Democrats revive ‘Yucca Man’ to rap GOP

Jeffrey Libby

Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2000 | 11:30 a.m.

Two years ago Democrats trundled out anti-nuke waste Yucca Man to make a point in a tight race.

With the national presidential race in a dead heat only 21 days before the election, the masked, bucket-laden mascot was brought back Monday for a special appearance outside campaign headquarters.

With a steaming bucket of dry ice and hot water -- symbolic of nuclear waste -- as a backdrop, Democratic Senate candidate Ed Bernstein was given a video copy of the first TV ad funded by the Gore-Lieberman campaign to advance a message specific to Nevada. The ad is expected to have its first run today.

The 30-second spot, which features a bulldozer plowing under stacked barrels of nuclear waste, says the Bush campaign is heavily financed by the nuclear industry. It criticizes Bush for refusing to comment on whether he would uphold or weaken health and safety standards at the proposed storage site at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"It has been said that nuclear waste is not a partisan issue," Rory Reid, chairman of the Nevada State Democratic Party, said. "I'm here today to say it is... Ninety percent of Republicans have voted to send nuclear waste to Nevada, and their presidential candidate has had every opportunity to explain his position. He hasn't. We believe four strikes and you're out."

Reid said that Bush's statement in September that he would send nuclear waste to Nevada only if the science supported it has been called everything "from mealy mouthed to disingenuous."

Retiring Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., who was on hand outside the Eastern Avenue offices, said Nevadans concerned about the future of "their children and their children's children" need to understand that a clear difference exists between the political parties on nuclear waste.

"The Bush people tried to fuzz up the issue," Bryan said. "They're saying, look, the candidates have the same positions."

But Bryan said Dick Cheney seemed uninformed on the nuclear waste issue when he came through Las Vegas last week. And a Bush administration would not veto legislation that proposed weakening health and safety standards at Yucca Mountain, as President Clinton did in April, Bryan said.

When reached for comment, Ryan Erwin, executive director of the Nevada Republican Party, called the Democratic stance "a joke."

"The truth is, Al Gore and George Bush have exactly the same stance on nuclear waste. This isn't a partisan issue, it's a Nevada issue," he said. "They (the Democrats) can try to read between the lines, but here's the real story. On prescription drugs, education, children's health care -- they're all the issues Democrats traditionally win on -- and the governor is winning them. The Democrats don't have a single issue they're winning on this year. They're not resonating with voters and they're resorting to scare tactics and desperation."