Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

McCain casts himself as Western hero

Sen. John McCain spoke to Clark County Republicans at their annual Lincoln Day dinner this month and sold himself as a Western conservative, a presidential candidate with a unique understanding of Nevada's issues.

Water: California has stolen it.

Federal land: Government has mismanaged it.

Growth: Infrastructure can't handle it.

And, to top it all off, the Arizona Republican assailed Nevada's status as a donor state: "We need your tax dollars back in the state they came from."

Unspoken, as party volunteers prepared to auction a Remington rifle, tea time with first lady Dawn Gibbons and other items, were McCain's positions on a few other important issues that have become part of a litmus test for candidates in Nevada.

Front and center is Yucca Mountain, the proposed repository for the nation's nuclear waste about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. "I think it's a suitable place for storage," he told reporters before his speech.

Then there is his legislative record on gaming issues. McCain unsuccessfully tried to ban college sports betting here, an unpopular move in a state where gambling is an economic engine. He also pushed for creating a federal boxing commission and once called what many see as that sport's successor, Ultimate Fighting, "human cockfighting."

All of this shadows McCain's candidacy as he campaigns in a state that, for the first time, will be a proving ground for presidential candidates. Nevada Democrats and Republicans will hold caucuses on Jan. 19, five days after similar contests in Iowa, which votes first in the nation.

McCain visited the red-leaning city of Elko on Saturday as part of a four-day "announcement tour" of early presidential voting states.

Political observers say his stances on Nevada issues are not likely to hurt his efforts here as he seeks to reinvigorate his ailing campaign. In fact, they say, President Bush supported Yucca Mountain and won the state in 2000 and 2004, a point McCain himself made during his Las Vegas visit this month.

"It's not going to kill him , but it doesn't give him any boost," said Eric Herzik, a political science professor at UNR and a registered Republican.

As a parochial issue, Yucca Mountain, for instance, doesn't have the fundamental impact on voters' lives as ethanol does in Iowa, giving McCain more freedom to take an unpopular position with relatively little political risk. "It's not a passion issue," said Ryan Erwin, a Republican consultant.

By contrast, in 2000 McCain virtually skipped the Iowa caucuses, partly because of his opposition to federal subsidies for ethanol, the corn-growing state's cash cow. He has since softened his position, now stressing production of the alternative fuel source as part of a larger energy policy.

The real challenge for McCain, Republicans say, is to recapture the maverick image that attracted so many voters to his bid in 2000 and helped him win the New Hampshire primary, all before he fell to Bush in South Carolina.

"Clearly, running as the establishment candidate doesn't work for him," Herzik said. "He needs to reclaim that straight-talking Westerner, outsider image."

That will be difficult. McCain has been working to court the party's conservative base since his last presidential campaign. He supported - begrudgingly - Bush's reelection in 2004, and has been the most outspoken advocate of the president's troop buildup in Iraq when polls show most Americans favor setting a timetable for withdrawal.

And yet some of his Nevada supporters say his unflagging support of an unpopular war will resonate with Republican caucus-goers.

"He'd rather win the war in Iraq than the nomination," said Sig Rogich, a former adviser to President Ronald Reagan and longtime McCain friend who is helping the senator's efforts in Nevada. "At the end of the day, people look for integrity and straightforwardness," Rogich said. "They may not agree with him on all the issues, but at least they know where he stands."

Indeed, that strategy appears to be paying dividends in New Hampshire, where a recent poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, found McCain's positives had jumped about 20 points among likely Republican primary voters since February. Andrew Smith, the center's director, attributed the spike to McCain's support for the troop surge. Herzik said Sen. Harry Reid's comment that the "war is lost" could further help McCain's effort.

In the end, Rogich said , the Republican caucus will not turn on local issues. If true, that's good news for McCain, who trails former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in state polls. Looking for a boost, the campaign announced Friday that McCain had earned the endorsements of state Sens. Mark Amodei and Dennis Nolan and Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury.

As McCain works to get his message out in Nevada, his record as a budget hawk will win him points with conservatives, said Chuck Muth, a Carson City conservative activist.

In his speech to Clark County Republicans, McCain pledged not only to veto bills with pork-barrel projects but to make examples of their authors. "We're going to regain the enthusiastic exuberance of our Republicans, the fundamental base of our party," he said.

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