Jill Derby Democratic candidate raised $1.1 million through Sept. 30 Dean Heller Republican spent much of money fending off a stiff challenge in the primary election

CARSON CITY -- Late October traditionally is the time when the Democratic candidate for the 2nd Congressional District seat runs out of money and disappears while Republican incumbents Barbara Vucanovich or Jim Gibbons load up TV newscasts with political advertisements.

Unknowns such as Reno teacher Tierney Cahill, who ran against Gibbons in 2000 on a dare from her sixth-grade class, were Democrats' biennial sacrificial lambs. Gibbons didn't even have a Democratic opponent in 1998. No Democrat has won the seat in the heavily Republican district, which spans the entire state, including portions of Clark County.

But this year, Democrat Jill Derby had raised $1.1 million through Sept. 30 in what appears to be a nip-and-tuck race against Republican Dean Heller. A poll conducted for the Review-Journal in mid-September showed Heller with just a 3 percentage point lead.

"For the first time, Democrats have a candidate who can spend at the last moment," said Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Heller, the secretary of state for the past 12 years, conceded last week that Derby will outspend him 2-1 in the final weeks leading up to the Nov. 7 election.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has bought $250,000 in ads to slam him and help Derby, Heller said.

"It shows how competitive we are and how successful we have been at fundraising," said Derby, an 18-year member of the Board of Regents. "People are responding to our message of change and a new direction versus more of the same."

Although Heller had raised $1.3 million as of Sept. 30, he said about $1 million of that went to his primary battle against Sharron Angle and Dawn Gibbons. Counting his debts, his campaign was operating $9,000 in the red at the end of September.

He loaned $100,000 to his campaign. "I am a good bet," Heller joked.

President Bush apparently thought so, too. He visited Reno on Oct. 2 and raised $325,000 for the Heller campaign. But Heller will have to pay flight and security expenses for Bush, leaving him with something over $200,000.

Heller won the primary by 421 votes over Angle, who went to court seeking a new election. A judge threw out her lawsuit.

"The primary was devastating to the Heller campaign," said Fred Lokken, a political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College. "There is a disconnect, a frustration by Republicans with the Bush administration. It could lead to them staying home on election night."

In their advertisements, both candidates attack the other as the "career politician." Heller calls Derby a liberal who will raise taxes, while Derby counters with ads stating that she has never voted for any taxes, but Heller voted three times to raise taxes back when he was an assemblyman in 1991.

Herzik said Angle's ads have taken more of "an attack bite." He noted that as a regent Derby never would have had a chance to vote for or against any taxes.

In an interview, Heller said Derby's first vote if she is elected will be to name "San Francisco" Democrat Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House of Representatives. He has hammered on that theme in his advertisements, arguing Pelosi's liberal thinking is not in line with the conservative views of rural Nevadans.

"If this were 2002 or 2004, the race would be over," Heller said. "It is because of the national mood (against Republicans) that this seat is in play."

Herzik said Heller's Pelosi strategy is sound in a district where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 48,000.

Regarding Derby's strategy, Herzik said Angle could not beat Heller in the primary by portraying him as a tax-and-spend liberal and he doubts Derby can either.

Derby also might be turning off her Democratic base by portraying herself as the more conservative candidate, Herzik added.

Lokken said people are turned off by attack ads more this year than before.

In the end, both Herzik and Lokken figure Republicans will return to the fold. They said rural Republicans traditionally turn out to vote in far greater numbers than Democrats in urban counties of Nevada and they believe Derby won't be able to overcome their numerical advantage.

"I think we will look back and say Derby ran an amazing campaign, but when the vote was counted Heller beat her by 8 to 10 (percentage points)," Lokken said. "There is nothing in Heller's record that would make Republicans not vote for him."