Columnist Jeff German: Many GOP stalwarts back Reid

Friday, Jan. 30, 2004 | 11:12 a.m.

Mark Brown understands the value of seniority in the U.S. Senate to a small state like Nevada, which is why he's working hard to elect Harry Reid, the Senate's assistant Democratic leader, to a fourth term.

What sets Brown apart from other Nevadans backing Reid is that he's a Republican -- and not just any Republican.

Brown, who runs a successful public relations firm, is a key political adviser to Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn, the state's GOP leader.

So it may be no coincidence that Reid quietly went to Brown, a good friend, about six months ago seeking help in persuading other prominent Republicans to endorse his reelection bid.

This is nothing new to politics, especially in Nevada where voters traditionally assert their independence at the polls.

As a private citizen, Guinn chaired a committee of Republicans backing the re-election of former Democratic Gov. Bob Miller in 1994, and the committee was instrumental in helping Miller trounce his GOP opponent. Guinn also is close to Reid, but because he now is Nevada's highest elected Republican, he can't join Republicans for Reid.

From what I can tell, however, Reid has plenty of GOP support without the governor.

Brown has come through for Reid in a way that should alarm Republicans looking for an attractive candidate to unseat the resourceful Reid, who already has raised $6.2 million in campaign contributions, the most ever for a Nevada Senate race.

The public relations man has assembled an impressive list of 100 Republicans who lent their names to the Reid campaign. The list includes gaming industry and business leaders and elected officials.

Here are some of the more notables: Terri Lanni, Lorenzo Fertitta, Cliff Findlay, Charlie Frias, Frank Fahrenkopf, Brian Greenspun (an owner of this newspaper), Jerry Herbst, Jay Kornmayer, Rex Bell, Tim Poster, Berlyn Miller, Tony Alamo Sr., Steve Kalish, Pat Shalmy, Terry Wright, Richard Bunker and Sheriff Bill Young.

"It's a broad list of powerful and prominent Republicans who are willing to put their money behind Harry," Brown says.

And it's a list Brown expects will grow larger as the Senate race heats up in the coming months.

Combine this with the fact that Reid has established a close working relationship fellow Nevada Sen. John Ensign, a Republican, and just this week announced his support for the Education First ballot initiative, led by another Republican, Rep. Jim Gibbons, and you get the feeling Reid is a Republican in Democratic clothing.

That, of course, isn't the case.

Though Reid is one of the more conservative Democrats on Capitol Hill, he also is intensely partisan and has relished being one of President Bush's biggest political enemies in Washington. The White House and the Republican National Committee are mounting a full-court press to find a candidate who can defeat the senator.

Reid knows the president is gunning for him. He also is aware that he has a history of close Senate races and that his Republican opponent, whoever it turns out to be, should get 35-40 percent of the vote just by being in the race. There are 8,400 more Republicans than Democrats registered in Nevada.

So the good senator is taking no chances this time.

He also has set an ambitious, but not unreachable, goal of raising $10 million by Election Day, an unthinkable figure in 1998, when Reid defeated Ensign by a mere 428 votes. Ensign was elected to the Senate two years later after Richard Bryan retired.

But if Reid is trying to scare off Republicans from challenging him, the strategy isn't working with Nevada Treasurer Brian Krolicki, who many expect will jump into the race within the next two weeks.

Krolicki, who visited Washington this week to meet with top GOP and White House political operatives, sounded like a candidate to me.

He said he wasn't worried about Reid's Republican endorsements and was confident he could raise enough cash to give Reid a run for his money.

"I believe I could become a very credible candidate in this race if that's what I choose to do," Krolicki said.

I bet Harry Reid believes that, too.