Nothing to be gleaned from apathetic primary results

Looking for election trends in the 2012 Nevada primary is more than challenging. It's nigh impossible.

Negative campaigns work, right?

Well, they worked well enough to unseat Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, who wasn't liberal enough for Democratic activists. They worked vigorously to unseat him with a newbie candidate, Patricia Spearman, who was pro-choice to the incumbent Mormon Democrat's pro-life stance.

But in the 4th Congressional District, newcomer Dan Schwartz's efforts to tarnish ultimate GOP primary victor Danny Tarkanian's reputation by impugning his business acumen failed. Schwartz even trailed perennial candidate Ken Wegner, who routinely spends almost nothing and campaigns on his record as an Army veteran, a record which the Review-Journal's Keith Rogers showed was questionable .

Based on negative campaigns always winning, both GOP candidates in Senate District 9 should have won.

Both went extremely negative. Republicans Brent Jones and Mari Nakashima St. Martin launched such personal attacks (essentially that he's a con man and she's a party girl) that the dirty work is already done for Democrat Justin Jones. In November, he will face St. Martin, who is already tarnished .

Incumbents and veteran politicians always win, right?

Tell that to Democrats Lee and Harry Mortenson, Las Vegas Republican Richard McArthur and Minden Republican Kelly Kite , who all lost in their primaries.

Sen. Lee was portrayed as too conservative a Democrat, and Assemblyman McArthur was painted as too conservative a Republican. Assemblyman Kite was judged too moderate and lost to a tea party candidate, John Wheeler, despite raising three times as much money.

In former Assemblyman Mortenson's bid for the Senate, his 40-year-old opponent, Aaron Ford, contended that at 81, Mortenson was too old.

Mortenson countered his 14 years in the Assembly made him more experienced than the never-elected Ford.

Mortenson also had an added insult. The Senate Democratic Caucus endorsed Ford, who like Majority Leader Steven Horsford, is African-American. Mortenson didn't say it as bluntly as I will, but the experienced old white guy was pushed aside for the young black guy with no prior experience.

The ones with the biggest pot of money always win, right?

Wrong once again. Lee, who raised $208,000, lost. Spearman only raised $13,000, but the $81,000 spent on her behalf by liberal groups paid for lots of hard-hitting anti-Lee mailers.

But to be honest, in a handful of other legislative primary upsets, the ones with the biggest bucks won, so Lee was an anomaly. Ford outraised Mortenson, Assemblyman Scott Hammond outraised McArthur, and St. Martin outraised Jones. All these party winners had the backing, and financial support, from their respective caucuses.

Voters favor women in judicial races, right?

Some think women get a boost in nonpartisan judicial races because voters may believe women are more honest.

Perhaps that kind of thinking helped Cynthia Dustin-Cruz pull ahead of Robert Kurth in a three-way race. But Justice of the Peace Bill Jansen, who now faces Dustin-Cruz in the fall, still pulled the most votes with 43 percent.

Being the only female didn't help Michelle Anthony in a four-way Las Vegas justice of the peace race; she came in last. So did Renee Mancino in a three-way race for Moapa justice of the peace.

In JP races in the rurals, where everyone knows your name, some women made the cut, some didn't.

Robocalls are annoyances and don't sway anybody, right?

Education activist Elaine Wynn's robocall certainly helped move Allison Serafin into top vote-getter status for the State Board of Education District 3. In a five-way race, Serafin took the lead with 31 percent of the vote. Ed Klapproth came in next with 21 percent. Heck, I even voted for her, trusting Wynn's judgment on education, and a few friends said the same thing.

Trend seekers, this year's Nevada primaries display only one trend - a lack of interest.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call her at 702-383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Morrison