Political theater offering up a multitude of second acts

By Lisa Mascaro (contact)

Sunday, July 20, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Washington — In politics, as in our own lives, sometimes the second acts are the most memorable.

How many thousands have moved to Las Vegas for the chance to start over, to try on a new town, new image, maybe even a new name?

We saw a bit of what round two might offer this week in Washington.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, once considered a right-wing ideologue, emerged as an unlikely voice of reason in the Bush administration.

Ashcroft may most be most remembered for having draped the unclad statue of Lady Justice for modesty at his Pennsylvania Avenue headquarters. But watching a C-span rerun of his performance before the House Judiciary Committee this week secured his standing as a more measured player in the Bush administration’s troubled Justice Department.

He brought a moment of frankness — something unseen in his successor, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who was dismissed by Bush after infuriating Washington when by repeatedly testifying last year of being unable to recall much about the unprecedented firing of U.S. Attorneys, including Nevada’s Daniel Bogden.

Ashcroft’s “improbable comeback would have forced F. Scott Fitzgerald to reconsider his skepticism about second acts,” columnist Dana Milbank wrote in the next day’s Washington Post.

Or consider former Vice President Al Gore’s new job as environmental sage. Gore resurfaced this week and, as if reminding that his second act is now the real deal, issued a challenging call for the country’s electrical energy to be fully green in 10 years.

Our homegrown pols are working on their own second acts. Republican Rep. Jon Porter is working to shed his conservative record for a more moderate (and, potentially, electable) stance in his district, which now has more registered Democrats than Republicans.

Freshman Republican Rep. Dean Heller has revealed himself as a more politically conservative congressman than he did in Act I, as Nevada’s nonpartisan Secretary of State.

Sen. Harry Reid’s second act as tough-talking partisan leader offers a new chapter to his Searchlight narrative.

But what about the regular folks — when do they get a chance for a do-over?

This year Congress extended unemployment benefits for 13 weeks for job-seekers who have been out of work half a year.

Getting a job when you don’t have one is like trying to land that first job when you’re 16. Walking the mall, you quickly realize no one wants to hire a teenager without experience. But how do you get experience unless someone gives you that first job?

The dynamic in adulthood is frustratingly similar: It’s easier to get a new job when you have one than when you don’t but really need one. The Bush administration and some Republicans initially opposed extending unemployment benefits another 13 weeks. Critics say it keeps people on the dole longer than without the help.

Nevada’s unemployment rate hit 6.4 percent for June, the highest in more than a decade, even than after the post-Sept. 11 downturn. Nearly 40 percent of the jobless last month exhausted their benefits, the state says.

Nevada’s entire delegation ultimately voted to expand benefits, and a few weeks ago Bush signed the bill into law.

Come Thursday, workers will also see a boost in the minimum wage, when the next phase of the $2.10 hourly increase Congress approved in early 2007 takes hold.

The $5.85 federal hourly rate increases by 70 cents to $6.55. In Nevada the two-tier rate schedule means companies that offer health insurance will need to boost pay to $6.55 on Thursday. Those that don’t offer insurance will be able to keep their wages at the existing $6.85, postponing any increase until April, when the state annually adjusts.

Money can’t make everything turn out OK. But Washington believes a little more cash in the pockets of regular folks might help make a fresh start.