Editorial: No anointment here

Friday, Jan. 14, 2005 | 9:02 a.m.

Secretary of State Dean Heller's entry into the race to succeed Rep. Jim Gibbons, a Republican who is expected to run for governor next year, means that Dawn Gibbons' coronation can be called off. Dawn Gibbons, the former state assemblywoman who is Jim Gibbons' wife, was the early favorite to succeed her husband, who has been very popular in Nevada's 2nd Congressional District. But now, with Heller's decision, she will have a race on her hands in the Republican primary.

Neither Heller nor Gibbons wasted time in taking swipes at each other. Heller's comment that "I don't believe in dynasties" was followed by Dawn Gibbons' retort that she doesn't have family money to finance her campaign, saying that she'll have to raise money through hard work and "shoe leather." Heller and Dawn Gibbons do have something in common, though: They haven't always been welcomed by the Republican Party's conservative wing. For instance, Dawn Gibbons voted for the 2003 Legislature's much-needed tax increase, a hike that was denounced by many diehard conservatives. (Even her husband was dismissive of the tax increase, saying budget cuts should have been considered first.) Heller often has been a maverick within the party, advocating reforms to election and campaign-finance laws that rarely have been embraced by other Republicans.

In recent years, too many important races in Nevada have resulted in candidates backed by key power brokers -- both Republicans and Democrats -- easily winning their races because they don't have serious challengers. In that vein, we hope that the emerging contest among Republicans in Nevada's 2nd Congressional District -- one that will at least give GOP primary voters a real choice -- spreads to other contests as well. It's the kind of boost that representative democracy can use.