Carter is seen as a long shot against Ensign

Benjamin Grove and Dan Kulin

Sunday, Oct. 9, 2005 | 11:17 a.m.

Jack Carter

Jack Carter's campaign for U.S. Senate will start with a "listening tour" to see if Nevadans "like me as much as I like them."

He may hear two words repeated: long shot.

In a run against Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., Carter is a big underdog.

Carter could be "theoretically" viable, said Jennifer Duffy, who analyzes Senate races for the non-partisan Cook Political Report. Democratic Party affection for Carter's father, former President Jimmy Carter, could allow him to tap deep wells of money, she said.

"What I don't know is what kind of campaigner he is," Duffy said.

Carter's lack of time in the state could hurt him, Duffy said. Carter made Nevada his permanent home in 2002 and has never run for office.

Ensign, a congressman before being elected to the Senate, is a formidable incumbent with a well-oiled money machine and strong popularity in a conservative-leaning state.

"It would be a contrast in this race," Duffy said.

For now, Ensign's aides won't stray off message. They decline to discuss what kind of race Carter could mount and stress that Ensign is not taking anything for granted and is preparing for a tough race.

"We're ready to go," Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said.

"We don't know a lot about him, other than his name," said Brian Nick, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party arm that is responsible for maintaining and expanding the GOP's 55-to-44 seat lead in the Senate.

Asked if a Carter-Ensign race would ever be close, Nick said, "I wouldn't expect it to, no."

Ensign is well known and well liked. A recent Zogby International poll put him against Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, asking voters whom they'd pick in a Senate race. Ensign was up by 10 percentage points.

But Democrats say Carter could make a race challenging for Ensign.

"This is someone who clearly understands politics," Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Phil Singer said. "He would certainly be viable. Nevada is not a solid red state."

Singer said Democrats could make a case against Ensign, too, by focusing on several issues, such as his support for President Bush's flagging proposal to reform Social Security, as well as Ensign's acceptance of campaign money from controversial lobbying figures Jack Abramoff and David Safavian.

"There is a story about Ensign and an argument to be made for replacing him," Singer said.

The question is if Carter can articulate that argument.

Ensign is nearing the end of his first term in the Senate, and Carter said that while Ensign seems like "a nice guy," Carter said the senator is "tied in with the Bush administration."

"The country is going in the wrong direction, and he's part of the problem," Carter said.

The war in Iraq, the treatment of prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay and the budget deficit are among the issues Carter said the Bush administration has mishandled. However, Carter would not answer specific questions about his views on those matters.

"There's a layer of incompetence and corruption in this administration," he said, adding that they are "using fear as a cattle prod."

"It's like the hunt for communists with McCarthy. If you don't agree with me, you are unpatriotic," he said.

But Carter is going to have to find support in a state that has conservative leanings.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would support Carter, but it's unclear how much he would help Carter. Reid and Ensign have an agreement not to publicly criticize each other, but Reid noted that Ensign supported his challenger last year, Richard Ziser.

"Sen. Ensign supported Ziser, I'll support Carter," Reid said. "We'll have to see what I can help him with."

Carter would need a funnel of campaign money because Ensign has been salting money away for the campaign, and it's not likely that Nevada's major industries would open up their wallets to someone seen as a long shot.

He'll also face an Ensign campaign team led by Mike Slanker, who has a reputation for fiercely fought wins.

In Republican Rep. Jon Porter's re-election bid last year, Slanker painted Democratic challenger Tom Gallagher, a former CEO of Park Place Entertainment, as an outsider. Gallagher had lived in Nevada for a few years but moved into Porter's district right before the race.

Porter won by 14 percentage points.

For now, Ensign doesn't seem too worried about Carter. He said that until a week ago he didn't even know President Carter had a son, much less one living in Nevada.

Benjamin Grove can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or grove@lasvegassun.com.Dan Kulin can be reached at 229-6436 or dan@lasvegassun.com.