RNC, Romney campaign will erect new organization to bypass state GOP

Fed up with an inept and self-destructive GOP apparatus in Nevada, the Republican National Committee and the Mitt Romney campaign have decided to erect a “shadow state party” in this critical swing state, sources confirmed today.

“They are still bogged down in the minutiae of whether Romney will be the presumptive nominee,” scoffed a GOP strategist familiar with the details of the restructuring. “We don’t have time for that when the Obama campaign already is in full campaign mode. We have no use for them (the state GOP).”

The lack of faith in the Republican Party here intensified with the botched February caucus, metastasized after the Ron Paul takeover in Sparks and reached its zenith with Tuesday evening’s call for RNC Chairman Reince Priebus to resign by a divided Clark County GOP

Priebus was described to me as “disappointed with the censuring,” which probably means his blood pressure went high enough to give an elephant a stroke. So Priebus, in concert with the Romney folks here, have decided to turn the so-called Team Nevada office on Tropicana into the de facto Republican Party.

“The goal is for us to be running get out the vote, running phone programs, voter ID, voter contact, everything through the Team Nevada headquarters,” the strategist told me. That is, everything the party is supposed to do, except the GOP here can’t raise money and has the inmates running the asylum.

He continued: “The RNC has said it is willing to do everything possible as the state party appears not to be willing to work with us, so we will do it without them.”

The plan would be to transfer money directly to Team Nevada and/or funnel some through the Washoe Republican Party, run by the respected Dave Buell, who is well-liked by the RNC and Romney folks.

To distill, the GOP insider said, “Essentially we’re setting up a shadow state party.”

And it will surely cast a long shadow over a state GOP that is trying to oust its executive director, David Gallagher, a political pro, while other staff departures seem likely as the Paul folks complete their coup. Even soon-to-be-former RNC Committeeman Bob List called the state GOP “dysfunctional” during an appearance today on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” although the former governor also blamed the Romney campaign for resting on its caucus win laurels and allowing the Paul revolution to occur.

But List is likely not to factor into these plans, which will feature full integration, as is occurring nationally, between the RNC and Romney. It’s also likely that after the June 12 primary clears the filed, the Rep. Joe Heck and Sen. Dean Heller campaigns will get on board.

This move has been inevitable and essential for some time for the RNC and Team Romney to combat a formidable Democratic machine. They won’t be able to do everything the Democrats can do, but separating themselves from the imploding and embarrassing party structure is a good first step.

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Trayvon’s Martin Family Lawyer On Zimmerman’s Medical Records

 

2012 Preakness Stakes Draw

Bodemeister slim favorite over I’ll Have Another for Preakness

Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) runner-up Bodemeister was installed as a slim morning-line favorite over Derby winner I’ll Have Another at Wednesday’s post position draw for the Preakness Stakes (G1), Saturday at Pimlico Race Course

Oddsmaker Frank Carulli tabbed Bodemeister, who drew post seven, as the 8-to-5 favorite. The colt was the favorite for the Kentucky Derby after romping to a win in the Arkansas Derby (G1) last month; he led into deep stretch at Churchill Downs before I’ll Have Another caught him in the final yards.

I’ll Have Another, who drew post nine, is the 5-to-2 second choice for the Preakness. The Flower Alley colt won the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G2) and the Santa Anita Derby (G1) prior to the Kentucky Derby.

The field of 11 runners includes six starters from the Kentucky Derby: I’ll Have Another, Bodemeister, Went the Day Well (fourth), Creative Cause (fifth), Daddy Nose Best (tenth), and Optimizer (11th). The other five entrants — Cozzetti, Pretension, Teeth of the Dog, Tiger Walk, and Zetterholm — are new shooters.

The Preakness Stakes field, in post position order, with owner, trainer, jockey, and morning-line odds:

1. Tiger Walk (Sagamore Farm; Ignacio Correas; Kent Desormeaux), 30-to-1

2. Teeth of the Dog (J.W. Singer LLC; Michael Matz; Joe Bravo), 15-to-1

3. Pretension (Kidwells Petite Stable, Christopher Grove, Javier Santiago), 30-to-1

4. Zetterholm (Winter Park Partners; Rick Dutrow; Junior Alvarado), 20-to-1

5. Went the Day Well (Team Valor International and Mark Ford; Graham Motion; John Velazquez), 6-to-1

6. Creative Cause (Heinz Steinmann; Mike Harrington; Joel Rosario), 6-to-1

7. Bodemeister (Zayat Stables and Michael and Tiffany Moreno; Bob Baffert; Mike Smith), 8-to-5

8. Daddy Nose Best (Bob and Cathy Zollars; Steve Asmussen; Julien Leparoux), 12-to-1

9. I’ll Have Another (J. Paul Reddam, Doug O’Neill, Mario Gutierrez), 5-to-2

10. Optimizer (Bluegrass Hall; D. Wayne Lukas; Corey Nakatani), 30-to-1

11. Cozzetti (Albaugh Family Stables, LLC; Dale Romans; Jose Lezcano), 30-to-1

 

15 students, 2 adults affected by rash at high school

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (WSVN) — Several students and teachers at a local high school have been hospitalized after breaking out in a rash while in class.

Broward County Public Schools officials have reported all the students affected were in a designated reading room, classroom 944, on the second floor of McArthur High School in Hollywood, Wednesday morning, when they complained about an itching rash.

Paramedics and HAZMAT crews arrived at the school and placed it on a “Soft lockdown.” A total of 15 students and two teachers were decontaminated at the school in makeshift showers and transported in a county school bus to Memorial Regional Hospital for examination as a precaution. None complained of respiratory problems.

The 17 patients arrived at the hospital under police escort. When the bus pulled into a parking garage. Those inside were brought out in pairs and hosed down again. They then they changed into HAZMAT suits and walked into the hospital.

Whatever substance caused this rash remains unknown. “It’s not a room that was used for chemistry that now is used … as a reading room. There shouldn’t have been any irritants or anything that caused the kind of reaction symptoms the patients seem to be be exhibiting at this time,” said a Hollywood Fire official on the scene.

When asked if he suspects whether a student may have brought a substance into the school, the fire official said they have no idea, at this time.

A student sent a video to 7News of hundreds of students held in a gym, kept away from the suspected contaminants, as HAZMAT crews continue to investigate.

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Judge grants class action status to NY frisk challenge

(Reuters) – A judge on Wednesday granted class-action status to a lawsuit challenging the New York Police Department’s controversial crime-fighting tactic known as “stop and frisk.”

District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan said that the lawsuit, filed in 2008 by four black men claiming they were improperly targeted by police because of their race, had established their cases were emblematic of a city-wide problem.

The NYPD has strongly defended the tactic, arguing it has been critical in taking guns off the streets and achieving an historic drop in crime rates. The police deny that race or quotas motivate stops and say they are stopping people considered suspicious.

“It is indisputable that the NYPD has an enormous stop and frisk program,” Scheindlin wrote in her 56-page opinion.

“The unlawful stops of putative class members result from a common source,” the judge said: “The department’s policy of establishing performance standards and demanding increased levels of stops and frisks.”

The class in question will be all “persons stopped or stopped and frisked on the basis of being black or Latino” since January 2005, the ruling said.

New York City’s law department said, “We respectfully disagree with the decision and are reviewing our legal options.”

The New York Civil Liberties Union this month said that in 2011, police performed more stop and frisk searches of young black men in aggregate than the total number of young black men living in New York.

Judge Scheindlin, who has issued several rulings in the plaintiffs’ favor, said the city’s “cavalier attitude towards the prospect of a ‘widespread practice of suspicionless stops’ displays a troubling apathy towards New Yorkers’ most fundamental constitutional rights.”

Darius Charney, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the case, said the ruling acknowledges the extent of illegal stop-and-frisks.

“The Court has rightly recognized that illegal stops-and-frisks are not limited to a few rogue police officers but are the product of a program designed at the highest level of the police department and affect hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of New Yorkers,” Charney said .

The judge set a May 29 hearing in the case.

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John Edwards case: Defense rests without calling Edwards, mistress

GREENSBORO, N.C. — John Edwards’ defense team rested Wednesday without calling the two-time Democratic presidential candidate or his one-time mistress to the witness stand, a sign of confidence after presenting little more than two days of testimony and evidence.

The defense had called a series of witnesses aimed at shifting the jury’s focus from the lurid details of a political sex scandal to the legal question of whether the Edwards’ actions violated federal campaign finance laws.

Prosecutors spent nearly three weeks trying to convince a jury that Edwards masterminded a conspiracy to use nearly $1 million secretly provided by two wealthy donors to help hide his pregnant mistress, Rielle Hunter, as he sought the White House in 2008.

Many people watching the case believed Edwards would testify so the jury could hear directly from the former U.S. senator and trial lawyer, who had a reputation for his ability to sway jurors. But putting Edwards on the stand was also a gamble: It would have exposed him to withering cross-examination about his past lies and personal failings.

Most experts were convinced calling Hunter to testify would have dredged up more negatives and lies. The defense also elected not to question Edwards’ oldest daughter, Cate, who has sat behind Edwards nearly every day of the trial and could have helped humanize him.

At one point during the trial, she ran out of the courtroom in tears during testimony about her cancer-stricken mother confronting her father about his extramarital affair.

The judge told jurors that no more witnesses would be called. It’s unclear exactly when closing arguments would start, but most likely Thursday.

Edwards is charged with six criminal counts including conspiracy to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act, accepting contributions that exceeded campaign finance limits, and causing his campaign to file a false financial disclosure report.

He faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if convicted of all charges.

Continued