WASHINGTON — All eyes may be on Nevada, but the big ticket in town here today was the sold-out (well, it was free but you had to RSVP) forum on the economy at Brookings.

The White House and Congress are separately wrangling over the R-word, and whether a stimulus package is needed to fend off a full-blown recession.

But Mark Zandi, a chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, says Nevada is among a half-dozen regional economies already in a recession.

Voters are making the economy a top issue – think about it, a 5 percent unemployment rate, housing foreclosures spreading like wildfire in places Southern Nevada, creeping inflation especially with high gas prices.

Expect to hear more on this in the opening days of Congress.