.

Finally, a state judge in Carson City has struck down a Nevada tax initiative pushed by the state teachers union to raise money for education.  In a ruling issued Tuesday, District Judge James Wilson said the initiative’s description  was misleading and deceptive on several grounds and  is invalid.

The Nevada State Education Association backed the measure to impose a 2 percent margins tax on businesses making $1 million or more annually. The teachers union said it would raise $800 million a year for education.