While Brian Sandoval, Jim Gibbons and Mike Montandon were fighting out the GOP primary, Rory Reid was quietly and efficiently raising money. And now we see to what use it will be put: Reid has a new ad that slams Sandoval on the subject of education, which Reid clearly thinks is an issue that plays to his advantage.
The ad is clearly designed to do what previous ads have not, which is to force Sandoval to engage with Reid. Up until now, Sandoval has been raising money of his own, but generally ignoring Reid except when we pesky members of the press call. But this ad could change all that.
A caveat: Sandoval has not “cut” education, or done anything else to it, for that matter, since he’s not in office. Reid is speaking here about the potential for problems should Sandoval get elected, should he fully implement his short-term deficit reduction plan, should teachers refuse the requested 4 percent pay cuts and thus leave officials will no choice but to do layoffs, and should he stick to his no-new-taxes pledge and thus be forced to balance a budget with a gaping $3 billion hole. In other words, there are a fair number of assumptions behind it.
It also betrays the frustration and even a slight hint of desperation exhibited by the Reid camp, which is clearly annoyed at being ignored by Sandoval, who was the front-runner the moment he entered the race and has remained so, although Reid has closed the gap sightly, according to the most recent Review-Journal/8NewsNow poll.
On the other hand, education is a key issue, not only for parents, but for the economic development of the state. A candidate who is callous toward education — as Sandoval is portrayed in this ad — is a candidate jeopardizing the state’s future, precisely the impression Reid seeks to leave with viewers.
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