Democrats wonder what might have been

By Tony Cook (contact)

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006 | 7:34 a.m.

After surprisingly strong - but ultimately unsuccessful - performances in Nevada's traditionally Republican congressional districts, Democratic leaders awoke today plagued by Wednesday morning political quarterbacking thoughts of what might have been.

That was especially true in Nevada's 3rd Congressional District, where two-term Republican Rep. Jon Porter overcame general dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq, President Bush and Congress to narrowly withstand a tough challenge from Democrat Tessa Hafen.

Final unofficial totals Tuesday night showed that Porter received 101,741 votes (48.4 percent), compared with 97,841 (46.6 percent) for Hafen, with the remainder of the votes going to minor candidates.

The nagging question that the close loss raised among some, however, was whether the Democrats could have bridged that narrow gap if they had fielded a more seasoned opponent than young, first-time candidate Hafen.

"I think Democrats really wanted a candidate who had more experience, someone who could bring instant credibility to the table. Hafen has had to work hard to get name recognition," said David Wasserman, a political analyst at the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

"Her lack of experience opens her to attacks that she's wet behind the ears, not someone that can be trusted to get things done in Washington."

Local Democrats tried, sources said, to get a more experienced candidate. Early recruiting attempts focused on Paula Francis, a KLAS Channel 8 news anchor, and Nancy Saitta, a District Court judge who opted instead for a Supreme Court bid.

When those recruiting efforts failed, the party settled on the 30-year-old Hafen, the former press secretary for U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, sources said.

In Nevada's two other congressional races, Republican Dean Heller outdistanced Democrat Jill Derby by only about 5 percentage points in the strongly Republican 2nd District - the seat vacated by Republican Jim Gibbons to run for governor - and Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley easily turned back a challenge from Republican Kenneth Wegner in the 1st District.

From the start, the 3rd District race drew the most attention, in part because of its competitive balance, combined with the nationwide anti-Republican mood that dominated this fall's elections.

The political climate gave Democrats their best shot at the seat since its inception four years ago, and their chances only seemed to improve late in the campaign when allegations surfaced that Porter had improperly made fundraising calls from his government offices. Porter vehemently denied the charges lodged by a former staffer.

But as a relatively unknown challenger with no experience in elective office, Hafen could not fully capitalize on Porter's potential political liability, or counter the power of the Republican's two-term incumbency and his attacks.

Porter painted Hafen as a carpetbagger who moved from Virginia to Nevada to run for office and criticized her stance on immigration. While both attacks, fueled by more than $1 million in television advertisements, were inaccurate in whole or part, they wounded Hafen's campaign.

Although Hafen is a native Nevadan with deep family roots in Henderson and her stance on immigration is substantially the same as Porter's, his fundraising advantage allowed him to define her to voters in the early stages of their race.

While Hafen ran a strong campaign highlighted by fundraising help from Reid and attacks against Porter for supporting Bush's agenda nearly 90 percent of the time, her unfamiliarity to voters ultimately might have cost the party a congressional seat.

"If (Henderson Mayor) Jim Gibson or (state Sen.) Dina Titus runs in that race - someone who can put out a list of accomplishments to fall back on instead of just saying we need change - this could have been a different race," said David Damore, a UNLV political science professor.

Tom Collins, state Democratic Party chairman, said: "We are going to work harder and harder until we take that seat."

Still, Hafen's performance and that of university regent Derby in the 2nd District, where Republicans hold a 47 percent to 34 percent edge among registered voters, show that voters in Nevada share the sentiment of the national electorate when it comes to the GOP-led status quo.

Derby, who played up her rural roots, lost to Nevada Secretary of State Heller by a much smaller margin than would normally be expected in the northern district .

Derby's tough challenge concerned the Republicans enough that Bush made a last-minute stop on Heller's behalf last week.