Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Jon Ralston wonders if a campaign strategy based on silence will benefit the favorite in the eyes of a disaffected voting public

If I told you this column was about the biennial debate over debates, would you turn the page?

Stop.

This will not be one of those turgid screeds calling on the front-runner to engage with his mewling opponent. At least not until the very end.

But what is occurring in this year's Republican primary for governor is unprecedented in the two decades-plus I have covered politics - the man widely assumed to be the favorite to win the contest, Rep. Jim Gibbons, essentially is hiding from his foes, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt and state Sen. Bob Beers, and trying to coast to a smashing primary victory. That will all but guarantee a November coronation because the Democratic nominee will be bankrupt after a cash-depleting primary.

If you are fine with that, you may stop reading now. If not, read on. First, some words in defense of Gibbons. He is hamstrung by having a real job - congressman - that keeps him out of the state most of the time and thus difficult to pin down for a debate.

This contrasts with Beers and Hunt, who have business commitments but are campaigning close to full time and are always here.

And you can't fault his handlers for the avoidance strategy. Gibbons has the most money - three or four times what Hunt has and probably 10 times as much as Beers. Gibbons' advisers also are keeping him under wraps because of his Season of Gaffes last year, which featured a plagiarized speech (and a bad one, too), his inability to identify the minimum wage and his labeling as "communist" anyone opposed to the corporate cash that larded the president's inauguration.

Fine. I get all that. And with us Fourth Estaters always looking to find a race - even when one is not there - it's not surprising that Gibbons has taken a lot of heat for agreeing to only two debates - Aug. 4 and Aug. 11 - with fairly restrictive formats and after early voting has begun July 29.

The lacerating criticism from the media sometimes has been unfair, including when we gave him a hard time for being the only one of the candidates to tape an interview - thus avoiding live calls and e-mails as the other candidates could not - with KNPR during a series of one-hour appearances the candidates recently made on "State of Nevada."

Turns out, according to a series of e-mails I have obtained between the show's producer and a Gibbons staffer, that the congressman actually said he preferred to do the interview live and that when dates could not be worked out - he was in D.C. voting for much of the month - the public radio station not only capitulated but also readily agreed to a taped interview - "I'm fine with that," the producer wrote.

And then the interview was a debacle, with host Dave Berns erroneously implying Gibbons refused to do the interview live and spending an inordinate time on topics that have nothing to do with what he would do as governor.

Opportunity missed.

Alas, this is typical of what happens during elections. The media allows candidates and their spinmeisters to browbeat or bamboozle so they get their way and can minimize the impact of debates and maximize the impact of their campaign ads.

We have all the power here. Gibbons won't come on "Face to Face" because he doesn't like me or thinks I'm biased or doesn't appreciate that I have pointed out his wife's erratic behavior on the campaign trail as she seeks to inherit his congressional seat.

Fine. I have no pride of debateship. There are plenty of venues to choose from and plenty of time left - the House is out July 14, for example, and all of August - to have a series of real debates.

But what Gibbons and his campaign team are counting on is that the yelps of Hunt, Beers and the media will be lost on a disaffected public, especially during a summer when few even realize the primary is nigh. So if you are fine with electing someone who essentially is a cipher, who has said little about his plans except he doesn't like Tax and Spending Control or sexual predators, you can go back to sleep now.

I'll wake you in time for the Gibbons inaugural.

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