Jon Ralston

In an interview Wednesday morning with "Face to Face" host Jon Ralston, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Searchlight) refused to back down from comments he made last week to colleague U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) that "I can't stand John McCain."

Instead, he ramped up his criticism of the Arizona U.S. senator and presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

DENVER – Nevada only has five electoral votes. But in what is expected to be a close presidential contest, those five votes could well swing the election.

As of today, the Silver State is widely seen as a tossup, with the Pindell Report ranking the contest as the most competitive battleground in the country.  And Nevada has another dimension of fascination this cycle, with the state’s pledged delegates splitting between Democratic primary rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Moments after the Nevada delegation finished their breakfast meeting at the Marriott here this morning, PolitickerNV.com today spoke with two leading Silver State political observers about the presidential landscape in Nevada.

“It’s the first convention I’ve been to in 20 years,” said Jon Ralston, whose column for the Las Vegas Sun is considered a must-read for the state’s political class. “I mean usually there’s nothing around at these things, it’s just pageantry and spectacle.”

DENVER – One of the Silver State’s noted political observers threw cold water on a surprising poll that showed Democrat Jill Derby running a surprisingly strong challenge to U.S. Rep. Dean Heller (R-Carson City).

“I find that poll hard to believe,” said newspaper columnist Jon Ralston, referring to the survey released last week finding Derby within five points of the first term Heller. The same survey in June found Derby 15 points behind.

“I don’t know whether they oversampled Washoe County, which Jill Derby beat Dean Heller last time but then got crushed in rural Nevada, which is the majority of the district,” Ralston continued. “But that poll doesn’t sound right to me. If that poll is right, though, that is saying something that no one else picked up on.”