The awesomely awful state of our politics

So, this is our politics now: Cliven Bundy, Boy Scout photos, bedbugs and unpaid bills?

The Republican primaries in the races for lieutenant governor and the 4th Congressional District have distinguished themselves primarily for being about things other than the offices being sought, and what the candidates pledge to actually do if they win.

Instead, we’ve learned a whole hell of a lot about the personalities involved, seemingly none of it good.

We know Sue Lowden hasn’t paid more than half a million dollars in bills from her unsuccessful 2010 Republican primary run against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. (That hasn’t stopped the Democratic Party, which worked hard to defeat Lowden four years ago, from cheering for her this time around; it apparently thinks state Sen. Mark Hutchison is a tougher foe for the general election.)

Speaking of Hutchison, we know he’s a “personal injury attorney” who has exploited his dedicated service as a leader in the Boy Scouts of America to wrongly imply the organization is endorsing his candidacy. (He’s not, and they’re not, for the record.)

We know that Niger Innis, a spokesman for the Congress for Racial Equality, is so strongly against taxes that he failed to pay a lot of them back in New York, and that the IRS is still after him. He’s asking voters to do something that he hasn’t done much of himself: vote. Innis may rail against President Barack Obama and his signature achievement, health care, but when it came time to have a voice in keeping Obama out of the White House in 2008, Innis had other things to do.

We know Assemblyman Cresent Hardy filed bankruptcy in his construction business, which gives him something in common with a lot of other Nevadans in the recession. But we also know that he’s soft on Obamacare, having voted to implement it by hiring facilitators, offering businesses a tax credit and expanding Medicaid.

(Inexplicably, Hardy says he’d vote to repeal the law he helped implement if he’s lucky enough to get to Washington, D.C., although he allowed recently that he regrets everything but his vote to expand Medicaid. But Hardy was joined by a solid bipartisan majority on those votes.)

Hardy and Innis apparently agree that ranting rancher Cliven Bundy is a victim of the federal government, and that somehow, Reid is behind the whole thing. But Hardy has staked out the liberal position, inasmuch as he thinks that Bundy should actually pay the grazing fees that Bundy has skipped out on for the last 20 years. Innis? Not so much. He’s still a defender of Bundy, although he’s said he disagreed with Bundy when the rancher wondered aloud if black people might not have been happier back in the days of slavery.

And Hardy and Innis also agree on taxes — they’ve signed the Americans for Tax Reform anti-tax pledge, although that hasn’t stopped Innis from pointing out that Hardy voted for a budget that included an extension of a package of taxes that were supposed to expire years ago.

Reid has also played a role in the lieutenant governor’s race: Hutchison has repeatedly noted that Lowden once donated money to the Democratic leader. Lowden copped to that one, saying Reid was “far less liberal” back in the day.

And bedbugs! A shadowy GOP operative revealed to the Review-Journal that the Pioneer Hotel in Laughlin — owned by Lowden and her husband, Paul — has been dealing with an infestation. According to the health district, however, they’re doing the right things to get rid of the bedbugs.

So, what does any of this have to do with who’s most qualified? What does it tell us about who’d do a better job bringing new tourists to town, or presiding over the Senate? What does Innis’ and Hardy’s Bundylove tell us, other than that both dislike and distrust the federal government they’re trying so hard to join? How are Republican voters possibly supposed to figure out who would be the best, most capable, most intelligent person to put into office?

That is what we’re supposed to be doing, isn’t it?

Steve Sebelius is a Las Vegas Review-Journal political columnist who blogs at SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.