Boggs McDonald focuses on Berkley in November

Erin Neff

Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2002 | 8:57 a.m.

A blue collar bus driver running against the Republicans' anointed Lynette Boggs McDonald hit a red light Tuesday night in his efforts to head to Congress and repeal all taxes.

Boggs McDonald trounced Alfred "Bus Driver" Ordunez in the Republican primary for the right to take on two-term incumbent Rep. Shelley Berkley in November -- a target that has been in her sights long before Ordunez entered the race.

"We have been focused on Shelley from the start," Boggs McDonald said. "And we remain more focused than ever."

Berkley had no Democratic foe.

Ordunez, 45, who warranted less respect from Boggs McDonald than Ralph Kramden did from Alice on the "Honeymooners," pulled in just 21 percent percent of the vote in the Congressional District 1 race.

"I didn't really think I could win," Ordunez said. "I just wanted to give people a choice."

Berkley, who dispensed with state Sen. Jon Porter in the 2000 race, said she isn't even thinking about her next opponent.

"I am staying focused on my constituents and the work I continue to do on their behalf," Berkley said.

Berkley, 51, has roughly three times as much cash on hand and is seeking her third term in a district with roughly 30,000 more Democrats than Republicans.

Boggs McDonald, 39, is a Las Vegas councilwoman and former Miss Oregon trying to be the first black Republican woman elected to the House of Representatives.

Green Party candidate W. Lane Startin, 29, a software analyst, and Independent American Party candidate Steven "Capt. Truth" Dempsey, will also be on the general election ballot.

In Nevada's other congressional race, Rep. Jim Gibbons has as little to fear in November as he did Tuesday with no primary opponent.

Gibbons, a Republican seeking his fifth term representing Congressional District 2, faces only token opposition Nov. 5 from representatives of most of the state's other political parties.

Democrat Travis Souza, the Independent American Party's Janine Hansen, Libertarian Brendan Trainor and the Natural Law Party's Robert "Stickerman" Winquist will face Gibbons in the general.

In 2000, Gibbons received 88 percent of the vote in a three-way Republican primary and clobbered Democratic schoolteacher Tierney Cahill in the general.

Congressional District 2 covers a small portion of Clark County and the rest of Nevada.