Anatomy of a Dick Wadhams Rumor: Nevada’s Chuck Muth Gets Last Word

Last Friday, the Dump Reid PAC out of Nevada sent out an email update that included the following note about Colorado’s Republican Party chairman and a leading Republican contender to take on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2010:

Sources confirm that Dick Wadhams was in Las Vegas recently to meet with [Sue] Lowden and is prepared to join the campaign if/when it becomes official.

Awakening from the long Labor Day weekend, the Dead Governors opined on Tuesday morning: “Dick Wadhams is reportedly considering a move to Nevada.”

Some time later that same day, fellow Right-leaning Colorado blogger Joshua Sharf reported on a memo from Wadhams that all but definitively indicated he had no plans to head to the Silver State. The Associated Press made it more definitive:

State Republican Party chairman Dick Wadhams says he’s not leaving Colorado to try to unseat Democratic Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada.

While the Dead Guvs updated their initial conjecture to say “so much for that rumor”, Westword blogger Michael Roberts gave the Pols an overly generous Wednesday morning plug.

Then, yesterday evening, I received another email update from the Dump Reid PAC’s Chuck Muth, with the last word to put the nail in a rumor that got out of hand rather quickly:

The only problem with this story is that no one ever said Wadhams WAS moving to Nevada. Here’s exactly what I wrote a couple days ago:

“Sources confirm that Dick Wadhams was in Las Vegas recently to meet with (Sue) Lowden and is prepared to join the campaign if/when it becomes official.”

Apparently the AP reporter has never heard of cell phones, fax machines, email, video conferencing and airplanes. The fact is a good consultant on a campaign need not be at ground zero to provide help, advice and guidance. That’s what local folks such as Nevada consultants Ryan Erwin and Robert Uithoven are for.

Would someone pass this along to that AP reporter. But you might have to mail it to him.

You might have to mail it to the Dead Guvs, too. (Come on, lighten up and laugh at yourselves a bit….)