Kenny Guinn was elected the governor of Nevada in a 1998 landslide. But the outcome was determined long before a single voter stepped into a polling booth. Nevada's foremost political reporter, Jon Ralston, argues that the power and money of the casino industry, combined with the behind-the-scenes string-pulling of a powerful and ruthless cabal of political insiders, render important Nevada elections a mere formality. Guinn had never before been on a ballot. But he had cultivated the right friends, served on the right boards, and paid decades worth of political dues. Thus, when he decided to call in his markers, the powers that anoint paid off.