Democrats to hit Porter on vets votes

Friday, June 29, 2007 | 7:20 a.m.

WASHINGTON - Democrats don't even have a 2008 challenger yet for Republican Rep. Jon Porter, but they're already attacking him with ads on his votes against veterans benefits.

The national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee plans to launch a week of radio ads beginning Monday, even as the party continues working through an intriguing list of potential candidates to take on Porter in the 3rd Congressional District.

"We definitely see this as a target seat and think Porter is vulnerable," said Fernando Cuevas, a spokesman at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "We are actively recruiting in the district."

Democrats are trying for a fourth time to defeat Porter, who m they have been unable to overtake since he first won the congressional seat after it was created in 2002.

The congressman remains vulnerable after having narrowly won reelection last year in a challenge from 30-year-old Tessa Hafen, who had worked in Washington for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid but not held elected office. Democrats count Porter as a target because the district is almost evenly split between Democrat ic and Republican voters.

The ads intend to show that while Porter is voting to keep troops in the war in Iraq, he has also cast votes against extra pay for veterans' disability benefits and combat duty.

A Republican Party spokeswoman said the ads are misleading because Porter has voted for veterans' benefits on other occasions. She said the ads show that Democrats are desperate to deflect attention from their own record after their first six months in power in Congress. Republican National Congressional Committee spokeswoman Julie Shutley said Porter won reelection last year in the worst election cycle for Republicans since Watergate and the party expects him to do so again in 2008.

Potential challengers to Porter next year have already come and gone.

State Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus announced this month she would not run. Reid's son Rory, chairman of the Clark County Commission, is not likely to run, nor is former Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, now Henderson's police chief.

Harry Reid has hinted at trying to attract champion boxer Oscar De La Hoya to Nevada to make a play for the seat. And Reid and others have long wanted tennis star Andre Agassi to bring his fame to the ticket. But neither of those scenarios has emerged.

Even state Sen. Maggie Carlton, whose job when the Legislature is not in session is waiting coffee shop tables at one of the Strip hotels, now says she may not be able to run if contract talks with the Culinary Union continue to drag. As a shop steward, her priority is the negotiations. She'll know by late summer or fall.

Apparently still weighing a bid is Robert Daskas, the Clark County prosecutor perhaps best known for his role in high-profile Southern Nevada cases including the Ted Binion murder trial.

The only announced candidate for the Democratic primary is accountant Andrew Martin.

Democrats had toyed with the idea of making history with a husband-wife team in the House when Rep. Shelley Berkley's husband, Dr. Larry Lehrner, expressed an interest in running.

But Berkley said earlier this week the idea is dead.

As Lehrner's name was floated, the novelty of the husband-wife power couple in Congress started working against him. The national news media would gobble up the tale of what could be Congress' first married couple, scrutinizing a Nevada millionaire doctor using his famous wife and ample wealth to run in a district where he doesn't even live.

Berkley, who represents Nevada's 1st district, said she believes her husband, a Las Vegas kidney specialist, can make a greater impact running his medical practice at home.

"I said, 'Larry, you save lives for a living - that is so much more rewarding,' " Berkley said she told her husband of eight years. "There's 435 members of Congress. There's only one Dr. Larry."

Party leaders seem unfazed by the revolving door of potential candidates.

"We've been excited by how many people have shown an interest in this seat," said Kirsten Searer, spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party.

Porter is watching the lineup and bracing for the worst.

Porter spokesman Matt Leffingwell said even though the congressman has proven his resiliency, "We expect that the Democrats will put up another strong opponent and that's what we're prepared for."