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Iran: The latest revelations about the assassination plot by parts of the Iranian government will likely grab foreign policy headlines this week.  Iran will push back and the rest of the world will push harder.  Of course, had the previous administration not been so casual with facts and intelligence, convincing the rest of the world this is a big problem wouldn’t be such a heavy lift.

Occupy <insert location here>: The Occupy movement greatly expanded this weekend with gatherings across the world.  It is an impression expression of rage at the current system and the problem with the elite in this country getting a sweet deal for past decade or so while the rest of us terribly suffer.  Rage is good but useless unless there is a trigger point for constructive action.  Will that action be at the ballot box or some other formal push to change governmental or business policy.  The world is watching and the organization risks losing that attention unless they come up with something construction soon.

Occupy Wall Street: The movement or gathering or whatever it is is undeniably growing.  With events all over the nation including Las Vegas and Reno, the groundswell of activism will continue this week.  So will the big questions – what do they want? do they have the political skills to force change?

Nevada Redistricting Debacle: The Legislature’s failure to have a plan passed and approved by the Governor has created quite a mess out of redistricting.  The Supreme Court is going to take a look at the issue but allow the process of the three Masters to hold hearings and draw lines continue.  Basically there are now two parallel possibilities underway: one in which the master process is upheld and those plans become law and one in which the Supreme Court steps in.

2012 Speculation: Speculation over Governor Christie of New Jersey has reignited and this time he is thinking about it.  Also. Mike Huckabee is wondering why they hell he sat this one out.  The bad news for the candidates already declared is that these possibilities likely froze some giving prior to last week’s money deadline.  Look for less than glamorous finance reports when those become public.

Supreme Court Begins: Tis the season for the Supreme Court to begin hearing cases.  There are several potentially big issues this term including the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).  For those who don’t know much about how they operate.  They will or have received a paper argument from each side, then they will hear an oral argument, then sometime early/mid next year the court will actually announce its rulings in opinions.

Herman Cain: He won the Florida straw poll and is now in a healthy third (much healthier than his pizzas).  With the news over the weekend that Perry likes to hunt at a place called N*ggerhead, the only minority candidate will be asked to comment and he’s already firing away.  Of course, the punishment for success is attacks so watch for the two frontrunner (or at least their surrogates) to roll out some attacks on Cain’s business record.

Crash in Reno – The full impact of the crash at the Reno Air Races will be on display for the news this week.  We will get the final death toll and start to hear stories of those who perished.  An actual cause will not be announced for months, if ever. There will also be calls to end the sport which are cries of overreaction rather than a thoughtful response.

GOP Establishment – they were able to avoid an ugly wide open race and therefore able to give their chairman the nomination and a big leg up on the special election.

Media – The spectacle kept the media flush with advertising cash as well as stories to fill column space.  As a general rule, everyone can lose big in an election and the media will still win.

Jill Derby – She bowed out gracefully avoiding potentially ugly infighting for the nomination and the hard feelings that would follow.  In addition, some are noting that her strategy during her runs in 2006 and 2008 may have been more effective.  If she wants the nomination in 2012 she has a strong argument for being a viable candidate.

The anti-Blue Dogs – The Marshall campaign ran to the right and hugged the Blue Dog mentality.  A significant portion of the left believe that the Blue Dog/DLC strategy of running as a quasi-Republican is a bad idea and a recipe for loss.  The large loss of Democratic support for their candidate as revealed in the PPP poll adds evidence to this argument.

Democratic Fundraising – One of the bright spots for the Marshall campaign was their ability to continuously out-raise her opponent.  Not only was she able to raise boatloads of money for a Democrat with a fairly tenuous chance to begin with but it didn’t seem that the fundraising tapered off even as chances of victory looked more and more dim.

Losers:

The Tea Party – The strategy by the Nevada Republican Party to freeze them out of the election through successful litigation ensured that a Tea Party candidate wouldn’t be able to play the roll of spoiler.  Amodei may have spoken to their issues during the campaign but I don’t know anyone who would call him a Te Party candidate.

DCCC – Nevadans, especially Northern Nevadans, have long memories and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s real or perceived betrayal of Kate Marshall will not soon be forgotten.  When they come asking for money Northern Nevada Democrats will be less likely to open their wallets.  Being the DCCC endorsed candidate will no longer be a sign of a quality candidate in the mind of Nevadans.

Out-of-State Strategists – Let’s face it.  The campaign for Nevada’s Second Congressional District left many long time activists scratching their heads.  Whether it be Marshall’s hard turn right (Nevada is nowhere near Missouri) when this was truly a base election from the start or Amodei’s terrible California based PR guy (Nevada Democrats aren’t going to be upset that Marshall supports gun rights), it was clear that neither campaign had the kind of local knowledge of the district or Nevada politics to make the race truly noteworthy and exciting.

Democrats’ Redistricting Advantage – Incumbent protection is a legal consideration for redistricting.  With the lines not yet drawn and special masters appointed to do the drawing, two of the four congressional districts will have Republican incumbents.  This means that a 2-2 split is more likely than what the Democrats had hoped would be a 3-1 split.  This will be especially true if the judge in charge of the issue rules that there must be a majority-minority Latino district. The Democratic loss is not just about the next 14 months but the next 10 years.  I wonder if anyone gave this last issue much thought in the machine’s lackluster performance.

Special Elections – There are two special elections on Tuesday.  Nevada and New York.  At the moment both look like bad news for Democrats.  Of course the DCCC gets involved with the race closer to home and forgets the western battle.  Nevadans will not likely forget the DCCC’s betrayal in this special election.

Jobs Bill – Reactions to the Obama jobs bills has been mixed as Republicans as expected are already working to dismantle it and Democrats seem to be maybe aggressive this time.  If Obama does his usual negotiation, by the time this thing is done there will only be tax cuts left in the bill and perhaps an elimination of the Department of Education.  The only thing saving Obama at this point is the Republican field of candidates.

GOP Debate – Wednesday night is the first GOP debate with now front runner Governor Perry.  It will be interesting to see how he handles the national spotlight and how the other candidates handle him.  The cast of characters is pretty much set (which was a worry as this debate was originally scheduled for the spring).  Michelle Bachmann will have to pounce as Perry is sucking up all her oxygen.  If she does, Romney can sit back and look somewhat dignified.

Cheney Tour -  I missed this story last week but Dick Cheney is going on a full book tour promoting his memoir.  There are plenty of critics of not only the book (already refuted by 2 or 3 of his colleagues) but its purpose as well.  It is a defense of his actions as Vice President and what the rest of the civilized world pretty much agrees are war crimes.  This week the tour will continue and we may see more fallout.

There is my brief rant.  I think that the coverage was way too much especially for the national news channels but think that such coverage was perfectly acceptable for local stations who needed to get out critical storm information.  If there is a huge fire raging in my back yard, my local station should probably cover it; the national news outlets do not.

NV CD 2 Early Voting - Early voting has begun in the Second Congressional race between Kate Marshall and Mark Amodei.  The numbers by party are released each day and so political watchers will look to see if turnout seems to be favoring the Democrats or the Republicans.  The first day was clearly won by Republicans and so the Washoe and Nevada Dems have some catch up to play.

Irene - The huge national attention to this storm was somewhat nauseating.  We get it, it’s a storm, it’s big, it’s over.  There will be aftermath stories for the first few days this week and then periodic checking in as the week marches forward.

Perry in the Spotlight – With the super duper important East Coast earthquake and storms out of the way, the national media might start turning their attention back to the Presidential race and the new GOP frontrunner.  Governor Perry is certainly here to hurl firebombs into the debate and at some point, the flash will wear off and we’ll get a closer examination.  The new battle between Romney and Perry may have implications for the Nevada Caucus.  If Perry wins Iowa and Romney wins New Hampshire, a Perry win in Nevada prior to South Carolina could end it all.  If Romney wins Nevada by a healthy margin he can lose in South Carolina and march on to a protracted battle with Perry until the convention.  Hillary/Obmama 2.0.