Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

And this is me with Dina

Dina Titus looked self-assured as she stood next to former Virginia governor and presumed presidential candidate Mark Warner, like the new boss.

Their press conference, held in a delightfully cheesy suite atop the Riviera, was the beginning of a fancy dance of mutual need between Titus and Democratic presidential contenders who will be in Nevada frequently between now and early 2008, when the Silver State will host an early caucus and thus play a big role in determining the Democratic nominee for president.

Political analysts say the presidential aspirants can deliver money and publicity to Titus. In turn, if Titus is elected governor, her endorsement will be highly sought after.

Even if she loses to her opponent, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., she's a Democratic national committeewoman with a large constituency of hard-core Democrats - the type most likely to vote in the caucus. As a result, throughout the fall, Nevadans can expect to see Titus standing next to men with blow-dried hair who look in the mirror in the morning and see a future president.

"She's being courted, but it's a two-way street," said Jennifer Duffy of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, meaning that Titus needs them just as they need her.

For Titus, the early Nevada caucus is fortuitous, analysts say. "Fundraising is the main thing. They get money," said Andrew Smith, a political scientist at the University of New Hampshire. (That state traditionally hosts the nation's first primary, so it is also important in presidential politics.)

David Yepsen, who as longtime political reporter for the Des Moines Register has covered the nation's first caucus in Iowa for years, said the presidential candidates "provide a celebrity" quality for fundraisers. Warner hosted a fundraiser for Titus on Wednesday night, and the minimum donation was $1,000. (The Titus campaign said the event was well attended, but declined to say how much it raised; Warner's political action committee contributed $10,000.)

This comes at just the right time for Titus, whose campaign account was largely depleted after her primary victory. Gibbons is sitting on a lot of money, which he's using to run negative ads against Titus, attacking her for voting to raise taxes.

Another advantage the visiting presidential aspirants give Titus, who hasn't begun airing TV ads yet: free media. "It raises the background noise for the party" hosting the caucus, said C. Blease Graham, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina, also an early primary state. On Wednesday, the suite at the Riviera was filled with TV cameras and Southern Nevada's political press corps.

Yepsen said presidential candidates often send staff to early primary and caucus states to help local candidates. "The idea is they help somebody running out there, which helps that staffer learn the ins and outs of your local politics, and that person slides into a role for a presidential candidate." Warner staffer Jonathan Epstein, who led John Kerry's 2004 successful presidential caucus campaign in Iowa, has been making the rounds in Nevada. And Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh has a staffer working for Titus .

The caucus is also likely to bring Democratic-leaning interest groups, such as unions and environmentalists, trying to get on the presidential radar. They can also amplify Democratic issues and help local politicians.

Gibbons' campaign manager, Robert Uithoven, said all these surrogates can have only limited effect: "A lot of people will be coming in, but their focus will be themselves, not Dina Titus."

Yepsen echoed this when he said the national candidates can crowd out Titus and other local candidates. "There's only so many hours in the day for reporters, and minutes on TV and radio; so you get a big-name presidential candidate coming to town, and everybody covers them, and then where does that leave a candidate for governor?"

Also, Yepsen said, the whole exercise can get rather dull for the public. "Soon, all the campaigning will become Muzak. After you've had your eighth visit from John Edwards, it becomes background noise. People tune it out." Edwards, the Democrats' 2004 vice presidential nominee, will be in town Monday.

Edwards' name illustrates another risk: that Titus will catch some of the flak thrown at these national Democrats when they come to town. When Edwards was here in the spring, for instance, the Nevada Republican Party released this statement: "It's telling that Nevada Democrats are hosting a trial lawyer who advocates increasing taxes and bigger government."

Other candidates expected include New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Kerry, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts.

These candidates are happy to help Titus because of what she can offer in return. Her endorsement is likely to bring the backing of her political organization, which would grow powerful if she's elected governor.

"With a small state, organization can be really important, but especially in a caucus situation," said Mark Wrighton, a University of New Hampshire political scientist.

"You're talking about getting people out, motivating them to give up their family TV viewing to go to a meeting that might last several hours."

If elected governor, Titus is likely to remember who was most helpful with fundraising and other support.

Wrighton described it this way: "It's politics. Of course it's a dance."

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