Governor candidates upstaged by Giuliani

By J. Patrick Coolican (contact)

Wednesday, March 22, 2006 | 7:08 a.m.

Nevada's candidates for governor probably should have rescheduled to another day, pretty much any day, so long as it wasn't the same day that Rudy Giuliani came to Las Vegas.

Hours before a forum for the gubernatorial candidates, the former New York mayor wooed a crowd of real estate industry folks across town. He mimicked the New York mobsters he once prosecuted, using a gravelly voice to quip, "Thanks for inviting me to Las Vegas, which we used to own." He came across as humble and funny and mentioned Sept. 11 no more than 25 or 30 times.

With his charisma and energy, he could have sold them a crackhouse in the Bronx.

The candidates for Nevada governor were slightly less dazzling at a Women's Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Lawry's The Prime Rib. The crowd ate prime rib; some seasoned theirs with a special salt called Lawry's, which was on every table.

With its opulent, red velvet booths, the venue is designed like an old Rat Pack hangout. But the candidates had trouble creating a spark or making a visceral, emotional connection with the crowd, if the tepid applause at the end was any indication. Perhaps it was the heavy food.

The candidate who stood out was Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, though not necessarily for his charm. His far-right politics distinguished him from a field of Republicans and Democrats all hoping to seem moderate. The result was a forum that at times featured two parties - the Beers party and the-everybody-else party.

Beers is an imposing physical presence, with a large, balding cranium gone crimson from campaigning in the Nevada sun. His red complexion would seem to match his red-meat conservative ideas.

He's opposed to raising the minimum wage. He supports an initiative to limit the growth of government to inflation plus the increase in population. He wants to require a minimum college entrance exam score to qualify for the Millennium Scholarship, which provides money for Nevada students to attend college. And, if the program gets too expensive, he wants to limit it to the state's poorest students.

On these issues, Beers was alone.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., is working hardest to persuade Southern Nevada's centrists that he'll govern from the middle. He has the well-coiffed white hair and blue suit of a man who's spent some time in the House dining room, with a pair of boots to retain some Western bona fides.

He staked out a spot to the left of Beers time and again, calling for a raise in the minimum wage and extolling the value of education, recalling his father's tough life as a - yes, he used the term - ditch digger. When it came to health care and child care, he used the innocuous term "regulatory reform." His answers in the forum were often the most succinct.

Dina Titus, the Democratic minority leader of the state Senate, has a deep Southern drawl, which magnifies her catchy sound bites.

"I'm a Nevadan by choice, not by chance.

"We have to make education a priority and not a charity," said Titus, who's a professor of political science at UNLV. She favors all-day kindergarten, scholarships for nursing, pharmacy and medical students to ease Nevada shortages in those areas, and she would subsidize small businesses so they can buy health insurance for their employees.

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt looks a little like Liza Minnelli with her helmet of jet black hair. The Republican said she took up politics because she was tired of big government. She likes to cite her resume as businesswoman, county commissioner and former chairwoman of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board.

Jim Gibson, Democratic mayor of Henderson, has a drowsy or soothing voice - depending on your personal preference - and speaks in technocratic terms about using government efficiently, with phrases such as, "We've been managing the size of government in Henderson" and "We must reallocate resources in a way that ensures we can continue to be prosperous."

Gibson favors a government that would form partnerships with business. For instance, he mentioned land concessions from developers to build schools and parks in exchange for the right to develop their land.

The real estate professionals, hundreds of them, hung around to get their photo taken with Giuliani. There wasn't much of that outside Lawry's The Prime Rib.