Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007 | 7:22 a.m.
The last time The Wall Street Journal splashed a Nevada politician on the front page, it was not good news.
The last time a promising, young Hispanic elected official from Nevada received national attention, it was a prelude to a precipitous fall.
Both of those facts come to mind after the Journal on Tuesday featured Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen on Page One, portraying the freshman as the gatekeeper to the prized Hispanic vote in the Democratic presidential race here. "New Kingmaker: Vegas's Mr. Kihuen will see you now."
That sounds so much nicer than the headline that greeted Journal readers six months ago: "Nevada governor faces FBI probe." And although Ruben Kihuen couldn't be more different from Jim Gibbons, the question that will dog the 27-year-old as he soaks in the fawning press is whether he is a rising star who will shine on or whether he is, like a once-nationally recognized phenom by the name of Dario Herrera, one who is destined to go supernova.
The comparison is both expected and unfair.
The parallels are obvious. All of the adjectives used to describe Kihuen were, a decade ago, affixed to the youthful Herrera. Young, bright and savvy, then-Assemblyman Herrera was embraced by the Democratic Party elite as a savior and bridge to a Latino vote they so badly wanted to engage and energize. As they are now doing with Kihuen, national Democrats courted Herrera and invited him to speak at their national convention in 2000.
But that is where the comparison ends. Herrera's unquenchable ambition had time for only one legislative session. He immediately and successfully ran for the Clark County Commission and then unsuccessfully for Congress. Then came his ignominious descent, with G-Sting and a prison term.
Even 10 years ago, though, there were warning signs. One Carson City veteran presciently told me then that after having a drink with Herrera, he saw someone so enamored with the trappings of power that his greed would be his Achilles heel.
By contrast, after his first session concluded a few months ago, Kihuen received almost universally rave reviews from lobbyists and legislators. A sampling from a survey I conducted noted Kihuen's respectful and reserved demeanor - quite the contrast to Herrera's a decade ago - along with a thoughtful presence and determined work ethic as his most noteworthy features.
"He kept his head down, vigorously pursued the bills that he had a strong interest in, and stayed out of the headlines," wrote one survey respondent. "He'll be a future star for sure, and he observed this process well enough to play an integral role in future sessions."
Indeed, Kihuen may have another quality Herrera noticeably lacked: patience. There are no signs he plans to jump into a race for higher office - and there will be pressure.
Indeed, in the Journal piece that pointed out the shameless suck-up parade of Democratic hopefuls seeking his endorsement, Kihuen sounds like a guy who has won only one race in his life and had only 2,469 people vote for him in last year's election.
"It's surreal to me," Kihuen told the Journal. "I just got elected eight months ago, and here I am having one-on-one encounters with presidential candidates."
My guess is Kihuen gets that this is not true love that ObamaClintonDodd-Richardson are expressing; it is more likely a one-election stand they are seeking. And he is playing it like a seasoned, coy pro - he's giving up nothing until he knows he can get something.
My instincts tell me that Kihuen is the real thing. But he is only 27 and this is heady stuff.
Politics is a rough business. The more the media build you up, the more enemies - and, yes, some putative and situational friends - want to bring you down.
How Kihuen deals with the profile the party has given him during the presidential race and how he deals with the attention from the Journal and others will go a long way toward indicating how far he will go.
He will have many decisions to make and some of those could make or break his career. Who m will he endorse for president? Can he really deliver, as the Journal implied and as some of these presidential hopefuls surely believe, a very difficult and diverse Hispanic population come caucus and general election time? And how will he perform under real pressure, either during the Legislature or during a competitive campaign?
Kihuen should bask in the national spotlight while he can. But his next challenge is to avoid the kind of headlines that can turn that beautiful glow into a painful glare.
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