Candidates score points with Southern Nevadans

Kirsten Searer

Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2004 | 9:28 a.m.

More than 100 Democrats chanted "Four More Weeks!" Tuesday after the only vice presidential debate, but Republican leaders were quick to say their candidate held his own.

As with the first presidential debate, Tuesday's debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and the Democratic challenger, Sen. John Edwards, both parties claimed victory.

Reps. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Jon Porter, R-Nev., issued a joint statement after Tuesday's debate saying Edwards "articulated a pre-September 11th worldview that illustrates that he did not learn the fundamental lessons of that tragic day."

Nevada OB-GYN Pam Netuschil issued a statement saying she felt Edwards wasn't tough enough on medical malpractice issues. Edwards, a former trial attorney, commented that frivolous lawsuits against doctors are not a major cause of health care cost increases.

Malpractice lawsuits raise health care costs by as much as $108 billion a year and women in Nevada are struggling to find OB-GYNs as rising insurance costs force doctors to leave the state, she said.

Many local Democrats gathered Tuesday at the Tap House on Charleston Boulevard said they were glad Edwards hammered away at Cheney's ties to Halliburton, a defense contractor formerly led by Cheney that now has lucrative contracts in rebuilding Iraq.

The audience consistently hooted when Edwards mentioned the company. And they loved it when Edwards said there are just 35 United National workers in Iraq right now, yet the organization is largely responsible for putting on the January elections in the country.

"You need more than 35 people to hold an election in Cleveland, much less in Iraq," Edwards said.

Edwards and Cheney also talked about President Bush's proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Edwards called the idea divisive, while Cheney said he would prefer to leave the matter to the states, a position that conflicts with the president.

Dan Hinkley, a member of the Stonewall Democratic Club of Southern Nevada, a gay rights group, said he thought both men handled the issue well.

"It was clear that Cheney was the odd man out" in the White House on this issue, Hinkley said.

Edwards won points with some when he commented that he understands Cheney loves his daughter, Mary, who is openly gay.

"I thought that was a class act," said Las Vegas kindergarten teacher Vikki Courtney, who attended the debate watching party. "And I thought Cheney reacted with class."

Former Nevada Democratic Rep. Jim Bilbray said he thought Cheney and others in the administration have put themselves in a tough spot by not admitting mistakes were made in Iraq and the war on terror.

"They've boxed themselves in to more of the same," he said.

But the most telling indication of the debate was the body language of the two candidates, Bilbray said. Edwards was confident and smiled often, while Cheney was "very aggressive, very hostile," Bilbray said.