Rubio to Republican donors: ‘Now it’s our turn’

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio on Thursday promoted U.S. Sen. Dean Heller's Senate campaign, telling supporters at a Las Vegas fundraiser that electing the Nevada Republican is key to the GOP taking control of the Senate from Democrats and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader.

"This state will decide the next majority leader and the next president of the United States," Rubio, R-Fla., said at The Venetian, casting the 2012 election as vital to the direction of the country. "You're choosing whether we'll return to the principles of our greatness, or whether we're going to be like everybody else."

Returning Heller to the Senate is part of the GOP plan to take control if Republicans can hold enough seats and flip a few more over to their column. Democrats now effectively hold a 53-47 majority. Heller faces a challenge from Democrat Shelley Berkley, a seven-term congresswoman from Las Vegas.

Rubio's visit came two days after GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan campaigned in Las Vegas during his first week as Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's running mate. The high-profile visits show the importance of the battleground state of Nevada in the Nov. 6 election, from the White House to congressional races.

President Barack Obama won Nevada four years ago, but he has failed to revive the economy as promised, according to his GOP critics looking to replace him in the White House.

Rubio argued that Obama would take the country backward, continuing to raise taxes and expand government. He said that would choke private enterprise and stifle job growth. He also slammed Obama for negative campaigning as he and Romney have traded sharper jabs in recent days.

"There's nothing innovative about his ideas," Rubio said of Obama, drawing applause from a crowd of 600 donors. "And by the way, there's nothing elevated about his discourse either."

Rubio, who lived in Las Vegas for a few years as a child, said his mother was a maid and his father was a bartender. His Cuban-born parents lived the American dream by making life better for their children, he said, adding that the dream may die for future generations unless U.S. free enterprise is revived.

"Every single generation has been asked, 'Do you still want to be great?' " he said.

"Now it's our turn. With this senator," he added, gesturing to Heller, "now we have a chance to write the next chapter."

Heller and Rubio met privately before the fundraiser with Sheldon Adelson, chairman of the Sands Corp., which owns The Venetian.

Adelson is one of the top GOP donors, having given at least $35 million to Republican candidates and causes, including those backing Heller and Romney.

Donors were asked to contribute at least $50 for the fundraiser, which was an effort by the Heller campaign to expand its donor list and attract new regular contributors. The event raised close to $200,000, the campaign said.

Rubio started his day Thursday in Nevada by holding a rally where he defended GOP plans to reform Medicare and promised current retirees wouldn't lose benefits. He later campaigned with Heller in Reno.

Making the issue personal, Rubio said his 83-year-old mother is one of 3 million Medicare recipients in Florida, where he lives, and Republicans won't allow them to suffer.

"I will never support any changes to Medicare that would hurt her," Rubio told more than 50 supporters gathered at a Republican campaign office for the morning rally.

Obama, on the other hand, has "stolen" $700 billion from Medicare to pay for his health care plan, Rubio said, using a GOP line of attack to argue the president has done damage to Medicare.

The $700 billion comes from Medicare savings over 10 years by reducing payouts to doctors and other health professionals and not from cutting benefits. Ryan's plan includes similar Medicare savings.

The GOP plan outlined by Ryan, a conservative congressman from Wisconsin, would change Medicare for future retirees 55 and younger. It would give retirees the option of using a government voucherlike system to choose and pay for their own private insurance plans.

Rubio said Medicare will go broke by 2024 without reforms. He accused Democrats of ignoring the problem.

Rubio said Romney's pick of Ryan as his running mate will allow the country "to have a serious debate" about Medicare.

"I can't believe I had to come all the way out to Nevada to get into an argument about Medicare," joked Rubio, who still has relatives living in Las Vegas, including state Sen. Mo Denis, a Democrat.

Berkley also was talking Medicare on Thursday, making stops in Carson City and Fallon to criticize Heller for twice voting for the Ryan plan - once in the House and once in the Senate after he was appointed.

"While Senator Dean Heller may be 'proud' to have voted twice to end Medicare by turning it over to private insurance companies, nothing makes me prouder than standing up for the Nevada seniors depending on their Social Security and Medicare to be there when they retire," Berkley said in a statement.

Other Nevada Democrats countered Rubio's visit by calling the GOP plan for Medicare "extreme."

Former U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, a Democrat who is running to return to Congress, said Romney choosing Ryan as his running mate means Republicans will have to face hard questions about Medicare and other deep budget cuts Ryan has proposed in social programs for the poor and for women.

"He can no longer duck and dodge on the issues," Titus said of Romney during a conference call with reporters. "He now owns these issues. He now owns the cuts that are in the Ryan budget."

Titus is running for Berkley's 1st Congressional District, a safe Democratic seat. Her GOP opponent is Chris Edwards, a naval officer who is not well-known or well-funded.

Nevada Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, and state Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, also were on the call. Both also are running for Congress. They, too, wrapped their GOP opponents in the Ryan-Medicare cloth, taking a united election-year front against Republicans.

Horsford is running against Republican Danny Tarkanian for Nevada's new 4th Congressional District. Oceguera is trying to unseat U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., the incumbent in the 3rd Congressional District.

Horsford said Tarkanian once described himself as a "crazy radical" when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010.

"Only a crazy radical would want to end Medicare as we know it," Horsford said.

Rubio had been on Romney's short list of possible vice presidential picks. He campaigned for Romney a few weeks ago at the grade school he attended in Las Vegas.

Heller introduced Rubio at the morning rally and at the fundraiser. Heller led supporters in a chant, saying there's only one question to ask Obama in the 2012 election: "Where are the jobs?"

The Nevada senator said Obama promised an economic recovery and instead delivered bailouts to big industry and a $787 billion stimulus plan that didn't deliver a recovery.

"We want to get away from the Obama economy," Heller said, leading the chant, "Where are the jobs?"

Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.6 percent, with more than 150,000 out of work.

Rubio, in urging Republicans to work for Heller, said GOP Senate control would give the party the power to roll back Obama programs. Republicans already control the House and are expected to maintain it in 2012.

"We're just a handful of votes away from repealing Obamacare," Rubio said. "We can't have a majority in the Senate unless we send Dean back to Washington. If he doesn't win, then we can't win the majority, and that's what you're deciding."

Rubio joked about Reid, who was re-elected in 2010 despite being unpopular among Nevadans.

"I have a feeling you're not happy with the one you have now," Rubio said of the majority leader.

Heller, too, got in a dig at Reid, who has put his political machine behind Berkley's campaign.

"My opponent's campaign has only one volunteer - Senator Reid," Heller told the crowd.

Contact reporter Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Follow her on Twitter @lmyerslvrj.