Columnist Jon Ralston: Ensign begins latest political portrayal

Wednesday, March 8, 2000 | 9:07 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 through e-mail at ralston@vegas.com.

They were making this film Monday evening at Clark High School and graciously invited the media to watch.

The movie's working title is "Anointment Redux." The picture's star is John Ensign, playing against type as "The Democratic-sounding Republican." The rest of the cast is pretty much the same in the sequel as it was in the 1998 version starring Kenny Guinn in the same role as The Anointed One. Pete Ernaut as campaign manager. Consultants such as R&R's Billy Vassiliadis and grass-roots guru Steve Wark as The Powers Who Anoint. And an ensemble cast of extras festooning the film, a rainbow of ethnic groups, partisans, friends and lobbyists.

They were all there Monday as campaign commercial cameras whirred, extras posed and the media interloped at what was billed as a "kick-off" but what really looked and felt like a victory party. Not since candidate Guinn offered his ring for kissing to a horde that swarmed the Las Vegas Racquet Club in late 1997 has a scene unfolded as it did in the Clark High gymnasium Monday. Every picture tells a story, and this one will be a telling contrast to opponent Ed Bernstein's sparsely attended announcement with the trailer park backdrop next week.

If Ensign's introductory monologue is any indication about this production's script, the veterinarian who would be senator plans to show he knows about another kind of inoculation besides the shots he administers to dogs and cats. This is intended to be the story of a conservative Republican who almost defeated the state's most formidable political Goliath two years ago and now has become a born-again pseudo-Democrat to avoid a replay. And knowing that Bernstein plans to use wedge issues such as abortion and HMO reform, along with the same dollop of nuclear waste dump demagoguery that cut Ensign two years ago, the ex-congressman moved to recast himself during the first reel Tuesday.

Like all accomplished politicians -- and actors -- he cannot be defined by one part. In 1997, when he announced his candidacy against Sen. Harry Reid, Ensign sounded like the classic Republican. He talked about welfare reform, taxes, crime and a balanced budget. But on Tuesday the positively protean ex-congressman sounded very different themes: education, affordable health care, protecting Social Security and Medicare. For a moment, I thought he and Bernstein had swapped speeches.

Ensign also uncapped his rhetorical syringe and stuck what has become one of the most flammable issues in American politics: "And when that system breaks down, I believe in, and yes I have voted for, the ability for patients to sue HMOs," Ensign declared.

Ah, yes. Movies, much like campaigns, don't necessarily have to be historically accurate, often condensing the story. Then-Rep. Ensign indeed did vote for a Republican measure allowing patients to sue HMOs. But the process was much less direct, interposing an appeals process before the patient could go to court, in contrast to the Democratic version, and did not allow for punitive damages -- the key difference.

It's a debatable policy point -- fairness to patients vs. rising premium costs. But now Ensign simply wants the sound bite version so he can protect himself against what he knows will be one of Bernstein's core attacks. In search of a zinger, he all but contradicted himself when he added, "However, I believe that people prefer the peace of mind that they will receive the care they need, immediately, to the false sense of security of a legal settlement they must share with a personal injury attorney."

In the end, this motion picture may have a few plot twists and moments of drama like its 1998 progenitor. But sequels, like anointments, generally don't have surprise endings. And Ensign's first scene in this movie shows that he'll do anything to ensure the climax is different from his 1998 screen test, but the same as Kenny Guinn's award-winning portrayal of The Anointed One.