Women in spotlight for Ensign, Bernstein

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2000 | 11:34 a.m.

Women's issues will hold center stage today in the U.S. Senate race between Republican John Ensign and Democrat Ed Bernstein.

Ensign, a former two-term congressman from Las Vegas, unveiled a television advertisement in which Nevada's first lady, Dema Guinn, touts his positions on women's issues.

"It's important to me to let the women of Nevada know that John Ensign cares deeply about the issues that are important to all of us," Guinn said. "I hope Nevadans will join me in supporting John Ensign and rejecting negative personal attacks."

Also in the commercial is Gail Allen, president of the Nevada Breast Cancer Coalition, who has worked with Ensign in the fight against breast cancer. Ensign also plans to unveil a TV ad in which he and his wife, Darlene, discuss their involvement in helping to create the coalition.

Ensign is playing up his co-sponsorship of a 1997 bill that provided Medicare coverage for annual mammography screenings, and his support of 1998 legislation that funded a mobile mammography unit for rural Nevada.

The commercials follow on the heels of attack ads commissioned by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Bernstein respectively that criticized Ensign's voting record on Medicare and Social Security and his pro-life position on abortion.