Rough campaign

The Republican nominee for Nevada secretary of state, Rob Lauer, has been charged with misdemeanor battery against a member of a leading Las Vegas Republican family.

Lauer is accused of assaulting Jennifer Von Tobel, one of six daughters of former state legislator and U.S. House candidate George Von Tobel. She has been involved in a Republican campaign against U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley and is involved in Easter Seals activity.

It’s difficult to say which version of the incident is more damaging to Lauer—his own or Van Tobel’s.

She says that during a gathering at a Las Vegas bar he wanted to show her moves he learned as a military policeman and grabbed her and bent her over the bar in a wrist lock.

He says she got him in a headlock while she was drunk.

Von Tobel, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was treated at a hospital for injuries. Las Vegas newspapers reported that an unreleased video surveillance tape supports Von Tobel’s account.