Nevadans fight for health care reform

Millions of Americans, including 470,000 Nevadans, have no health insurance. But Pres. Barack Obama and Congress are working hard to fix our broken health care system.
 
To be successful, the president and Nevada's Democratic delegation in Washington need your help. To bring about the change you voted for in 2008, work with Nevada Organizing for America to make sure Congress passes real reform that gives Americans access to the quality, affordable health care they deserve.
 
OFA needs to hear from you. Your effort and commitment are the backbone of this movement and this organization.  Please join them at a Listening Tour stop across the state.  Click here to sign up.
 
And voice your support for health care reform by signing his online health care declaration.
 
Finally, Obama supporters will hold a Health Care Week of Action across Nevada beginning on Monday, July 20.   Join us throughout the week to call and canvas to collect health care declarations and spread the word about these important reforms, and check back here for details on more events that week.

Republicans Distracted While Democrats Get Down to Business

Over the last month, news out of the Republican party has been equal parts sad, salacious and suspicious.
 
Nevada Sen. John Ensign revealed he had an affair with a campaign staffer who was married to another high-ranking official staff member after the couple took their story to Fox News. Then South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford disappeared for several days over Father's Day weekend, only to return to reveal that he, too, had engaged in an extra-marital affair with a woman from Argentina. And over the Fourth of July weekend, Sarah Palin announced she would step down as governor of Alaska for nebulous reasons.
 
Questions still swirl over whether Ensign violated the law by paying severance to mistress and former campaign staffer Cindy Hampton from his own pocket in violation of FEC regulations or by dismissing the Hamptons from his employ in violation of Senate rules as alleged by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. CREW has asked for both ethics and criminal investigations. But Ensign should also clear these questions up for his constituents, who have already suffered from Ensign's loss of his Republican leadership role in Washington.
 
And the troubles of these Republicans - like those of Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons - have also interrupted the important work these politicians were elected to do. On the day John Ensign returned from a week-long hiatus after his revelation of the eight-month affair, the Travel Promotion Act he cosponsored with Sen. Harry Reid was shot down on a party-line, cloture vote. Ensign managed to secure only one Republican vote - and that from a senator Florida - in addition to his own for the bill, which could have created up to 40,000 jobs and saved the U.S. government half a billion dollars.
 
Likewise, we've seen Gov. Jim Gibbons personal life take over the political stage here in Nevada, stealing headlines from more important issues. Most recently, Gibbons made headlines when a judge ruled Chrissy Mazzeo could continue her civil rights lawsuit against the governor and his associates stemming from his alleged assault of the former cocktail waitress outside a Las Vegas restaurant.
 
Meanwhile Democrats here at home and in Washington are working hard to pass meaningful healthcare reform and environmental safeguards, create jobs in this difficult economy and save homeowners from foreclosure in Nevada and nationwide.