Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Yucca Mountain may tip scale in close Nevada vote

Edward Lumm makes a sign supporting the Democratic presidential ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards. A rally supporting the ticket will be held Thursday at the International Association of Fire Fighters hall. Joining Lumm at the table at the state Democratic Party headquarters is his wife, Beverly. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

John Kerry's choice Tuesday of U.S. Sen. John Edwards as his running mate was designed to balance the Democratic presidential ticket.

But in Nevada, the state's key issue -- the Yucca Mountain Project -- could tip the scales in a close election in a crucial battleground state.

Republicans said the North Carolina senator's vote supporting the nuclear waste repository softens Kerry's criticism of the Bush administration, which advocated the Yucca Mountain site. But Democrats quickly lined up behind Edwards after receiving a pledge he would defer to Kerry on the issue.

"Unlike with the Bush administration, the vice president's not in charge in a Kerry administration," said state Sen. Dina Titus, the state's Democratic National Committeewoman.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., spoke with Edwards and Kerry shortly after the announcement and said he received assurances that Edwards would defer to Kerry's Yucca stance. Kerry has pledged that the mountain 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas will not hold a repository if he is elected president.

"I've spoken to both of them today," Reid said. "John Edwards is totally on board on nuclear waste. He is committed to having no nuclear waste dump in Nevada."

In 2000, Edwards voted against a bill for temporary storage of waste at Yucca. That bill passed and then President Bill Clinton vetoed it. Edwards then voted to override Clinton's veto. In 2002, he voted for the permanent repository.

"Remember, he voted with us and this was a big issue in North Carolina," Reid said, referring to the Tar Heel state's nuclear power plants. "He said to me on the floor (for the 2000 override), 'If you need me, I'll be with you,' and I said, 'Well, we've got enough votes now.' ''

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said he considers Edwards to be one of the most liberal senators and one who voted against the state on Yucca.

"I think they're trying to have it both ways by saying they're both united, even though he voted for the dump," Ensign said.

Edwards also was crossways with Nevada in 2001 when he voted in support of a bill by Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona to ban betting on college sports.

GOP consultant Mike Slanker dubbed the Kerry-Edwards ticket as "liberal and liberaler" and said Edwards' Yucca vote hurts the Democrats.

"It certainly in Nevada has ruined any kind of nuclear purity John Kerry had," Slanker said.

State Democratic Party Chairwoman Adriana Martinez said Kerry's consistent votes against the repository are in sharp contrast to George W. Bush's actions as president.

As a candidate in 2000, Bush issued a statement pledging to base any decision on "sound science, not politics." Early on, his administration recommended Yucca as the nation's waste repository, and Bush supported that decision over the objections of Nevada's Republican governor and entire congressional delegation. Congress overrode Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of the site in 2002.

"I haven't heard anything but pure excitement about the choice," Martinez said of Edwards.

State Republican Chairwoman Earlene Forsythe criticized the ticket as being too liberal for a conservative state.

"They've pushed toward being anti-growth and anti-business," Forsythe said, citing votes the senators took against repealing certain taxes.

Forsythe said the vote by both earlier this year against emergency funding for the war in Iraq and the troops in Afghanistan "shows they don't support the troops."

Nevada is considered one of 17 battleground states nationally. Bush won the state by 3.5 percentage points in 2000 after it twice went for Bill Clinton.

Democratic political consultant Dan Hart said he thinks Edwards "helps the entire Democratic ticket and party."

"He brings a vitality, energy and enthusiasm that is very contagious," Hart said.

In a heads-up comparison with Vice President Dick Cheney, Hart said Edwards, a successful trial attorney, will win the scheduled debate and will be a better campaigner.

"Dick Cheney is a little imperious and detached when it comes to campaigning," Hart said.

Democrats who gathered Tuesday in Sunset Park for an event lauded the selection of Edwards, even if they had supported different candidates during the primaries.

"I am 110 percent union, and right now our president has lied to myself about labor issues and to other residents of Nevada about what he was going to do on Yucca Mountain," said Ray Vercillo, a retired electrical worker. "Dick Gephardt would have been 110 percent union, but John Edwards is just fine."

Campaigns in Nevada reacted to the Edwards selection in expected fashion.

Tracey Schmitt, Bush-Cheney spokeswoman for Nevada, said the two senators are "out of touch" on issues like national security and the economy.

"Their anti-growth agenda won't resonate in a state that has 57,000 more payroll jobs than it did a year ago," she said.

Local Democratic party spokesman Jon Summers said a Kerry-Edwards ticket "means the middle class will have a voice, and our families are going to get a team that's on their side."

A rally in support of the Kerry-Edwards ticket is planned for 5 p.m. Thursday at the International Association of Fire Fighters hall on West Charleston Boulevard.

Reid said Kerry-Edwards "will be a good-looking ticket."

"I think not only visually are they so much better, but they are men of substance," Reid said. "It's great substance."

Edwards' trial attorney background and the significant financial support he gets from the industry also drew Republican criticism.

"One of the biggest problems we have in this state is the medical liability crisis; and we're saying here you are, have the leader of the personal injury lawyers," Ensign said. "We know what happens if a Kerry-Edwards ticket gets elected. National medical liability reform would be dead."

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said she thinks Edwards' past "standing up for people who have been injured" will play well in Nevada.

"Medical liability reform doesn't have to be a partisan issue," Buckley said. "In Nevada, we passed a fair medical liability reform measure 63-0, and it probably is constitutional."

Buckley said Edwards will play well to swing voters, in part because of his background. He was raised poor, the son of a mill worker. He later made millions representing the families of injured children.

"Here's someone who came from a family who didn't have very much and ended up living the American dream," Buckley said. "To me, that's what the promise of America is all about."

Stephens Washington bureau chief Steve Tetreault contributed to this report.