Senate campaign called just a two-man race

Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2000 | 10:29 a.m.

Eight candidates are seeking to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., but in reality this is a two-man race.

Those two men, former Republican Rep. John Ensign and Democrat Ed Bernstein, are expected to meet in the November general election. But Ensign will have to defeat two nominal foes in the GOP primary on Sept. 5 before doing battle with Bernstein, who automatically goes to the general election as the lone Democrat.

The Nevada election is important on the national level as the Republicans seek to retain majority control of the Senate. With most polls declaring Ensign a heavy favorite over Bernstein, the GOP hopes the pickup of Nevada would counter the possible loss of a seat elsewhere.

Ensign, a 42-year-old Las Vegas veterinarian and former gaming executive who served two terms in the House, will face fellow Republicans Richard Hamzik of Gardnerville and Fernando Platin Jr. of Henderson in the primary. But the GOP already assumes Ensign will be the party nominee, having given him the opportunity to address the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

When Ensign won a seat in Congress in 1994, he was part of a GOP tidal wave that wrested control of the House from the Democrats. He won re-election two years later but suffered a narrow loss in 1998 when he tried to unseat Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nev. As soon as Bryan announced that he was leaving the Senate at the end of his second six-year term, Ensign became the immediate front-runner to replace him.

Like most other major party candidates in Nevada, Ensign is a staunch opponent of attempts to ship high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. He has argued that having a GOP senator in Nevada's congressional delegation will help the state persuade Republicans to switch their votes to prevent the radioactive waste from coming here.

Ensign supports a prescription medical plan that would give all Medicare-eligible seniors the option to enroll in a discount medicine card program for a small fee and choose their own doctors. He wants to eliminate the current federal tax code, repeal the death tax and establish family tax credits for senior care.

The former congressman also wants 95 percent of all federal education dollars to be spent in the classroom. He supports increased teacher salaries but has said that school districts ought to be able to get rid of teachers who are not up to par.

Hamzik, 46, is a small-business owner and political novice who wants to reduce federal government. He would repeal the federal income tax and inheritance tax, privatize Social Security, increase pay for active-duty military personnel and support a missile defense system.

He, too, opposes shipment of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain and wants the federal government to return its land in Nevada to the state. If elected, Hamzik vows to serve no more than two terms.

Platin could not be reached for comment.

Bernstein, a 50-year-old Las Vegas resident, has built a successful personal-injury law practice and also hosts a local television talk show. He, too, is a political novice but has name recognition by virtue of his heavy use of billboard and television advertising to promote his law practice.

Bernstein, who has already put nearly $900,000 of his own money into the race, has pushed heavily for lower prescription drug prices for seniors. He also wants to repeal a 1987 law that prohibits importation of medicine, arguing that it would allow pharmacies to sell prescription drugs that sell for much less in foreign countries.

The Democrat wants patients who have been denied health care by a managed care insurer to have the ability to appeal to an independent reviewer. Bernstein would expand the Head Start program for children, make interest-free bonds available to repair unsafe schools and encourage reductions in student-teacher ratios.

He has not shied away from using gimmicks to publicize campaign issues. One example was when he ran computer-assisted searches on members of Nevada's media to prove his point about the ease with which personal information can be gleaned on individuals. Bernstein said he would prevent companies from selling individual Social Security numbers.

Joining Bernstein and the winning Republican in the Nov. 7 general election will be Citizens First candidate Bill Grutzmacher of Las Vegas, Green Party entrant Kathryn Rusco of Reno, Independent American Party candidate Ernie Berghof of Las Vegas and Libertarian J.J. Johnson of Pahrump.