Clinton vs. Dole, neither offers Nevada carte blanche support

Monday, March 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Who would be a better president for Nevada -- Bob Dole or Bill Clinton?

The candidate who wins in November will influence gaming issues, nuclear waste disposal and control of public lands.

Clinton and Dole share similar views on some state matters, but their differences on federal issues differ sharply.

Here's how they stack up on key state issues:

* Both have offered lukewarm support for a proposed national gaming commission. Critics fear the commission will be stacked against casinos and lead to increased regulation and taxation. Clinton proposed a federal gaming tax in 1994 but has backed off.

Dole also opposes a federal tax on gaming revenues and believes regulation should be determined at the state level.

* Clinton wants additional funding for the U.S. Department of Energy to study Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as a high-level nuclear waste dump. But the president opposes interim waste storage in Nevada.

Dole hasn't taken a position on Yucca Mountain. Even though he wants to dismantle the DOE, he says he can't made a determination on a Nevada repository until the agency's site studies are complete. Dole favors interim storage of nuclear waste but is not committed to any state.

* Dole has not taken a stand on whether control of federal lands should be returned to states, a volatile issue in the West.

The Clinton administration this month won a court battle against Nye County officials who wanted to seize federal property.

Gaming and nuclear waste storage "are two issues neither of them wants to touch," said Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., chairman of Dole's Nevada campaign.

Economic tide

Clinton backers believe a robust economy will keep the president in the White House for a second term. They say Clinton has invigorated the economy, and that has been good for fast-growing Southern Nevada.

"When he came in, we had an economy that was struggling," said Gov. Bob Miller, chairman of Clinton's Nevada campaign. "Anyone can see the reports on Wall Street that the nation's economy is as high as it has been in several decades."

Ensign said Dole is more in tune with Nevadans when it comes to returning power to local governments.

"We're 15th in the amount of money we sent to the federal government last year, and we're 45th in the amount we received," Ensign said.

Although Republicans plan to remind Nevada voters that Clinton floated a 4 percent federal tax on gross gaming receipts to fund welfare reform, Democrats will counter that Miller's friendship with Clinton helped kill that proposal.

"Bill Clinton has shared more concern for our small state than any president in recent history," Miller said.

Largely because of the proposed gaming tax, Dole's campaign has amassed about $500,000 in Nevada, mostly from a fund-raiser hosted by Mirage Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn.

Legislative success

Ensign believes Dole would have an easier time pushing his agenda through a Republican-controlled Congress.

"Bob Dole is a leader with integrity beyond measure, and the rest of the world would see a president in that light," Ensign said.

But Jan Jenkins, chairwoman of the Nevada Democratic Party, said Dole must share at least some of the blame for the nation's deficit because of his role in the Senate during the Republican Reagan and Bush administrations.

"He's part of the problem," Jenkins said.

Gary Gray, state director of the Clinton campaign, said his organization will try to simplify things for voters by focusing on the economy and three other E's: education, the elderly and the environment.

"Most people prefer the president's approach to these reforms," Gray said. "It's more moderate."

Jerry Dondero, Dole's Nevada steering committee chairman, said Dole's promise to dismantle the departments of education, housing and urban development, commerce and energy suits Nevada's independent-minded voters.

"The biggest difference between Dole and Clinton is that Clinton wants the problems solved in Washington, D.C. Dole wants the problems solved in Nevada," Dondero said.

Dole, however, supports a federal ban on abortion, except in cases of rape or incest or to save the mother's life. Clinton backs a woman's right to have an abortion. Sixty-three percent of Nevadans voted in 1990 to preserve abortion rights.

'Smoke and mirrors'

Miller maintains that the president has downsized the federal labor force.

"He has reduced almost a quarter million employees from the work force, making it the smallest since Kennedy was president," Miller said.

Ensign calls such claims "all smoke and mirrors," arguing that Clinton achieved the reduction largely by not counting postal workers as part of the pool.

Jenkins and her counterpart, Nevada Republican Party Chairman John Mason, are more than eager to point out shortcomings in the opposing candidate.

Jenkins said Dole will have problems overcoming criticism about his age. If Dole wins, he would be 73 when he takes office, making him the oldest first-term president in history.

Mason said Clinton has problems of his own, including the ongoing Whitewater investment probe involving the president and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Clinton is the worst president of the 20th century," Mason said. "He has misled people from the time he took office. Both of us were born in 1946, but I'm embarrassed someone my age represents our generation like that. I think he's typical of the worst of my generation."