GARDNERVILLE — Maybe it's best that clumsy congressional candidate David Flippo ducked Thursday night's debate at the community center here. At the rate he's going, he might have fallen off the stage.

Had Flippo bothered to show up, he would have found a room full of voters eager to hear candidates offer their views. But he also would have had some explaining to do. And as we're learning, offering credible explanations isn't the Republican's strong suit. I'm beginning to wonder what is.

Flippo's flipoff of a conservative small town located in the heart of a congressional district that's never elected a Democrat is a sign that he's either extremely confident or running scared. Whether arrogance or fear, neither is a good look for a fellow who leads with his military service.

You can be sure plenty of veterans were in attendance Thursday. And all they witnessed in the 2nd Congressional District "debate" was an energetic and informed performance by Democrat Teresa Benitez-Thompson. The 44-year Northern Nevada resident and former state legislator wove an impressive knowledge of policy with a love of community and family as she answered Douglas County District Judge Tod Young's questions to an increasingly appreciative audience.

People came at the dinner hour from down the street and across the county to hear the candidates discuss some of the important matters facing Nevadans and the nation. With high gas prices, a costly war and threats to Social Security among the clouds hanging over the country, it's little wonder the community center hall was filled.

It's a guarantee many of those seats were filled with conservative voters, the kind who normally wouldn't have been keen to hear what Benitez-Thompson had to say. But, with polls showing conservatives are tiring of President Donald Trump's reckless rhetoric and souring on his cratering policies, these aren't normal times.

Benitez-Thompson called out the Trump administration's tariff-and-trade war chaos, brought well-thought views on water and public lands issues, defended Social Security and promised to work to claw back some of the millions the state lost during the federal ransacking by the short-lived Department of Government Efficiency. She also pushed back against the administration's SAVE Act, countering that Nevada already has belt-and-suspenders election laws.

She did it all while reminding the audience of her Northern Nevada bona fides.

"I love this community. This is my home. Northern Nevada is where I'm going to spend the rest of my life. I'm not just here to try to campaign."

They went home with something to think about — a fresh face in the 2nd District. In a campaign to replace retiring eight-term Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), the energetic Benitez-Thompson and the AWOL Flippo are making maintaining the status quo in 2nd District less certain.

With no political resumé to speak of beyond boasting of his Trump endorsement, Flippo went from announcing his candidacy for Southern Nevada's 4th District to racing to Reno in time for the 2nd District primary. Trump won the district by 14 points in 2024, but I'm not sure how much that means in a time of $6-a-gallon diesel.

Flippo thoroughly smeared former state Sen. James Settelmeyer (R-Minden) before prevailing against the respected conservative rancher and former director of the Nevada Department of Conservation & Natural Resources. In the process, Flippo also made an enemy of the easygoing Amodei.

"You run an absolutely scurrilous campaign against a guy who's one of the nicest guys around," Amodei said of Flippo to host Sam Shad on Nevada Newsmakers. "The voters are never wrong, but guess what? Mark Amodei's not endorsing him."

The August interview got worse, and at one point the mild-mannered Shad acknowledged that Flippo, through his campaign, had rebuffed requests to appear on the program. Instead, Shad was offered interviews with surrogates to do the talking. He politely declined.

Amodei wasn't as understanding: "That's an interesting style. Oh, by the way, I find it incredibly interesting that you're asking people for a vote, but you're saying, my campaign professionals — or whatever they are — they'll go on the record for me. Wow."

For the record, Shad was told the candidate would be available after he's elected to Congress. Now that's arrogant.

Speaking of no-shows, Flippo's foot-dragging in submitting a standard U.S. House financial disclosure might be easily forgotten in a Congress gone off the rails. But it's not a small oversight — nor is it isolated. Such disclosures are required, and he failed to submit one in his failed 2024 4th District run.

What voters are unlikely to forget is Flippo's overhyping of the Bronze Star for meritorious service that he received in the Iraq War. By giving the appearance he had been awarded a Bronze Star for valor, a designation reserved for bravery in combat, he's managed to tarnish one of the things he's most proud of. His campaign signs feature him in his dress uniform.

Flippo apologized for the error, and initially blamed the mistake on a staffer. Good help is hard to find, but he was the one wearing a cap sporting double Vs and a replica of a Bronze Star. He then appeared to pass the responsibility for the cap decoration on to his grandchildren.

Oh, those kids — always giving grandad more credit than he deserves. But you have to admit their sense of political timing is uncanny. The eyebrow-raising, ahem, clarification wound up spicing a story on National Public Radio. Maybe it's better if the guy doesn't talk too much.

These days, the collar on Flippo's old uniform might be getting a little tight. In the wake of the Bronze Star snafu, The Reno Gazette-Journal reported Flippo was fired from his duty as aircraft maintenance squadron commander in 2008 at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. His superior at the time described the decision as a "loss of confidence in his ability to command."

Who knows whether any of this would have surfaced if Flippo's brain trust had bothered to submit his financial disclosure and thoroughly vet his military career. No campaign is perfect, but this one is suffering from self-inflicted wounds.

With millions flowing into the 2nd District from conservative PACs to stanch the bleeding and a built-in voter registration advantage, Flippo's stumblebum campaign can survive despite his cowardly invisible man routine.

In politics, victory trumps valor every time, but something that the outgoing Amodei said bears repeating: "The job isn't going to allow you to serve only under circumstances which you control."

Stick that in your cap, colonel.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family's Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in New Lines, Time, Reader's Digest, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Reuters and Desert Companion, among others.