Ruling sets stage for election

Republican nominee Mark Amodei could be justified in yelling "Bingo!" as 22 major party candidates were dropped from the ballot in a supreme court ruling issued Tuesday.

With a stroke of a pen, the courts narrowed the field of candidates to replace Rep. Dean Heller from 29 to eight on Tuesday. Four independent candidates were bounced from the ballot for failing to gather enough signatures on Wednesday.

A majority of the Nevada Supreme Court said that District Court Judge Todd Russell provided the right ruling, but for the wrong reason.

Ross Miller's Ballot Royale vaporized in a cloud of smoke and we now have something akin to a regular election for Sept. 13.

With a substantial Republican majority in Congressional District 2, Amodei would have to work pretty hard to lose the race.

We get the feeling that Kate Marshall's not going to be a pushover, and there will be a lot of campaign money pouring into the state on both sides.

That's not to say it couldn't happen if all the district's Democrats and independents banded together behind one candidate.

For that to happen both constituencies would have to be motivated to vote against Amodei in a way we doubt will happen.

Democrats have already tasted one victory in one congressional district with a Republican majority, with the election of Kathy Hochul in New York's 26th Congressional District. They are hungry for another one.

But being hungry and being fed are two very different things. No Democrat has won Nevada's Congressional District 2 ... ever.