CAMPAIGN AD REALITY CHECK

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.

What the ad says

Announcer: It is not right that those who have broken our laws and are in this country illegally should get the same benefits as the rest of us.

First, Dina Titus wants to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

Then she backtracks by saying after they get amnesty. Anyway she spins it, why would Dina Titus let lawbreakers get the same benefits as us? It's not fair. Dina Titus is out of touch. She's out of touch with you, out of touch with Nevada.

What the ad's trying to do

Illegal immigration is a campaign hot button this year. Gibbons is trying to make Titus look soft on the issue.

It starts with a simple declaration about the unfairness of illegal immigrants getting the same benefits as the rest of us. And then it paints Dina Titus as supporting that unfairness.

What's accurate

On the date the ad cites, June 5, 2006, there actually were two stories published in the Sun. One of them declared in a headline that Titus supported driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

What's wrong or misleading

That headline became the basis for Titus asking the Sun for a clarification. It turns out that she never said she supports the licenses, and nowhere is there any evidence that she has ever had that unequivocal position.

She supported a measure as a state senator in 2003 to allow certain entities but explicitly not the DMV to accept ID cards issued by the Mexican consulate. But that same session, Titus also voted for two bills that would make it more difficult for new Nevada residents to get driver's licenses bills that were touted as essential for homeland security and measures that were lambasted by Hispanic activists as racist and anti-immigrant.

So did Titus actually backtrack, as the ad says? There's no evidence of that. Titus asked the newspaper to clarify its initial report, and the Sun did a few days later. The clarification read in part that Titus supports the licenses for illegal immigrants "if they are enrolled in a guest-worker program or are working to gain citizenship under provisions of immigration reform legislation pending in Congress."

Congressman Gibbons voted last year to ban states from giving licenses to illegal immigrants. But the gubernatorial candidate softened his position last week not coincidentally in front of a Hispanic group. Gibbons said he would keep an open mind and wouldn't oppose licenses for those who are enrolled in a guest-worker program the same position Titus said she has. Gibbons also said he would consider a Utah program that issues "driving privileges" cards.

So Gibbons is spinning this, or tailoring his message to an audience the same thing he accused Titus of doing.

The kicker to the ad is part of the Gibbons campaign to portray Titus as out of the mainstream just as he has done to her on taxes in his first flight of ads.