Jon Ralston on the escalation of cutthroat politics

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006 | 7:49 a.m.

I readily acknowledge that this time of year - only a fortnight-plus before early voting commences - I tend to get ornery. Or, to be accurate, more ornery than usual.

But is it my imagination or is there even less substance than usual - a low bar to get under - in Campaign '06?

From Democrats salivating over ways to exploit Rep. Mark Foley's drooling over pages to Republicans stretching misdemeanors into scandals of Watergate proportions, the bipartisan race to the bottom seems faster and lower than ever. Any kernel of a real issue is buried beneath an avalanche of hyperbole and histrionics. Or is it just me?

The Nevada cavalcade runs the gamut from the sublimely simple ("Dina Taxes") to the ridiculously ruthless ("Tessa Hafen came to Nevada a few months ago..."). The Republicans know how to do this so much better than Democrats - by this, I mean capturing the benighted masses with words that sound good but signify nothing.

But Democrats this year in Nevada have decided to show the GOP they can be as Machiavellian, playing a nasty but potentially effective game that provided a path to power for the likes of Joe McCarthy and other demagogues. It's the oldest, most cynical ploy in the book, one the Republicans have used for years by invoking icons such as Teddy Kennedy and now Nancy Pelosi (if you don't know, the Republicans will remind you the speaker-in-hoping is from San Francisco!).

Guilt by association.

Many Democratic candidates are running ads that talk more about President Bush than their opponents. How many times will we see that picture of Rep. Jon Porter and George W. Bush embracing? And I don't think Jack Carter mentioned John Ensign's name until about six months into his campaign - sounded like he was running for his dad's old job.

This is all so facile and silly. The implication - that Porter and Ensign are rubber stamps for the president - is simply meaningless. If there were a Democratic president, the records of Democratic incumbents would reflect similar genuflection. Rarely is any member of the House or Senate truly independent - toeing the party line is like breathing on Capitol Hill.

It also is the desperate lust for power - or could it be the desire to change the culture of corruption and fundamentally change the way business is done inside the Beltway? - that has caused the Democrats to leap on the Foley revelations.

Suddenly, Porter and Jim Gibbons are linked to Foley because they supported his child protection bills, and the Democrats hope that voters might wonder what they knew and when they knew it.

It is this environment, too, that causes the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to throw caution and good sense to the wind in a hyperventilating news release this week that accused Secretary of State Dean Heller of being tied to a "Rightwing Sex Offender." Yes, they had right-wing as one word. And it's not the DCCC that is upset, it is, "Nevada families question Dean Heller's ties ..." Really, they are?

Who knew?

Before I go on, let me say that Heller, who is running for Congress, appeared many times on a radio show hosted by Eddie Floyd, who has been indicted on drug and money-laundering charges. So did many other elected officials, who, unlike Heller, also invested in Floyd's business.

In the release, the DCCC suggests that "Heller's racecar (one word, again?) was seized by the DEA," a charge Heller says is false. He says the car was owned by Floyd's son, who also was indicted, and was only sitting in his garage. He delivered it to the DEA, Heller says.

But all of that is noise compared to Floyd being an unregistered sex offender, which only becomes relevant because of the media froth over Foley. And so the DCCC goes over the top.

For the Democrats, who are understandably stung by the GOP's expertise at cutthroat campaigns, this might give sustenance to those who say they have no real ideas, no alternative philosophy of governing to the GOP, and that is the only way to do what matters: win.

But maybe it's me.