A Republican and a Democrat, both exploring presidential bids, took sides on national security in Las Vegas on Monday while campaigning for Nevada gubernatorial candidates.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared at an event for Rep. Jim Gibbons, the Republican candidate, while on the other side, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark stumped for state Sen. Dina Titus.

Giuliani spoke to Gibbons' supporters only for about two and a half minutes before being whisked away to a private fundraiser. He urged them to do everything possible to get their candidate elected.

"In order to win, he needs a lot of money, right?" Giuliani said. "So give him more money." He said Gibbons was the right candidate because of his positions on immigration, taxes and crime.

In an interview, Giuliani, who was mayor of New York when the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, occurred, said he believed America and New York both were safer today.

"New York is safer," he said. "Crime has gone down ... it's one of the safest large cities in America. ... Even in regard to being prepared for terrorism, no one is ever perfectly prepared, but the city has invested a lot of money in it."

Critics of federal funding for homeland security have said not enough goes to major targets like New York and Las Vegas, while small towns and rural areas have more grant money than they know what to do with. Giuliani agreed with that assessment.

"I think the formula should rely more on risk, and then New York would get more than it already gets," he said. Current Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he said, "has done a very good job of making it (anti-terrorism funding) a big, big priority."

Giuliani defended Republicans' positions on national security.

"There is tremendous support for dealing with terror on the offensive," he said. "The Democrats, everything you hear from them is dealing with terror on the defensive."

Clark, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, praised some strides made in homeland security, such as increased airline passenger scrutiny. But he said there was "a long ways to go," and said Republicans were to blame.

"The invasion of Iraq has made Americans less safe," he said. "It's a breeding ground for terrorists. It's used as an incentive device to recruit for al-Qaida."

Representatives like Gibbons should be held responsible, Clark said. "Congress has failed in its constitutional duty to provide checks and balances on executive authority," he said. "To keep America safe, we need to move in another direction."

The Bush administration, Clark said, was responsible for "neglect that contributed to the disaster of 9/11. This administration was warned and didn't act."

Clark, Titus and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., all declined to comment on the ongoing scandal surrounding Gibbons based on allegations he assaulted a woman in a parking garage, but Titus, speaking after Clark, alluded to Gibbons' well-publicized claim that he conducts himself as "an officer and a gentleman."

"This is a man who is truly an officer and a gentleman," Titus said of Clark, a four-star general who served as NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and oversaw the alliance's military intervention in the former Yugoslavia.

Review-Journal writer Brian Haynes contributed to this report.