Fundraising, organizing for 2006 governor’s race begins

Kirsten Searer

Thursday, July 14, 2005 | 9:40 a.m.

The e-mail went out at 12:01 a.m. Friday, and it was in search of one thing: money.

State law prohibited Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus from raising campaign funds until 30 days after the Legislature convened. She timed her pitch to the minute.

Money, she told supporters, "will make a statement that our team is ready and able to take our message to every voter and win in 2006."

The 2006 gubernatorial campaign probably isn't on your radar yet, but both Republicans and Democrats are gearing up for a tough campaign.

And that takes cash, probably upwards of $5 million for each candidate.

Candidates traditionally hope to gather money early to prove they are viable contenders. But some watchers are predicting that the state's political money machine could prove more finicky than usual as candidates gear up for tough primaries.

"This is a difficult start time for everybody except (Rep.) Jim Gibbons in this race," said Sean Sinclair, a campaign consultant for Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, a likely Democratic candidate.

Indeed, Gibbons is the only likely candidate for governor who was exempt from the prohibition on raising money during the Legislature. While other candidates were in Carson City this spring, Gibbons was securing donors and laying a groundwork for a campaign.

Republican candidates such as state Sen. Bob Beers of Las Vegas and Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt couldn't raise money until Friday.

Hunt has run three statewide races, and Beers is a popular figure among fiscal conservatives. But the question is whether Gibbons has locked in supporters or whether major donors such as gaming companies will be willing to give to other Republicans, too.

Both Hunt and Beers predicted they'll find some money among gamers.

"They won't cut me off," said Hunt, who pointed to her record of promoting Nevada businesses as lieutenant governor.

Beers added, "They may, in fact, decide to fund several primary candidates and see where Nevada voters take them."

Even though some gaming executives have openly looked for a candidate other than Gibbons, UNR political science professor Eric Herzik predicted that they won't turn toward Beers.

"His is an ideological run," Herzik said of Beers, who advocates for a more limited government. "He's always going to be short money. I think he's going to depend very much on an overestimated conservative groundswell. I don't think it will materialize."

Something needs to happen soon to convince people that Gibbons isn't the front runner if other candidates want to catch up in fund-raising, said Mike Sloan, a former Mandalay Bay executive, who now consults for companies on issues relating to politics and labor.

"He (Gibbons) is just going to pull further away unless there's some dramatic change," Sloan said.

The Democratic side is a different story, partly because Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, and Titus were intimately involved in some of the session's biggest controversies.

One bill that came to a head at the end of the session, for example, would have changed the way neighborhood casinos could be approved in Las Vegas.

It pitted some gaming companies against labor unions. Casinos argued it would give residents a better idea of where casinos would be located; unions argued it would limit competition among casinos and curb the method neighborhoods now have to protest planned casinos.

After a tough battle, the idea died in the Assembly, and few were happy with the outcome. Perkins was in the middle of negotiations.

"That could hurt Perkins, but that's one that's too early to tell," Herzik said.

Most have speculated that labor unions will stay out of the Democratic primary until a more clear winner emerges. But Danny Thompson, executive secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, said he isn't sure how the neighborhood casino bill will shape support.

"Certainly that bill was not a good thing, and we fought it," he said. "Who gets blamed for it is the $64 question."

Labor's involvement could decide the Democratic primary, Sloan said.

"The key to Democrats is what's going to happen with organized labor," he said. "That's going to be one of the keys, to see if they're going to make a decision early."

Sinclair, Perkins' consultant, argued that Perkins has a long-standing relationship with all sides involved in the issue.

"The speaker's had a long, long relationship and history with labor in this state," Sinclair said. "As the process moves forward, that's what the AFL-CIO and other unions will be looking toward."

Six months ago the conventional wisdom among political watchers was that Perkins was the Democratic candidate to beat, said Sean Smith, a campaign consultant for Titus.

After the legislative session, when Titus took a lead role in the debate over property tax reform, that sense has changed, he argued.

Now, he said, the campaign is gathering support with an active online site, he said.

"Some people, their hearts are going to contribute for them," Smith said. "Other people are going to go with who they think will win. That's what makes the early fundraising so critical. You want to show the big donors in the state a sense of momentum."

Sinclair said his candidate, Perkins, will have plenty to brag about from the session, especially his efforts to win full-day kindergarten for at-risk schools.

"That will have an impact across this state for generations," he said.