To Dems’ dismay, Daskas drops out

By David McGrath Schwartz, Michael Mishak

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 | 2 a.m.

A congressional district with 22,500 more registered Democrats than Republicans. A Republican congressman who has been supportive of an unpopular president. Promises of millions of dollars in national party money to help out.

The Democrats couldn’t have scripted the race in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District any better, except for one thing — it’s almost May, and today they have no candidate.

After months as the Democratic establishment’s anointed candidate, Robert Daskas on Monday dropped out of the contest against Rep. Jon Porter, citing “family considerations.”

Democrats now face the recurring problem of recruiting a quality challenger to try to unseat Porter, who has turned back their candidate three consecutive times.

State and national Democratic leaders are openly courting state Sen. Dina Titus, who made a failed run for governor in 2006 and will face term limits if she wins reelection to her state seat.

While Daskas’ campaign took its last breath, state party Chairman Sam Lieberman put out a statement touting Titus. Washington Democrats also stroked Titus’ ego as they bid adieu to Daskas, a former prosecutor.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen cited Titus’ “unparalleled experience” and support among the district’s voters.

Democrats are offering their best spin to move past the fact that they don’t have a candidate two weeks before the filing deadline.

A Titus run would be the best-case scenario, they say, in that she has high name recognition, a network of donors and the proven ability to motivate grass-roots supporters.

But she would start with no money and would be getting off to a late start in a district in which she doesn’t reside. The nearly $584,000 Daskas has raised — $453,000 of which remained in the bank as of March 31 — can’t be transferred to another candidate. And money raised by Titus, or other elected officials, for other seats can’t be used in the congressional run.

“It’s been a knock on the Democrats for a long time: Not having people ready for key races,” said David Damore, a political science professor at UNLV. “They should be laying the groundwork for what, at least in theory, should be a good year for Democrats. Instead, they have this debacle four months before the primary.”

It’s not the first time the Democrats have had difficulty recruiting a strong candidate for the 3rd District seat. Porter won the newly created seat in 2002, defeating then-County Commissioner Dario Herrera, later imprisoned on a bribery conviction. Porter next defeated Tom Gallagher, a former casino executive weakened by the fact that he initially lived outside the district. And two years ago, he defeated first-time candidate Tessa Hafen, a 29-year-old former spokeswoman for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Democratic leaders, vowing to learn from their 2006 mistakes, courted high-profile candidates this time around, including Titus, Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid and Henderson Police Chief Richard Perkins. All three declined. That’s when they turned to Daskas, former lead homicide prosecutor for the Clark County district attorney.

He announced his candidacy in September, well before Hafen’s late February start. And Daskas wouldn’t have a political track record for Porter to attack or the carpetbagger issues that had plagued past candidates.

Jon Summers, a spokesman for Sen. Reid, argued that Daskas’ withdrawal from the race does not reflect poorly on state Democratic leaders. The circumstances, he said, were out of the party’s control.

“We had a candidate and that candidate ended up having some personal challenges,” he said. “Things happen in people’s lives.”

Summers said the state party is “the strongest it has ever been,” adding that Reid — the father of County Commissioner Reid — is confident it will find another competitive candidate.

Indeed, Democrats have made much hay out of the voter registration advantage gained from the party’s presidential caucus in January. And nowhere is the edge more glaring than the 3rd Congressional District, where Democrats now outnumber Republicans by 22,500 voters in a district that includes most of Clark County and its growing suburbs. Porter won his 2006 race against first-time candidate Hafen by 3,900 votes.

But initial excitement, both here and in Washington, turned lukewarm as Daskas’ campaign was slow getting out of the gate. The campaign has held only one public rally this year, with the candidate devoting most of his time to fundraising.

“There was always a question whether Daskas’ heart was into the race,” said David Wasserman, who monitors House races at Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan Washington newsletter. Other campaigns across the nation were much more active, holding events daily and more aggressively attacking incumbents.

Still, Daskas was beginning to get some ink in Beltway publications.

His decision to drop out jolted his campaign, which had been emboldened by the candidate’s fundraising hauls and the district’s growing Democratic registration edge.

Democratic sources said conversations about dropping out started last week and culminated with a round of phone calls from Sen. Reid and other members of Congress over the weekend. Congressional leaders, sources said, tried to convince Daskas to remain in the race and offered fundraising help.

Summers said the Senate majority leader spoke with Daskas by phone in recent days. Reid, he said, was satisfied with Daskas’ candidacy and disappointed by his decision to withdraw.

The race is still a priority for the Democrats’ national campaign committee, whose Western regional political director was in Las Vegas Monday meeting with local leaders.

Primary challenger Andrew Martin, who has spoken out against what he calls the party’s anointment process, wished Daskas well — and made some entreaties to Democratic leaders. Martin, who is vacationing in Hawaii this week, said by phone that he left messages with the DCCC, Clark County Democratic Party Chairman John Hunt and Lieberman. He said he plans to speak with Titus today.

For his part, Porter, through a spokesman, praised Daskas’ short-lived campaign while pointing to his own fundraising advantage — he had outraised Daskas more than 2 1/2-to-1 — and his ability to win tough campaigns.

The question today is, can the Democrats still give him one?

Sun reporter Lisa Mascaro contributed to this story.