Gathered

-- Some of the late Hugh Hefner's possessions will be auctioned at the end of next month.

Disinfectant extra.

-- Dennis Hof will be on the ballot for the Nevada State Legislature on Election Day and is likely to win his race. The wrinkle is that he passed away Tuesday. A couple of the political consultants quoted in the story think that his passing may actually increase Hof's chances for victory: He was running as a Republican, but he owned brothels and large segments of the GOP would have been a little reticent to vote for him. But now, knowing that he will not serve and the vacancy will be filled by a state-specified process, those same voters will have much less discomfort.

And in any event, a dead man is hardly the worst thing that Nevada voters have ever put into public service.

-- No link for this, just an observation. Our current gubernatorial race pits GOP newcomer Kevin Stitt against Democrat and former state Attorney General Drew Edmondson. With Libertarian Chris Powell, an Oklahoma City police dispatcher, in the mix as well. A vote against Stitt is pretty much a given -- if I wanted to spend the next four years watching Eddie Haskell I'd buy some Leave It to Beaver DVDs. But to vote for Edmondson or Powell? Edmondson trails Stitt but has significant support, so a vote for him could count. On the other hand he's a career politician who will have a healthy desire to get elected or re-elected, and a propensity to sell whatever he needs to seal that deal. Moreover, his major pitch to this point has been that he has a plan to help fix the state educational system's funding woes. What I've seen of it seems promising, but what we haven't heard is Edmondson's plan for getting his plan past a legislature controlled by the opposing party and unfriendly to most of his ideas. If you've got great ideas but no way to get them passed, then you haven't made the case I should vote for you.