Possible presidential bid tested in Vegas

Wednesday, Feb. 17, 1999 | 2:45 a.m.

McCain met with two gambling industry leaders, a Republican operative and the editorial board of the city's largest newspaper to try and drum up support for a possible race for the presidency.

McCain told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that if he can't win the GOP nomination he would refuse any vice presidential bid to remain in the senate.

"The vice president has only two duties that I know of. One is to inquire daily as to the health of the president. The other is to go to funerals of third-world dictators," he said. "Neither one of those do I find very interesting."

The 62-year-old Vietnam war veteran isn't yet a declared candidate. But on Tuesday he received offers of support from two of the city's gaming giants - J. Terrence Lanni, chairman of MGM Grand Inc., and Steve Wynn, chairman of Mirage Resorts Inc.

"I think he is truly a quality human being. He's bright, no nonsense, very straightforward. The perfect leader to be president," Lanni said after lunching with McCain at the MGM. "He's noncorruptible. He's a paragon of integrity."

Lanni said he and his wife will give McCain the maximum $1,000 each for his campaign. But because McCain is running on a campaign finance reform platform he said he won't take so-called soft money that is put in party coffers for get-out-the-vote and negative issue ads.

That stance could make his bid for the presidency tougher, he acknowledged.

"Yes, it's harder for me, but if I have the kind of broad-based appeal that will be necessary to win the nomination, I think I can get the funds," McCain said. "I'm trying to find 15,000 of my closest friends to give $1,000 to this campaign."

His stance on one Nevada issue may hurt him - McCain has voted to send nuclear waste to the state.

"I'm not expert enough to know if that's the place or not, but it's unconscionable to leave nuclear waste sitting around in facilities forever," he said.

McCain said he is willing to hear arguments on the issue of whether Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is suitable as the nation's nuclear waste repository, but he said the storage problem must be resolved.

If he runs, McCain would be in a Republican field expected to get crowded. McCain listed Texas Gov. George W. Bush and former Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole as early front-runners.

McCain had nothing bad to say about his GOP rivals, but plenty to say about the likely Democratic nominee, Vice President Al Gore, and President Clinton.