Nevadans decide gov, House, Senate races, pass medical marijuana

Brendan Riley

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1998 | 10:25 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Nevadans voted Tuesday to elect the state's first Republican governor in 16 years and to approve marijuana use for medical purposes.

The outcome of a key U.S. Senate race was unclear with more than half the precincts reporting.

Kenny Guinn, dubbed the "anointed one" because of his strong support from the casino industry, won with 51 percent of the vote compared with 43 percent for the Democratic nominee, Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones.

The marijuana ballot proposal won with 59 percent of the vote, with 41 percent opposed.

But in the U.S. Senate battle, incomplete returns showed incumbent Democrat Harry Reid, targeted by Republicans as vulnerable, holding a slight 49-47 edge over conservative GOP darling John Ensign.

The Senate race focused on Reid's emphasis on seniority after two terms in the Senate and Ensign touting his place in the Republican majority.

In the governor's race, former educator and businessman Guinn had watched a solid lead in the polls evaporate in the multimillion-dollar battle between him and Jones, who got into the race at the last minute at the urging of fellow Democrats. Guinn campaigned for more than two years.

In the race for Ensign's old U.S. House seat, Democrat Shelley Berkley, a university regent, led Republican Don Chairez, a former judge, by a 49-46 percent margin. The race focused more on ethics than on issues.

Berkley was targeted by Republicans and her former boss, Las Vegas Sands Inc. Chairman Sheldon Adelson, for a comment she made while working for the Sands hotel-casino suggesting to Adelson that he could use jobs and money to win favor with politicians and judges.

Berkley apologized for the comment but claimed she was set up by her former boss for an underhanded attack.

The medical marijuana question on the ballot marked the first round in deciding whether to amend the Nevada Constitution to allow possession and use of marijuana by patients with catastrophic illnesses, such as cancer, AIDS and glaucoma.

Question 9 will have to be approved by voters again in 2000 before it can take effect. Even then, the state attorney general's office has said it could not be implemented until federal law is changed.

Pickup at dash