Bush campaign chief says ‘it’s time to set the record straight’

Kirsten Searer

Thursday, March 4, 2004 | 11:23 a.m.

President Bush's critics already have hammered Nevada with political ads, but today Nevada voters will see the beginning of the president's response.

It's time to "answer outrageous allegations and set the record straight," said Marc Racicot, the Bush-Cheney campaign chairman and former Montana governor. He was in Las Vegas Wednesday to speak at a joint meeting ofthe American Soybean Association and the National Corner Growers Association at the Las Vegas Hilton.

"The President has great confidence in the American people to separate fact from fiction," Racicot said in an interview with the Sun.

A Bush ad campaign will kick off today on cable stations around the country, but Nevada is one of 17 states where the ads will run more often and on more channels, Racicot said.

The ads will focus on a more positive message than some of the attacks that have attacked the President, Racicot said. While they will criticize the record of the presumptive Democratic nominee, John Kerry, Racicot said he doesn't think that means the ads are negative.

"That's not negative to point out that the record of this President is substantially different than John Kerry's,' he said.

The kickoff of Bush ads and the ongoing targeted ads from the Democratic leaning MoveOn.org are just one more sign that both parties plan to focus on Nevada this presidential election. Republicans are focusing on every state that was won by five percentage points or less, Racicot said.

Democrats, fresh off a successful presidential caucus, aren't willing to let Bush kick off his campaign too easily, however. This morning, top Democratic party leaders will rally to protest the Bush ads and some of the President's stances on issues such as the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository.

Racicot said he thinks Nevada voters will listen to President Bush when he talks about the justifications of proceeding with the proposed Yucca Mountain.

"There's no doubt that the people of Nevada are being asked to assume a national responsibility," Racicot said.

But, he said, "There are a lot of instances like that where one part of the country performs a strategic objective for the rest of the country."

At the end of the day, however, sound science has been used, Racicot said. He said President Bush has listened to scientists from various agencies, including the EPA, Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission when making his decision on Yucca Mountain.

And he downplayed the comments Kerry made while in town in February. Kerry said he would look for alternatives to the Yucca Mountain site.

Before the Feb. 14 Nevada caucus, Kerry said in an interview that Yucca Mountain could present safety, environmental and monetary issues that "I've never been comfortable with. As president, I would want to engage in that and make the effort to see what the alternatives, if any, make more sense."

"That's probably a convenient way in the heat of a public policy battle to avoid a direct answer to a question he doesn't want to deal with," Racicot said.

Racicot pointed out that the selection process for Yucca Mountain started in 1987.