Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2004 | 11:07 a.m.
Campaign ads call one man a carpetbagger and a failed businessman, the other a rubber stamp and a hypocrite.
Voters in Congressional District 3 have heard seemingly non-stop ads about the race for Congress featuring incumbent Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., and Democratic challenger Tom Gallagher.
Campaign messages in this race blare almost constantly on local stations, even though Porter, a 20-year politician in Southern Nevada, leads Gallagher by more than 20 points in some polls.
Democrats still maintain that Congressional District 3 poses one of their best chances to steal a seat away from a Republican.
"It is absolutely one of our top races and one of our best opportunities in the country," said Stacy Kerr, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Republicans say they're only worried because Gallagher, a former gaming executive, has millions to spend.
So far, he has contributed $536,471 to his campaign, including in-kind contributions.
"Gallagher is spending his money like a drunken sailor," said Chris Paulitz, press secretary for the Republican National Congressional Committee.
The two candidates themselves have been raising money -- the latest campaign finance reports show Gallagher raising $1.4 million and Porter raising $2.2 million for the race.
The national parties also are digging into their pockets. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has sunk about $525,000 into the race, mostly for TV ads, and the Republican National Congressional Committee has spent at least $279,000 so far.
Yet the sentiment among political observers was predicted in March by longtime political consultant Billy Vassiliadis.
"Jon's an incredibly nice man and a good man," Vassiliadis said before Gallagher officially announced his candidacy. "Tom's going to have to give some compelling reasons why he should be elected."
"He's an approachable guy," said Porter's campaign consultant, Mike Slanker. "He's one of the best hand-to-hand campaigners I've ever witnessed. You put him in a room of 90 people, he walks out with 89 votes.
Gallagher wonders if the tough ads will erode Porter's nice guy reputation.
So far, Gallagher has focused on several major issues: health care, education, homeland security and fiscal restraint.
He said he hopes to use federal funding to lower class sizes and recruit highly qualified teachers.
Gallagher supports pay raises for troops and has spent considerable time talking to local veterans about problems with benefits.
He said he supports middle-class tax cuts instituted by President Bush but agrees with Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry that cuts for the wealthiest Americans should be rescinded and the tax money used to pay down the deficit, fight the war on terror and invest in education.
And Gallagher wants to reform the Medicare prescription drug law. He argues the government should be allowed to import drugs from Canada and negotiate to buy drugs in bulk, two things now prohibited by the current law.
"You've got to be willing, obviously, to take a stand," Gallagher said. "That's the difference between Jon and myself."
With his constant drills on these issues, many thought the Gallagher campaign had picked up some momentum through the summer.
But in late September, the Porter campaign launched a series of potentially devastating ads calling Gallagher a multimillionaire carpetbagger who is renting a home in the district so he can buy a congressional seat.
Gallagher is renting a home in Congressional District 3. But his home in Summerlin, which he has owned for more than two years, is a baseball throw away -- just six houses down -- from Porter's district.
The Gallagher campaign also points out that Porter moved into a new congressional district to run against Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., in 2000.
But Porter maintains that Gallagher really has lived at his Lake Tahoe home, pointing to a November check Gallagher cut to the Bush-Cheney campaign from the Lake Tahoe address.
"I moved from down the street, but it's not about moving across town," Porter said. "It's really a desperate stretch."
Porter also attacked Gallagher for taking $3.1 million in salary and benefits in 2002, the year after his Park Place Entertainment laid off more than 2,000 people and soon before Gallagher took a package to leave the company.
Danny Thompson, executive secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO of Nevada and other labor leaders were quick to defend Gallagher, who they said was one of the most compassionate CEOs after Sept. 11.
"Here's the thing," Thompson said, "the race closed until Porter started his negative ads against Gallagher. But when Gallagher's ads come back with the record, people are going to be interested in the way he's going to be voting.
"People don't know Porter's record."
Porter points to the almost $10 million in federal dollars he said he has helped secure for the Clark County School District.
"That comes from hard work and understanding how to find solutions to problems," said Porter, who describes himself as "someone that crosses the aisle and works with both parties to find consensus."
He said he constantly explains to people in Congress what growth has done to Nevada's health care and education systems.
And he sponsored bills that would create a system to track teachers with criminal histories and punish people who drive under the influence of drugs.
"Having been in Las Vegas for years, I really do understand the challenges for our businesses and our community members," Porter said.
On his Web site, Porter lists improving access to prescription drugs for seniors as one of his most proud accomplishments.
That's where Gallagher hopes to see an opening. People who attend his campaign events know that Gallagher seems most comfortable when he criticizes the Medicare prescription drug bill and tells the story of his mother-in-law and the many pills she takes.
Gallagher uses it as one example in which he said Porter voted with Republican leadership against the best interests of Nevada.
He has referred to a report from Congressional Quarterly showing that Porter voted along with House Republican Leadership 94 percent of the time -- 687 out of 729 votes cast.
Porter counters that he has stood up on important issues such as Yucca and transportation, issues that he said went against GOP leadership.
The same report showed Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., voted with Democratic leadership 93 percent of the time and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted with Senate leadership 94 percent of the time, Porter said.
In an interview in late September, Gallagher seemed reluctant to fight back against the personal attacks levied in the campaign.
"As rough as this campaign is getting, I'm just going to focus on the issues because that's what matters," he said. "Frankly, my reputation is important to me. I'm not going to sacrifice it."
Yet in the past few days, the Gallagher campaign has sent out two particularly tough fliers -- one full-page ad showing a politician crossing his fingers behind his back and another giant ad saying "hypocrite" with a picture of Porter and packed bags, referring to Porter's move in 1999 to run for Congress.
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