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John McCain bets on Nevada’s forgetfulness |
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 John McCain bets on Nevada’s forgetfulness
John McCain is scheduled to visit Nevada on Friday — in the middle of
the March Madness betting season, which is one of the busiest times of
the year for casinos. So will he speak up about his efforts to ban
legal betting on college athletics?
Throughout his time in the Senate, McCain worked to ban legal betting
on amateur sports, including college basketball and football. While
his bill failed to become law, McCain said in 2005 he would
reintroduce it if a gambling scandal came up again [Las Vegas
Review-Journal, Feb. 12, 2008].
Caught up in the issue, McCain even cancelled a fundraiser for
Congressman Jon Porter at a Sports Book operator’s home in 2000. “The
cancellation was blamed on a staff miscommunication, but McCain made it
clear he thought it looked inappropriate for him to be seen collecting
$1,000 checks on behalf of Porter from the bookmakers,” the
Review-Journal’s John L. Smith wrote at the time. “What appears far
more likely is that once the confidential fund-raiser was made public,
McCain was caught playing both sides of the American gambling debate,”
Smith wrote.
McCain has flip-flopped on this issue several times — while running for
president this cycle, he has kept an NCAA bracket for supporters to
fill out on his campaign Web site.
“Nevadans are already facing a state budget deficit that threatens
education and health care, and March Madness is one of Nevada’s biggest
revenue generators of the year,” said Kirsten Searer, Deputy Executive
Director of the Nevada Democratic Party.
“When he visits Nevada during March Madness, it’s time for John McCain
to clear this up once and for all and promise Nevadans that he would
never again support an unfair ban on legal college betting,” Searer
said.
This is McCain’s first trip to Nevada in nearly a year — McCain did
little to campaign during Nevada’s caucus and came in third, behind Ron
Paul. As he’s shown in the past, John McCain has no problem singling
out Nevada or ignoring the wishes of its residents — he also supports
making Yucca Mountain the nation’s nuclear waste dump despite
overwhelming local opposition.
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Congressional District 3 is poised for a change in 2008
Clark County Delegate Event Results
US Senator from New York and Candidate for President of the United States.