Five Nevadans to help elect new Democratic chairman

Kirsten Searer

Monday, Jan. 24, 2005 | 8:47 a.m.

Even though President Bush won the state by 21,500 votes last year, Democrats aren't willing to throw in the towel on Nevada.

Party leaders believe the new chairman of the national party can help them capture the governor's mansion in 2006 and turn Nevada into a blue state in 2008.

Democrats, including five from Nevada, will elect a new chairman on Feb. 12 in Washington, D.C.

Former Presidential candidate Howard Dean is the most well-known name on the list of candidates, though several others are aggressively courting the 447 Democratic Committee members who will vote on the position.

The heads of state parties from Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Washington and Vermont already have endorsed Dean, though Nevada state party chairwoman Adriana Martinez said she hasn't decided yet. She met with the candidates this weekend at a Western caucus in Sacramento.

Martinez and other Nevada voters has been heavily courted by the candidates.

"It's more intense than the presidential nomination process," said state Sen. Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, who said he has received numerous calls, e-mails and letters from candidates, including personal calls from Dean asking for his vote.

Horsford serves as a national committeeman, giving him a vote in the selection.

While he said last week that he hadn't decided how he will vote, Horsford said he wants a candidate who will specifically talk about making inroads into Nevada's traditionally Republican rural counties and expanding the vote in Washoe and Clark counties.

"Critics say we need to start over, develop a new strategy," Horsford said. "I think the Democratic party needs to develop a message that's clear and understandable and deliver that message."

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, who serves as a national committeewoman, said she hopes the national party can capture momentum Democrats forged this election season in Nevada.

Titus, who is eyeing a run for governor in 2006, said the party needs "a good outside person to get things energized and not have us lose hope and lose momentum."

Other front-runners include former Texas Rep. Martin Frost, who is considered an excellent organizer and fundraiser; former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer, who is seen as a more conservative candidate; former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb; Democratic activist Donnie Fowler, a grass-roots and Internet expert; and Simon Rosenberg, the founder of the centrist New Democratic Network.

Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates serves as head of the Democratic National Committee's Black Caucus and said she has pledged support for Dean.

She led Nevadans for Dean last year, when he was still running for president because he's "different, not your typical. I like that." Democrats don't need to choose a middle-of-the-road candidate to appeal to more conservative voters, she said.

"I'm so sick of hearing 'middle of the road, middle of the road for what you need,' " she said. "You need somebody who's going to do the job."