Monday, November 24, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JANE ANN MORRISON: Bush in Las Vegas, like his predecessor, probably will take money, run

What is it with the Presidents Bush and Las Vegas hospitals? Don't they know these places are germ factories?

Papa President Bush visited University Medical Center in 1992 during his only campaign stop in Las Vegas.

During his four hours in the city that February, he stopped at Opportunity Village and jogged at UNLV for 20 minutes before touring UMC, where fresh paint had been applied wherever he was going to be walking.

Print reporters know that, sadly, it's all about THE PHOTO. And the Review-Journal's Jeff Scheid got a good one of President Bush, who had a slight cold, holding a premature baby weighing less than 2 pounds.

THE MEDIA MESSAGE OF THE DAY: The president is caring and fit. He likes babies and the disabled and is in good shape against that whippersnapper governor from Arkansas.

It was his first and only presidential campaign stop in Las Vegas. When the election occurred in November 1992, the majority of Nevadans voted for Bill Clinton and did so again in 1996.

Now it's the elder Bush's son's turn, and he too is gravitating toward a hospital, Spring Valley Hospital, where tomorrow he's going to talk to about 200 invited guests about Medicare and medical liability.

Afterward, in his first presidential visit to Nevada, Bush is expected to raise a record-breaking $1 million at a luncheon at The Venetian.

About 500 people paying between $1,000 and $2,000 will be inside the hotel listening to the president, while protesters objecting to the Yucca Mountain Project march outside.

In the 11-year interval between Papa Bush's visit and Son Bush's visit, Nevada has become a more Republican state, voting for the current president in 2000 despite Nevada Democrats' best efforts to make the Yucca Mountain Project a wedge issue for voters.

While local event organizers encourage White House organizers to answer local reporters' questions, it's unlikely that will happen.

Bush is not going to want to take questions about his administration's decision to recommend Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste storage despite unanswered scientific questions about the safety of the project. He's not going to want to address why the Patriot Act is being used to search for records in a political corruption case that has nothing to do with terrorism. And he may not want to be quizzed by local reporters about the war in Iraq.

Instead, in the finest presidential tradition, Bush will take the $1 million and run after snarling up Las Vegas traffic with his motorcade.

President Clinton did pretty much the same thing. During his eight presidential visits, he raised a total of $2 million at Nevada events, although the single biggest payday was $525,000, about half what Bush will haul in. And with one memorable exception, where he sought to clarify something he had said earlier, most of those visits didn't include chatting it up with the local media.

Democrats have a trio of events planned to hammer Bush on the Yucca Mountain Project. Today, they'll haul the news media up to the top of the Main Street Casino parking garage to point to the Spaghetti Bowl and talk about the dangers of hauling nuclear waste on highways.

Tomorrow, groups including the Democratic Party, the Sierra Club and Culinary Local 226 will be outside The Venetian to talk about Yucca Mountain.

On Saturday, Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins delivered the Democratic Party's weekly radio address in response to Bush's address. His subject: Bush's broken promise to rely on "sound science" for his decision.

"President Bush broke his promise to us here in Nevada with speed and arrogance that is astounding," Perkins said. "He short-circuited the research going on at Yucca Mountain; he ignored the concerns of independent scientists and rushed to judgment."

Perkins told the nation: "So as Air Force One lands in Las Vegas in a few days, I would hope that President Bush will attempt to address his broken promises and begin to rebuild his credibility with my friends and neighbors here in Nevada."

That's just not going to happen.

It's all about the images in the photos and on TV. And the money.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.