Evans: Economy among key issues in debate

Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Debate watchers tonight are likely to hear about the economy, health care and energy policies as the presidential candidates cover domestic issues in their third and final face-off, members of both parties said.

Commerce Secretary Don Evans said the economy in Nevada is growing, unemployment is down and home ownership is up. Evans told the Sun this morning he expected the economy as well as homeland security and health care to be covered in the debate tonight between President Bush and Democratic candidate John Kerry in Tempe, Ariz.

"I think we'll see a president talking about this strong record of the last four years and his vision for where he is going to take this country," Evans said. He was in Las Vegas today for campaign stops and an aviation trade show.

Evans said Bush has done the best he can with the economy left by the Clinton administration, the hits felt by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and corporate scandals.

But even though the economy is good in Nevada, Nick Shapiro, Democratic National Committee spokesman, residents are experiencing a "middle-class squeeze" due to "out of control" health-care costs.

Shapiro said Kerry will talk about this desire to fight for the middle class.

"He is someone they (Nevada voters) can trust," he said.

Evans said also he expects to hear about a national energy policy tonight, which Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, and vice presidential candidate John Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, have helped to hold up in the Senate. As for specifics on the country's nuclear energy and nuclear waste policy, Evans was not sure if it would come up.

"I don't know," he said. "Certainly, it's an important issue for the country and the president has been very clear on his position, but whether or not that plays as a national issue in the debate tonight, I am not sure."

The president has said he would let "sound science" and the legal system determine how the present nuclear waste policy -- to store it at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas -- will stand. Kerry has said if he is elected the project will not proceed.

"If it gets down to specifics, George Bush is in trouble," Shapiro said.

"If he couldn't pass an energy bill with a Republican-controlled House and Senate and his vice president tied to big oil, it shows it is a poor policy and George Bush doesn't have a real plan."

Evans acknowledged the close race in Nevada and the rest of the country and said, while he strongly supports the president, he could not predict the outcome.

"My crystal ball is not any clearer than anyone else's," Evans said.