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Election 2002 RACES TO WATCH Terry Care, chairman of the Democratic Party of Nevada, and Steve Wark, chairman of the Clark County Republican Party, picked their five most competitive political races in this year's elections. Their selections were made in no particular order. Terry Care • 3rd Congressional District: Democrat Dario Herrera vs. Republican Jon Porter • Lieutenant governor: Democrat Erin Kenny vs. Republican incumbent Lorraine Hunt • Attorney general: Democrat John Hunt vs. Republican Brian Sandoval • State Senate District 9, Clark County: Democrat Terry Lamuraglia vs. winner of Republican primary, Richard Bunker or Dennis Nolan • State Senate District 2, Washoe County: Republican incumbent Maurice Washington vs. Democrat Joe Carter Steve Wark • 3rd Congressional District: Democrat Dario Herrera vs. Republican Jon Porter • 1st Congressional District: Democratic incumbent Shelley Berkley vs. Republican Lynette Boggs McDonald • Lieutenant governor: Democrat Erin Kenny vs. Republican incumbent Lorraine Hunt • Assembly District 5: Democrat John Ellerton vs. the winner of GOP primary, either Jim Blockey, David Griego, Charley Johnson or Valerie Weber • Assembly District 17: Democratic primary winner, either incumbent Bob Price or Kelvin Atkinson, vs. Republican Luis Valera -- REVIEW JOURNAL

Tuesday, May 28, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EARLY INTEREST: Two races generating most heat

Candidates face former colleagues

One of the more competitive races of the 2002 election matches up two men who served together in the Legislature. Another pits women who worked with each other on the Clark County Commission for four years.

These candidates are engaged in what are expected to become fierce political battles, made more ferocious by their closeness and, perhaps, by shared histories.

When asked to name this year's most competitive contests, leaders in both major parties quickly cited the lieutenant governor's race, in which Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny entered the race against Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt on the last day of candidate filing. Democrat Kenny and Republican Hunt served on the County Commission together for four years, beginning in 1995.

It was an easy call for both parties to list the 3rd Congressional District race between Democrat Dario Herrera and Republican Jon Porter, because both candidates have been campaigning for more than a year already. Porter, a two-term state senator, served in the 1997 Legislature with Herrera, a one-term assemblyman who then advanced to the Clark County Commission.

Whatever the results, because no one is running mid-term, the losers in each of these two races will be without a political post after the votes are counted Nov. 5, increasing the stakes.

The lieutenant governor's race started with a degree of civility. Both women said they worked well together on the County Commission. Kenny recalled working with Hunt to make sure residents receive notices of master-plan changes in their neighborhoods. "I have nothing but the highest regard for Lorraine," she said.

But in a post-filing interview, Kenny said there is more to diversifying the economy than bringing Hollywood movie-makers to Las Vegas.

"I've done so much more than that," Hunt said, citing efforts to bring business and direct flights from Asia to Nevada. "I've expanded the office and led the way in alternative and renewable energies. This race will give me a platform so people know what I'm doing."

Hunt chairs two commissions, Economic Development and Tourism, and says she works full time in what is considered a part-time post.

"I like Lorraine, and this is not a race about Lorraine Hunt," Kenny said. "This is a race about Erin Kenny and what I bring to the table. I bring a different approach to economic diversity, and I think I bring a lot of passion to the table."

Kenny said she failed to get some of her priorities enacted while serving on the County Commission. As lieutenant governor, she believes she may get farther in trying to build a children's hospital and banning smoking in public places. She said she wants to help improve the state's health care and public education systems, curtail pesky telemarketers and spur wider economic diversity across the state.

Kenny said she will not use negative campaigning against Hunt. She couldn't think of any of her supporters who would attack Hunt.

Democratic Party Chairman Terry Care and Democratic National Committeewoman Dina Titus picked the same five races as the ones they believe will be the closest. The two state senators cited the Herrera-Porter race for Congress, the lieutenant governor's race and the attorney general's race between Democrat John Hunt and Republican Brian Sandoval.

Their other selections were the Washoe County Senate District 2 race, where Democrat Joe Carter hopes to unseat GOP incumbent Maurice Washington, and the Clark County Senate District 9 race, which will pit Democrat Terry Lamuraglia against the winner of a GOP primary between Richard Bunker and Assemblyman Dennis Nolan.

The Democrats would wrest control of the upper house if they keep their current seats and win those two races. Turning the Republicans' 12-9 advantage into an 11-10 edge for Democrats would make Titus the Senate majority leader.

The Clark County Senate District 9 race went topsy-turvy on May 20, the last day of filing, when Bunker, a former Nevada Resort Association president, decided to run. He'll have easy access to money and is knowledgable about complex issues such as water and taxation.

But Bunker first will face a contentious GOP primary against Dennis Nolan, who entered the race early and saw his party challenger change three times. First came businessman Bill Brady, then sign company owner Brian Scroggins, and now Bunker.

Steve Wark, chairman of the Clark County Republican Party, agreed that Herrera-Porter and Kenny-Hunt were close. But he said Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald will be competitive against Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley in the 1st Congressional District. Most Democrats scoff at that opinion.

Wark believes Sandoval will hold off John Hunt in the attorney general's race.

Wark cited two Assembly races as competitive.

In Assembly District 5, Dr. John Ellerton is the sole Democrat seeking office, but four Republicans will fight for their party's nomination: Jim Blockey, David Griego, Charley Johnson and Valerie Weber.

"The person coming out of the Republican primary will not have the money the Democratic candidate has but will have an organizational and crossover advantage the Democrat doesn't have," Wark said, predicting Weber, a business development manager at Impact Sand & Gravel, will win because she has a superior organization.

Blockey angrily disagreed.

"To say she's the most viable candidate to win that race is ridiculous. I've got name recognition and experience," he said, citing his two failed congressional bids. "Steve doesn't know what kind of organization I have. He wants candidates he can manipulate and control."

In Assembly District 17, Wark predicted Democratic incumbent Bob Price will lose to primary challenger Kelvin Atkinson. He said Republican Luis Valera will win in the Nov. 5 general election because he has the fund-raising and organizational advantage and the Democrats will consume their resources in the Sept. 3 primary.

Price doesn't have the unanimous labor support he has enjoyed previously, Wark said.

Titus and Wark have vastly contrasting views of the lieutenant governor's race.

Titus described Kenny as "a strong candidate" but said Gov. Kenny Guinn likely will work hard to help Hunt.

"Kenny Guinn is not going to want to have a Democrat across the hall from him," Titus said.

Wark said the race will be competitive, "based on the fact Erin Kenny has a certain base of support in Southern Nevada. She will probably have a fund-raising advantage. But Lorraine Hunt is a much better-liked candidate; she has a base of support outside Clark County that is significant. And she's not as big a target. When you do opposition research on them, the opposition research book will be significantly more involved on Erin than Lorraine."

Political conspiracy theorists are suggesting U.S. Sen. Harry Reid had a personal reason to get a Democrat to run for lieutenant governor: Reid wants to prevent Guinn from eyeballing Reid's own seat in 2004. That race would come midway through Guinn's second term, provided he beats state Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, in this year's gubernatorial contest.

Guinn would be more likely to abandon ship if Hunt would become acting governor.

Democratic Gov. Bob Miller faced the same quandary when ambassadorships were offered to him -- he would have left the state in the hands of then-GOP Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren.

Miller finished his term.

Review-Journal reporter Frank Geary contributed to this story.