Columnist Jeff German: Democrats have selves to blame

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2002 | 11:19 a.m.

All you had to do was hang around poolside for a few minutes Tuesday night at Caesars Palace to know you were among winners.

Under the stars, amid the opulent surroundings, were several hundred well-dressed Republicans, sipping fine wine and snacking on bacon-wrapped scallops and marinated vegetables, celebrating "Victory 2002."

There was a feeling in the chilly air that the Nevada GOP would hand the Democratic Party one of its most crushing defeats.

And that's what Republicans did, sweeping all six constitutional offices, keeping control of the state Senate, making gains in the Assembly and winning two of three U.S. House seats.

Nationwide, Republicans added to their majority in the House and regained control of the Senate, killing Nevada Sen. Harry Reid's chances of becoming majority leader this year.

Over at the Riviera, the election night headquarters for the Democrats, the mood turned somber, almost like a wake, inside a cramped ballroom as the results flowed in with bad news after bad news. Other than Rep. Shelley Berkley, who was re-elected to a third term, there was no one for the Democrats to cheer.

The defining moment for Democrats, who drank beer and munched on cheese and crackers throughout the evening, was Dario Herrera's concession speech about 10:15 p.m. in the bitterly fought race with Republican Jon Porter in the 3rd Congressional District.

A year ago the 29-year-old Herrera, chairman of the Clark County Commission, was the party's golden boy and the favorite to win the race. Tuesday night he was a loser by 20 percentage points and on his way to becoming a party pariah.

With Herrera went the Democratic Party's fortunes in 2002.

What happened, you ask?

A shaken Reid blamed the losses on his party's failure to make the unsteady economy stick in the minds of the voters.

Former Sen. Richard Bryan said Democrats had a tough time cutting through the GOP's nonstop talk of the war on terrorism and the push to invade Iraq.

In reality, however, the Democrats, especially those in Nevada, had no one but themselves to blame.

They simply fielded bad candidates at the top of the ticket -- candidates who had trouble identifying with party regulars and couldn't capture the attention of the voters.

State Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, couldn't even pump up party leaders about his candidacy for governor. County Commissioner Erin Kenny came off too mean-spirited in her campaign for lieutenant governor, and John Hunt just played dirty in the race for attorney general.

Then after Republicans made mincemeat out of Herrera over his ethical lapses, the Democrats found themselves with no one to rally behind.

How demoralizing is that?

The weak Democratic ticket made it difficult for organized labor, the party's traditional source of grass-roots support, to motivate its members on the campaign trail.

Democrats also let down labor by failing to exploit the one issue that excited working men and women -- holding the rate-gouging Nevada Power Co. accountable to the public.

For the first time in a long while Democrats were unable to define themselves, and labor ended up being a non-factor in an election.

If you don't believe Democrats missed the boat on Nevada Power, look at the results on Question 14, the advisory ballot initiative that could pave the way for public ownership of Nevada Power.

Voters approved Question 14 by nearly 15 points, even though the utility poured at least $2 million into an unchallenged media blitz to defeat it.

Most of the Democratic candidates running for statewide office lost by 15 points or more.

The challenge for the Democrats now is to turn things around before 2004 when Reid, the party's standard-bearer, is up for re-election.

With "Victory 2002" behind them, Republicans are sure to put up a strong candidate against Reid.

If the Democrats don't define themselves by then, Reid may be a victim of "Victory 2004."