State GOP leaders: Power tide shifting in Nevada

Benjamin Grove

Sunday, Aug. 6, 2000 | 9:14 a.m.

PHILADELPHIA -- Nevada Republicans say a shift in the political winds is blowing the state's Democratic power brokers out the door.

As the Republican National Convention closed this week in Philadelphia with a shower of balloons and a lightning flash of optimism about the party, state GOP leaders predicted the voters of Nevada are ready to elect George W. Bush as president and vote in a new legion of state Republican candidates.

"I would say this is the most united and excited the Republican Party has been in a long time," state Republican Party chairman Ryan Erwin said. "Top to bottom we've got an exciting team in Nevada. Things are looking fantastic. The Democrats are going to have a tough time giving voters a reason to come out and vote for them."

State Democratic leaders counter those predictions, saying that's post-election euphoria talking. They point to the Legislature, the Clark County Commission, and city councils in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, all controlled by Democrats.

"I think they are out there in Philadelphia, hanging out with Republicans and they forgot what it's like back here in the real world," state Democratic Party chairman Rory Reid said.

Reid said Democratic voters, in an official state count last month, outnumbered Republican voters by nearly 2,000 after being down 3,000 to Republicans in November 1998.

"Southern Nevada is the most rapidly growing area in the state and the demographics are such that the Democratic Party will continue to grow," said Reid, son of Nevada's senior U.S. senator, Harry Reid.

But Republican leaders say the excitement generated at this year's convention is a new kind of buzz, offering a promise of victories for top power brokers that the last two didn't hold.

Republicans point to Gov. Kenny Guinn, who trounced popular Democratic Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones. They nod at former Rep. John Ensign, who political observers say has a good-sized lead over Democratic opponent Ed Bernstein. They talk up state Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, although his incumbent opponent, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., seems to have a foothold on the office.

And they fawn over George W. Bush as the front-runner in the presidential race.

"Two years ago, the Democrats held both houses of the Legislature and the governor's office, and held an edge in voter registration," said state Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, a Nevada delegate here. "There's a definite trend toward Republican domination."

Adds delegate and state Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, "I think there is definitely a shift. It's happening all over the nation. Certainly baby boomers are getting older, so they tend to get more conservative in their thoughts, their mannerisms, their lifestyles."

Raggio said these political trends are cyclical and several agreed it's simply the Republicans' turn at bat.

"A shift in the pendulum -- I'll buy that," said delegate and former Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren. He said people want a return to "family ideals, less government, lower taxes. These are simple principles."

But what would a Republican power shift mean to Nevada? Since President Clinton took office in 1992, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has had access to President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. So did former Gov. Bob Miller. Those inroads earned the state a voice, they argue, on crucial issues like nuclear waste disposal and gambling legislation.

But Nevada Republicans have connections of their own, they say.

Long-time Republican operative and alternate delegate Sig Rogich is among them. The former ambassador to Iceland beat his old boss, former President Bush, in a round of golf last week at the convention.

"He's a trusted friend of the Bushes," said Michael Dayton, chief-of-staff for Nevada's lone Republican in Congress, Rep. Jim Gibbons. "When he calls them with concerns, they listen."

Guinn, too, knows Bush Jr.

"Where you get power is when you are right on an issue -- and you can get the people who make decisions on your side," Guinn said. "We're a small state. We need that personal touch. Certainly, Gov. Miller had that with Clinton. I have a first-name relationship with Gov. Bush."

Guinn said Nevada came away from the convention with everything it could have hoped for: a great time had by the delegation, a burst of energy for its candidates and Bush.

And the national platform could have been worse for the state, he said.

The 73-page national platform included a sentence that blasted Clinton for vetoing a bill that would have sped shipments of nuclear waste to Nevada. But Republicans point out the platform did not sound a specific call to establish a nuclear waste dump in the state.

"We're in as good a position as we could possibly be," the governor said.

Guinn and other party leaders -- as well as their Democratic counterparts -- vow to escalate their campaigns the next three months.

"We're going to outwork the Democrats in Nevada," the governor predicted even before the convention began.

Ensign pledges to continue running "like we're 10 points down."

"The reason the Republicans are doing so well is that we have better candidates," he said, boiling down the races. "Good candidates win races."