.Dean Heller named to fill Nevada Senate seat

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

.Dean Heller named to fill Nevada Senate seat
By Timothy Pratt Timothy Pratt – Wed Apr 27, 8:16 pm ET

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Nevada's governor on Wednesday named third-term Congressman Dean Heller to fill the nearly two years remaining in the Senate term of fellow Republican John Ensign, who is resigning next week following a sex scandal.

The appointment, though temporary, will likely give Heller an incumbent's advantage in the 2012 race for a six-year term in the seat that Democrats are sure to target to widen their Senate majority. Heller announced in March that he would run in 2012 for the Senate seat, after Ensign said he would not run for reelection.

Las Vegas Sun political columnist Jon Ralston told Reuters he anticipates the 2012 campaign for Ensign's old seat to be "one of the most watched" Senate elections next year.

He added that Senate Republicans will do "all they can to make (Heller) seem indispensable" to voters by giving him plum assignments within their caucus.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110428/pl_nm/us_nevada

[No Elephants]

1. One of many reasons we need to care deeply about gubernatorial elections outside our own state.

[catgirl]

2. Yup n/t