Mayoral candidates make late push as early voting begins

By Delen Goldberg

Saturday, May 21, 2011 | 1:45 p.m.

The candidates for Las Vegas mayor spent Saturday doing last-minute campaigning as voters began to cast ballots in the race.

Saturday is the first day of early voting in the contest to succeed three-term Mayor Oscar Goodman, who will be forced out of office next month because of term limits.

Both Carolyn Goodman and Chris Giunchigliani got an early start and planned to spend much of the day and night trying to woo voters.

It's a smart strategy. A good number of Las Vegans are still undecided, and an 11th-hour phone call or knock on the door could make the difference.

Goodman started her day with a voter meet and greet at a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Summerlin.

Dozens of people crowded around her and Oscar Goodman as they posed for pictures and answered questions. Oscar Goodman answered several of the questions first, with his wife adding her thoughts after.

At one point, Carolyn Goodman addressed the issue of a family dynasty.

"Dynasty? My grandkids are preparing. It's not going to end with me," she said.

The majority of the crowd were Goodman supporters. But a few residents attended to get more information about her.

One woman, who declined to give her name, waited in line to ask Goodman about her most recent campaign commercial and a city mailer that appeared to be political.

City officials recently sent out a flyer touting Oscar Goodman's achievements, a move many in the community saw as an attempt to sway votes to the mayor's wife.

"I was disappointed Carolyn came out with the negative ad. I thought she was above that," the woman said. "And they had plenty of time to send that mailer after the election, even though I still think it was a waste of taxpayer money."

The woman said she is undecided about whom to vote for. Goodman did not have time to answer her questions because she had to leave to host a telephone town hall.

Across town, Giunchigliani took part in a morning cleanup of the Paradise Palms neighborhood as part of her Clark County Commission duties. Armed with clippers, gloves and trash bags, she joined about 30 neighbors as they picked up trash and gathered fallen palm fronds around the neighborhood.

"I'm not neglecting my commission work," she said. "This is part of what I want to bring to the city."

Giunchigliani had a full schedule of campaigning afterward. Like Goodman, she planned to go door to door and meet with community groups.

Traffic at polling places around the city was steady. At an Albertsons in Summerlin, the line grew to be 20 people deep.

Voters there seemed to favor Goodman, according to an informal poll conducted by the Sun.

Heaven Sankovich said she believed Goodman would be stronger in bringing new business to Las Vegas and diversifying its economy.

Others said they pulled the lever for Goodman because they were friends with the family or liked how Oscar Goodman ran the city.

At the Meadows Mall, the crowd seemed a little more split. A number of Goodman voters turned out, but so did Giunchigliani fans.

In fact, a group of gay and Latino activists staged a gathering at the mall to show support for Giunchigliani.

Some voters reported changing their minds in recent days or even on the way to the voting booth. Many cited as the reason an attack ad Goodman released Wednesday portraying Giunchigliani as mean and hard to work with.

"If she's going to be that way, she doesn't need to be mayor," one voter said of Giunchigliani.

Still, Giunchigliani won over other voters with her 20-year history in government.

"I went with experience," Mary Beauvais said. "At the debate, Carolyn didn't really give me a lot of information whereas Chris did."