Monday, July 18, 2005 | 9:31 a.m.
One of the most anticipated congressional races in the nation is in Nevada, and it's heating up.
With three likely candidates raising a total of more than half a million dollars so far, the largely rural district now held by Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., could get costly.
Gibbons is expected to leave the seat and run for governor in 2006.
Reports posted Friday on the Federal Election Commission's Web site indicate that Secretary of State Dean Heller has taken the fundraising lead for the Republican primary in the 2nd Congressional District.
Heller raised $135,325 in the second quarter, giving him $246,760 on hand.
"He's clearly the front runner," said Heller campaign consultant Mike Slanker. "He's had pretty remarkable success."
The money puts Heller ahead of Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno, who has raised $158,888 and has kept most of the money in the bank.
Gibbons' wife, former Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons, also has indicated an interest in the race, She has raised about $130,000 in the period, giving her about $160,000 in total cash on hand.
Several questioned Angle's return, however, which shows just about $6,700 of the money she raised came from Nevadans.
Angle campaign consultant Jerry Stacy said that fiscally conservative groups such as the Club for Growth have noticed Angle and are helping her catch up in fundraising to Heller and Gibbons, who got into the race earlier than Angle did.
"This country has taken notice," Stacy said. "They're not just concerned about electing more Republicans but better Republicans."
But Slanker said Angle should have contributions from Nevada if she really has a base of support here.
"If the people who know you best don't support you, then I think you have a problem," he said.
Jim Denton, a consultant for Dawn Gibbons, said one of the obstacles Gibbons has faced is she won't officially announce her intentions to run until her husband announces whether he will run for governor.
"You have to recall she's the only unannounced candidate for the race," he said.
In the 3rd Congressional District, Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., is seeking to shed a top 10 "most vulnerable" label.
House Republican leaders in February announced Porter and nine of his colleagues were on that list and thus would be the beneficiaries of the money raised by the Retain Our Majority Program. The political action committee was launched in 1999 by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
Porter raised $286,249 in the second quarter, giving him $596,041 cash on hand -- with no challenger in sight in a district split with roughly the same number of Democrats and Republican registered voters.
Porter raised more than $400,000 in the first three months of the year, but that's no indication he is slowing down, Slanker said. He predicted that Porter will have more than $1 million by the end of the year.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., raised $586,308 in April, May and June, giving him $1.8 million cash on hand.
No Democrats have yet indicated they would challenge the first-term senator.
Ensign could have more than $3 million by the end of the year, said Slanker, who also serves as an Ensign campaign consultant. But the campaign is prepared to raise as much as $10 million if the race heats up.
Democratic sources would not say when a candidate might announce a bid for the seats of Porter or Ensign -- or who would be willing to take that plunge.
Nevada Democratic Party spokesman Jon Summers declined even to say how many were considering it. Summers acknowledged that finding a candidate for the Ensign race was a particular "fundraising challenge."
"We're talking to a number of people who could be good, viable candidates in these races," Summers said.
Jim Gibbons has two campaign funds, one for an unlikely re-election bid and one for a potential governor's race called the "Friends of Jim Gibbons Steering Committee."
More than $1 million is in that fund, said Gibbons spokesman Robert Uithoven.
Since that is money for a statewide race, Gibbons won't have to declare it until a January filing report.
Gibbons raised just $37,464 in the second quarter for his congressional race fund, giving him $347,746 on hand.
He can roll over all of that money into his gubernatorial race.
"All signs look very positive for a Gibbons run for governor," Uithoven said.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., raised $11,901 in the third quarter, giving him $800,582 on hand. Reid doesn't face re-election until 2010.
Reid also maintains a political action committee called Searchlight Leadership Fund to raise money for fellow Democrats.
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., also reported $351,625 raised this quarter, with $1.1 million in cash on hand. She also has no announced challenger so far.
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