The members of the national punditocracy are already focused on who will be at the top of major-party tickets in 2014. Are we looking at a Hillary-Marco finale or will other figures surge to the first rank of the endless national horse race?

We local Democrats have nearer and more immediately pressing considerations: Who is best suited to deny the 3rd District’s most prominent Republican a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives? How can we assure that Democrats will return to the elective offices in Clark County government? Where will we find the superior candidates who have real chances to give the county a stronger Democratic delegation in the 2015 Legislature? How will we make connections to the two new legislative districts with precincts in northern and eastern Clark County? How can we best welcome and encourage the people who volunteer to join our causes in the weeks and months to come?

Those and other challenges require unified effort of a kind that really does not come altogether naturally to folks inclined to gather under the Democratic Party banner. In past political cycles the local Democratic Party was too often rent asunder by ideological battles we could have avoided. We cannot afford to lose.

Office hours established
Clark County Democratic Central Committee elected officers plan to hold regular office hours at the organization’s facility at 612 E. McLoughlin Blvd., formerly the Carpenters’ Union Hall.

As county chair and also editor of this newsletter, I will be available from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Vice Chair Liz Campbell will be in the office from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday. Treasurer Tom Lineham will staff the office Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to noon.