Officials attacked

News releases from political party committees intended to soften incumbents up for next year’s election come in regularly these days.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out a release claiming, “Tuesday’s announcement by the Obama Administration of $1 billion to hire and rehire more police officers to keep Nevada families safe would not have happened if Representative Dean Heller had his way. Earlier this year, Heller said no to the economic recovery package that is now being used to provide these new jobs for police officers and the added safety for Nevada families that comes with them.”

At the same time, the National Republican Senatorial Committee drew attention to a quote from U.S. Sen. Harry Reid in the July 29 edition of The Hill, a congressional affairs newspaper: “With very rare exception, Republicans in the United States Senate do not represent mainstream Republicans in this country.”

As it happened, Reid was echoing comments made by GOP leaders themselves. (See “Is bipartisanship marketable?")

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep Shelley Berkley of Las Vegas was speaking for herself instead of through party groups. She sent out a release of the glories of all things stimulus and how they will help Nevada, including tax credits, tax cuts, and projects from health care to education.