Editorial: Barnburner in 2006?

Thursday, Aug. 4, 2005 | 9:20 a.m.

Jim Rogers hasn't officially declared his candidacy for governor, but he sure seems close to doing so. Earlier this week Rogers, chancellor of Nevada's university system and owner of a network of television stations throughout the West, canceled his party registration as a Republican and instead registered as nonpartisan. If Rogers decides to run in 2006, it would create an exciting, free-for-all race for governor.

For Rogers, running as an independent would mean avoiding a bruising primary battle that is shaping up in the Republican primary, which likely will include U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt and state Sen. Bob Beers. Once he collects enough signatures to get on the ballot, Rogers would go straight to the general election against whoever wins the Democratic and Republican primaries.

Third-party or independent candidacies usually don't fare well, but the Democratic and Republican parties aren't as strong as they once were, and ticket-splitting occurs often in Nevada. Ross Perot's strong showings in Nevada as a presidential candidate -- particularly in 1992, when he won 26 percent of the vote to President George H.W. Bush's 34 percent and Bill Clinton's 37 percent -- are proof that independent candidates can be taken seriously by voters. Rogers, like Perot, is wealthy, which can help considerably in getting his message out to voters, and he speaks his mind, a trait that resonates across the political spectrum. In the end, the GOP might have more to worry about from a Rogers candidacy for governor, because the former Republican likely would siphon more votes from Republicans than from Democrats.

November 2006 still is a long way off, but the governor's race has the potential to be one of the most interesting political races ever here. That is a very healthy development for Nevada, which recently hasn't seen many truly competitive races for the top elected posts in the state.