Columnist Jon Ralston: GOP urging Porter to speak up a little

Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2000 | 9:20 a.m.

Jon Ralston, who publishes the Ralston Report, writes a column for the Sun on Sundays and Wednesdays. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or by e-mail at ralston@vegas.com.

CRYSTAL BAY -- As an ebullient handful of Republican luminaries Lincolnized congressional candidate Jon Porter for a small crowd arrayed above the incomparable Lake Tahoe, the grating buzz of powerboats threatened to drown them out. "Shelley must be driving," one audience wag piped up, a reference to Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley.

The symbolism was ineluctable. The message of optimism and hope for Porter delivered on that deck overlooking the lake is indeed muffled by an often-noisy incumbent in the driver's seat -- in polls, in money, in demographics. But Porter on Tuesday showed why House Speaker Dennis Hastert had decided to spend the day in Nevada as he helped the local candidate raise upwards of $40,000 at three events that displayed a diversity of donor support.

Porter's ability to come to Lake Tahoe and extract significant cash and appear at a National Congressional Campaign Committee fund-raiser at the National Automobile Museum in Reno showed how committed state and Capitol Hill Republicans are to unseating Berkley. The lake event at the home of Bruce James, the retired printer and state GOP finance chairman, showed that Porter can even mine the fund-raising lode of the Nevada side of Tahoe first fully exploited by Rep. Jim Gibbons. And the day showed how riven is the state's pre-eminent industry in the contest as gaming lobbyist Harvey Whittemore hosted the event at the auto museum and MGM Mirage and Harrah's co-hosted an evening fund-raiser at the Las Vegas Country Club.

Imagine Berkley's apoplexy at those two casino companies unfurling a red carpet for Porter, and Whittemore, whose family has contributed to Berkley, fronting for the organization dedicated to erasing her from Congress. (One ironic footnote: The auto museum funding was obtained by Whittemore in the Legislature along with his friend, Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, and became a symbol for some southern legislators of how northerners often get more bacon at the end of the session. So maybe Porter is just getting some of that northern money back.)

But what brought Gov. Kenny Guinn, Gibbons and Senate contender John Ensign, along with Capitol Hill's Mr. Speaker, is not that the race is competitive but that they like Porter so much -- and they don't like the irreverent, irrepressible and sometimes abrasive Berkley.

Porter chided Berkley for "embarrassing" Guinn in Washington for his controversial Senior Rx prescription drug program, saying it should be given a chance to work. (I think Ensign, who has tried to inoculate himself on the issue by proposing an approach very different from Guinn's, gazed off at the lake's pristine beauty during that part of Porter's remarks.)

Porter also remarked obliquely that he disagrees with Hastert on some issues, a clear reference to Yucca Mountain, which can't be built fast enough for the speaker. The Democrats tried to highlight that in a stunt news conference Tuesday morning by having a giant check made out to Hastert from Porter, urging him to give back the supposedly radioactive money. (Porter's camp was tempted to respond by presenting a check for the $800 million in funding for the project Berkley voted for in a large appropriations bill that also has important Southern Nevada projects.)

Porter continues to lag behind Berkley by at least 13 points in recent polls. But his campaign is encouraged by a recent NRCC survey that shows he has made progress. He will have to spend money on TV soon -- before the primary -- to ensure his minimal name ID does not make his September race against Jim Blockey and Nancy Price too close.

Meanwhile, Berkley has conserved her resources and is primed for the general. When she revs up her engines, like those powerboats that incessantly glided by Tuesday, she will keep coming and coming. Porter's task will be to show that she is full of sound and fury, but that her accomplishments signify nothing. And to do that, he will have to make some noise himself very soon.