As Dems woo Titus for run against Porter, GOP begins attack

By David McGrath Schwartz

Wednesday, April 30, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Back when he was a congressional candidate — say, last week — Robert Daskas painted himself as a centrist. He spoke out against universal health care, proclaimed the need to fix the nation’s borders before considering paths to citizenship for illegal immigrants and said he would not endorse a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

But with state Sen. Dina Titus considering a run against Rep. Jon Porter, the progressive wing of the state’s Democratic Party has a chance to prove it can win a major race in the state.

Instantly, the dynamics of the 3rd Congressional District race changed, from Porter’s facing a prosecutor without a record to his possibly facing a well-known candidate with impressive credentials but also baggage from her unsuccessful 2006 race for governor.

Democrats are trying to woo Titus into the race and praising her abilities as a candidate. Though she did not return calls from the Sun on Tuesday, in an e-mail to supporters, Titus said she has received calls from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Shelley Berkley and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urging her to enter the race.

“There’s no question, Dina Titus is an aggressive and effective campaigner,” said Dan Hart, a Democratic consultant not working for Titus. “Jon Porter has run against a lot of people. He has never run against anyone like Dina Titus, nobody from whom you can expect the aggressive challenge Dina will present if she runs.”

Even though she is not yet in the race, and may decide to keep it that way, Republicans already have sent out missives against Titus. In so doing, the GOP has sketched the broad outline of how a Porter-Titus race might shape up.

“Dina Titus should think long and hard before launching a second long-shot campaign. Two losses in a row would be career-ending for her,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Julie Shutley said in a news release.

“Nevada voters rejected Dina Titus in 2006 because of her liberal record for hiking taxes and giving benefits to illegal immigrants. She should think twice before launching another campaign that will surely end in defeat once again.”

(Of course, if Titus’ candidacy would “surely end in defeat,” wouldn’t Republicans welcome her into the race?)

Hewing to the party line, Republican Sen. John Ensign, chairman of the committee trying to reclaim the U.S. Senate for his party this fall, said Daskas’ withdrawal was “good news for Jon Porter.”

“We saw what kind of candidate she was for governor,” Ensign said of a potential Titus congressional candidacy.

But though she lost that 2006 race to Republican Jim Gibbons, she carried the 3rd District by 2 percentage points, or 5,000 votes, at a time when the Democrats held a slim voter registration advantage of 1,907. Today the Democrats’ edge in the district is more than 22,500.

Yet the 2006 race — particularly the primary — shows why some see Titus as vulnerable.

In the Democratic primary, much of the Democratic establishment lined up behind moderate Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, with some believing Titus could not win a statewide race. Titus ultimately defeated Gibson but had to empty her treasury in the primary, and entered the general election campaign without money.

Many Democratic activists say the dynamics that cost Titus the general election — an inability to connect with rural voters or to avoid being painted as a tax-and-spender — don’t apply here. As one observer put it: “Ely and Elko aren’t in CD03.”

With Democrats desperate for Titus to enter the race, she likely would have the establishment’s backing, an asset in raising money.

Richard Perkins, the former Assembly speaker who also was approached about running against Porter, said he thought Titus would do well.

“Dina beat Gov. Gibbons by a couple of points in that district,” he said. “So her perceived liberal leanings didn’t hurt her at all.”

Robert Uithoven, a Republican consultant who ran Gibbons’ campaign for governor against Titus, said Titus’ lengthy legislative record would make it easier for her opponents to map out a strategy this fall.

Asked how he would run against her, Uithoven said he would emphasize her legislative record on taxes and other core conservative policy issues.

“The easier it is to define differences, the easier it is to win a campaign,” Uithoven said.

Sun reporter Lisa Mascaro contributed to this story.