First lady to pay call on Las Vegas Valley

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2000 | 11:29 a.m.

First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in New York, will be making a campaign fund-raising visit Wednesday evening at the Henderson home of Sun Vice President Daniel Greenspun and wife Robin.

The private cocktail reception is expected to raise at least $75,000. In addition to helping Clinton, some of the money will go to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and to the New York State Democratic Committee.

Clinton is locked in a battle with Republican Rep. Rick Lazio that has been the most closely scrutinized Senate race in the country. One poll last week by Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., had the race dead even, but Clinton was ahead 48 percent to 39 percent in another poll conducted by the New York Times and CBS News.

The two candidates agreed Sunday to ban soft-money campaign advertisements. Such ads are financed by special interest groups and by the political parties.

An example of a soft money ad in Nevada this month involved an attack on the congressional voting record of former Rep. John Ensign, a GOP candidate for Senate against Democrat Ed Bernstein. The ad commissioned by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was paid for with $250,000 in soft money that the committee gave to the Nevada State Democratic Party.

By law, soft money ads are issue oriented and cannot encourage viewers to vote for or against a candidate.

The local-fundraiser involves hard money that Clinton will be able to spend on her campaign. But any soft money raised for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee or New York State Democratic Committee could not be spent on advertisements praising Clinton or criticizing Lazio.

The Henderson event will be co-hosted by Sun President and Editor Brian Greenspun and wife Myra, Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera and wife Emily, and Harrah's executive Claudine Williams.