By Jon Ralston

Fri, Oct 7, 2005 (7:56 a.m.)

Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman has been mum on a possible run for governor. "As long as the people want me and I'm the happiest mayor in the world, I'd like to be the happiest mayor in the world," he said recently. Will mayor's happy days continue?

Emptying out the notebook after another long week spent keeping the world safe for democracy:

Will he or won't he? Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, shown to be the gubernatorial front-runner (or at least in a dead heat with Rep. Jim Gibbons) in a recent Zogby International poll, wasn't budging Thursday when he was asked at his weekly news conference about his intentions.

When I asked the mayor if consultant Kent Oram was accurate when he told the Sun's Dan Kulin that Goodman had told him that 51 percent of his mayoral heart wanted to get into the contest, His Honor said: "No, no, no. I told you I'm the happiest mayor ... I don't know what Kent Oram is saying."

Oram is thought by some to be nudging Goodman toward the race, and the mayor has, sources confirm, told folks recently that he may be more interested than people think. It's always difficult to discern with Goodman, though, whether he just wants to cause trouble or if he is serious.

Conventional wisdom would say he would love the campaign but wouldn't want the job and that Metro might respond to a murder-suicide at his Scotch 80s home shortly after he informed his wife that he was leaving a sure thing for a problematic statewide bid.

But might he talk himself into the race, which he might find more fun than the job, even if Oram can't?

My "Face to Face" producer Dana Gentry followed up by telling Goodman that he could put aside any speculation by announcing his intention to seek a third term as mayor (in 2007). (At this point, I believe, mayoral wannabe Larry Brown was glued to the news conference on the TV in his council office.)

I loved the mayor's carefully worded (now isn't that a strange phrase to use with Goodman?) answer: "As long as the people want me and I'm the happiest mayor in the world, I'd like to be the happiest mayor in the world." So you will run for a third term? Gentry pressed.

"As long as I'm the happiest mayor in the world," he smiled.

So if he were to become even the slightest bit unhappy, perhaps because the state or the Democrats or his ego demanded he be so, he might run?

The door is officially open.

TOMFOOLERY

Showing he can't be taken seriously sometimes and that he just can't help himself most of the time, Goodman described the location of a couple of malls where disaster preparedness exercises were occurring overnight.

Goodman mentioned the Galleria mall, "'wherever that is," which by my count is his 564,000th joke about Henderson.

And then he mentioned the Meadows mall, and grinned mischievously as he added, "where Tomfoolery is." That's the controversial bar inside the mall that Goodman helped expand a few months ago, drawing the ire of Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian and many residents.

Yes, His Honor just can't resist a little tomfoolery.

PERKINS' FUTURE

It has been humorous to listen to all the speculation about what Richard Perkins will do now that he has dropped out of the governor's race. Here's how I see the odds of various possibilities that have been raised:

Public sector job such as a gaming regulator: 3-1. Private sector job such as lobbyist or security chief: 3-1. Run for lieutenant governor: 4-1. Get back into the governor's race: 9-1. Run against Rep. Jon Porter in 2006: 20-1. Run against Porter in 2008: 5-1. I hear Perkins is at peace with his decision.

But don't look for him to be endorsing Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus any time soon. I doubt he's forgiven her yearlong campaign to trash him. But will he embrace Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson? They aren't on wonderful terms, either. The question is whether either will ask.