Local Bush, Gore supporters cheer on candidates

Launce Rake and Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2000 | 10:13 a.m.

Partisan crowds gathered at two settings in the Las Vegas Valley to cheer their candidates at the first of three scheduled presidential debates Tuesday night.

Not surprisingly, each group came away from the televised contest claiming an edge for their candidate.

A diverse group of Democrats watched their candidate, Vice President Al Gore, at H & H Barbeque at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Washington Avenue. The multiethnic crowd of about 200 snacked on fried catfish and chicken wings, applauding after Gore hit home on issues ranging from Social Security reform to prescription drugs for seniors.

In Summerlin, about 60 Republicans cheered Texas Gov. George W. Bush over glasses of champagne and caviar and smoked salmon pizza at a private residence. Tickets for the Spago-catered debate party went for $500 each.

At H & H, Gore won applause when he focused on issues such as the candidates' budget plans, Social Security, medical care for seniors and the pare-down of the federal debt.

The Summerlin crowd cheered loudest when Bush tied Gore to the outgoing Clinton administration. The crowd's jeers at Gore were louder than cheers for Bush; they groaned when Gore said, "I think we should attack the country's problems, not each other."

Democrat Beverly Bouchee, a former Medicare worker who receives disability benefits, said she thought her candidate was the winner.

"I think Bush stuttered quite a few times," Bouchee said. She said the debate confirmed what she already suspected: "The Republicans are for the rich, not for the poor."

New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, who flew to Nevada to support the candidacy of Senate hopeful John Ensign, thought that it was Gore who stumbled. Ensign, a former U.S. representative, is running against Democrat and trial lawyer Ed Bernstein.

"It (the momentum) has shifted," Whitman said. "Gore did not bury George Bush. He did not beat him up. He did not defeat him and walk away. Gore is an experienced debater, and he goes for the jugular. But he did not get that opportunity tonight.

"Some of have said that George Bush doesn't have the intellectual horsepower to be president," she said. "After tonight, that is no longer an issue."

Those at H & H Barbeque disagreed with the New Jersey governor. Many said that Bush failed to deliver substantive comebacks on the major issues outlined during the debate.

Former Gov. Bob Miller, at the Democratic Party barbecue, said Gore won by focusing on an overall philosophy that puts middle-class and working families first.

He knocked Bush for keeping "a smirk on his face" throughout the debate as Gore tried to focus the back-and-forth on issues that are important to ordinary families. Bush, Miller said, never answered the charge that the Republican tax plan would benefit most the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.

The Bush agenda "clearly favors the wealthy," said Miller, who is honorary chairman of Nevada's Gore campaign.

But Ensign said Gore also failed to answer an important question when he dodged the "Buddhist temple" fund-raising issue and other White House scandals.

"I thought it was a huge mistake on Gore's part not to answer that question," he said.

The Democrats on the other side of town, however, said Bush failed to hit home on the character issue. They said Bush stumbled when addressing issues important to ordinary families.

Those at the Republican party, however, clearly thought Bush's proposals were superior to Gore's.

"We pay the most taxes!" shouted one observer in Summerlin when Gore slammed Bush's tax plan for favoring the wealthiest 1 percent.

The two camps both left their parties convinced that their candidate won the debate -- which in what observers are calling a very close race, could make the difference.

Gore looked "perfectly presidential," said Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, a Democrat.

"I wouldn't tell him to do anything differently," she said.

Bill Dickerson, a Republican dentist for Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, said he wouldn't have his man do anything differently either. He said Bush is making people laugh, and will win if he keeps the conversation lively.

"I think people like humor, and Gore has no humor," Dickerson said.