Columnist Jeff German: Governor race is wide open

Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005 | 10:41 a.m.

Even the most experienced politicos may need a scorecard to keep track of the candidates in the 2006 governor's race.

"I've never seen a mix like this," says veteran political consultant Kent Oram, who was intimately involved in the campaigns of retiring Gov. Kenny Guinn and former Gov. Bob Miller.

"It's absolutely, totally unpredictable at this moment."

Former Gov. Richard Bryan, a Democrat who spends his time lobbying and watching the political scene these days, agrees.

"I think it's going to be a helluva race," Bryan says. "It could be the most competitive governor's race in Nevada history."

So far, the Democratic primary is shaping up as a three-candidate race.

Though he has yet to announce his candidacy, Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson all but made it official Monday when he let Greg Bortolin put the word out that he was leaving his job as Guinn's press secretary to become Gibson's campaign communications director.

Gibson plans to take the plunge in mid-September.

When he does, he will join Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus of Las Vegas, who already is hot on the campaign trail, and Democratic Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins of Henderson, who is gearing up to enter the fray.

The wild card for the Democrats is Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman who, with 80-plus percent approval ratings, hasn't ruled out a bid.

"Oscar's definitely a possibility," says Oram, a strategist in both of Goodman's mayoral campaigns. "I know he's seriously thinking about it."

Then there are the Republicans.

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt has made it clear that she's in the race. So has anti-tax ideologue Sen. Bob Beers of Las Vegas. And the perceived front-runner on the GOP side, ultra-conservative Rep. Jim Gibbons, who has a campaign war chest approaching $2 million, is set to announce his intentions at the end of the month.

If that weren't enough, media mogul Jim Rogers, the man currently at the helm of the state's higher education system, is considering running for governor as an independent. Rogers, who recently gave up his Republican Party membership, could fund his campaign by simply writing a check to himself.

"It's kind of an anomaly," says Sig Rogich, a seasoned Republican campaign consultant who is backing Gibbons. "It's one of those unique times in Nevada history when the stars have lined up and provided the state with an open governor's seat and a host of candidates who want the job."

Rogich knows whom he's supporting, but the lengthy list of candidates, many of them longtime public figures, is making it difficult for other veteran politicos to take sides.

"Until it all shakes out, I don't know what to do," says gaming attorney Frank Schreck, one of the state's premier political fundraisers.

"This is placing people like myself and others who have been involved in political races in awkward positions because we don't want to work against friends."

Even the casino industry, the state's biggest campaign contributor, is in a quandary.

The industry has a history of hedging its bets in big races. It likes to make sure it backs the winner.

In this race, however, some of the bigger gaming companies, I'm told, don't plan to make any major commitments until they do some political polling.

"People are scratching their heads and saying, 'This is going to be fun,' " says Mike Sloan, a Democratic operative with strong ties to the casino industry. "But they want to get some hard data to sort out the field."

That's going to be a challenge.