Caught in party politics

By J. Patrick Coolican

Saturday, April 29, 2006 | 7:26 a.m.

At an informal press conference during the state Democratic Party convention a week ago, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid took questions with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the keynote speaker.

Just behind Reid stood Jack Carter, son of former President Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party's best hope of unseating Nevada's other U.S. senator, a Republican.

When a question about health care policy came up, Carter started to make a point, until he was cut off by Reid.

"OK, Jack, we're doing the press conference, OK?" Reid said in a tone a parent would reserve for an insubordinate child.

In interviews this week, Carter shrugged off the remark. He said that Reid has been nothing but supportive, and that he was sympathetic to the extreme demands and stress of Reid's job. A spokeswoman for Reid said he supports Carter all the way.

Nevertheless, the snap illustrated a predicament for Reid this campaign season. He's trying to maintain his close relationship with Carter's opponent, incumbent Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign, while also trying to unseat him and thereby raise the Democratic head count in the Senate.

Although Reid and Ensign squared off in a sometimes nasty election fight for Reid's seat in 1998, by all accounts they now have a nonaggression pact that helps them work together on state issues - and keeps both of them in office. Michael Ensign, Ensign's father and a former prominent Strip executive, gave thousands of dollars to Reid's 2004 campaign.

The state Democratic Party's thin political ranks certainly didn't give Reid many options this election cycle. On the other hand, Ensign did not recruit a tough Republican candidate when Reid sought re-election in 2004.

Credible candidates two years ago would have included Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., MGM Mirage Chief Executive Terry Lanni and Brian Sandoval, who was attorney general and former Nevada Gaming Commission chairman. Last year, with Ensign's support, Reid helped make Sandoval a federal judge, which eliminated him as a potential political rival.

The first sign of Reid's allegiance to Ensign this election season came in Reid's failure to woo a top-tier candidate with political experience, said Michele Swers, a professor of government at Georgetown and an authority on Congress. "He didn't try to actively recruit somebody better to run against Ensign, and he could have, in a year when the Democrats have an outside chance to win back the Senate," she said.

The Reid-Ensign bond is not unusual. Cross-party working relationships are common in the 14 states that have split delegations, and it has ample precedent in history, going back well into the 19th century. Famous split-delegates who worked closely in the last half century include Everett Dirksen and Paul Douglas in Illinois, who cooperated on civil rights, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Alfonse D'Amato in New York.

Split delegations often get along better than senators from the same party, said David Lublin, a professor of political science at American University. "Same party means they're fighting for the same activists, same money, same publicity."

But some Democrats say that Reid should not be settling into a groove with Ensign now that Reid is a national leader of the Democratic Party. As Senate minority leader, they say, Reid has a greater responsibility than other senators to do everything in his power to help Democrats, and Carter in particular, especially at a time when the party has focused on challenging Republicans in all 50 states, blue and red alike.

Last weekend's press conference left some Democrats dismayed. Hugh Jackson, who writes the liberal blog Las Vegas Gleaner, filed an angry missive. Reid could have used his convention speech, Jackson wrote, to acknowledge the uphill battle Carter faces while introducing him to the state's most committed Democrats and imploring them to work on his behalf.

"Instead, Reid blew off Carter in his speech, and then openly told Carter to hush in front of Nevada's political press corps."

Betty Sabo, a retired teacher and school administrator who lives in Las Vegas, said that while she remains a strong supporter of Reid, she is disappointed. "I'm dismayed by the lack of enthusiastic support for candidate Carter," she said.

David Brady, a professor of political science at Stanford who's studied the phenomenon of split delegations, said that the question for Nevada Democrats, and for Democrats nationally, is, "How does this friendship cut against his desire to make his party the majority party?"

Brady pointed out, however, that taking on Ensign could backfire for Reid.

"Nevada is a state that could turn on Reid," he said. "Suppose he goes after Ensign, and Ensign gets re-elected, and he probably will, then Ensign goes after Reid.

"If there's no chance of winning, you're just going to anger him, so why do it?" Brady said. Politicians, he explained, "are risk-averse."

Publicly, both Carter and Reid are saying the right things.

"I think Harry is all behind me," Carter said. "There are little hurdles to show I'm committed, and I expect that, but I expect Harry's full and total support."

Sharyn Stein, a spokeswoman for Reid, said her boss "thinks Jack Carter is an excellent candidate. Sen. Reid has said he has very high hopes for him."

That statement can be tested by looking at the campaign finance reports of Carter and Tessa Hafen, the former Reid staffer running against Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. Hafen has Reid's support and fundraising help.

Carter and Hafen have no more than six donors in common, according to the most recent finance disclosure reports, and much of the $650,000 Carter had raised as of March 31 came from out of state. When it comes to money, the Reid pipeline isn't pumping much to Carter. That's a potentially crippling liability given the $3 million Ensign has on hand, according to reports.

Carter's advocates say that his family name and connections, as well as his easygoing manner and business background, give him strength at a time when Republicans across the country are fretting about their party's election prospects. Ensign's approval/disapproval ratings are 49/36 percent, according to an April Survey USA poll, ranking him 69th among 100 senators .

Carter said he's just a businessman who became outraged at the direction of American foreign policy and deficit spending.

"We're spending my kids' money, and it's wrong," said Carter, who worked as a trader of commodities, futures and foreign currencies. He freely admits that the name recognition his father lends him is his ticket into the political world.

Most analysts see Carter as a long shot, which they say puts Reid on very safe ground.

"Why risk his excellent relationship with the current and future junior senator of Nevada to score some points with a few party activists?" said Larry Sabato, a professor of political science at the University of Virginia. "He's being practical. Successful public people are always practical."

Sun librarian Rebecca Clifford contributed to this report.