Bailout opposition, Palin visit boost Heller

RENO -- Rep. Dean Heller's opposition to the $700 billion economic bailout bill Congress passed last month and an election eve visit to Nevada by GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin helped him avert the dubious distinction of being the only Republican to ever lose the 2nd District seat.

Heller's narrow advantage over challenger Jill Derby in Washoe County combined with his dominance across the rest of the rural district allowed him to stem the Democratic tide that helped deny Republican Rep. Jon Porter a fourth term in Southern Nevada and helped make Barack Obama the president-elect.

Obama won Washoe County 55 percent to 43 percent: the first time the county that includes Reno went blue since Lyndon Johnson won it in 1964.

But the same presidential coattails that helped Democrat Dina Titus defeat Porter didn't work for Derby in Washoe County, where 20,000 more votes were cast for Obama than for Derby, and where 5,000 more people voted for Heller than for GOP presidential candidate John McCain.

Eric Herzik, head of the political science department at the University of Nevada, Reno, predicted before the election that Heller would "easily outperform" McCain in the rural counties.

"Washoe County -- that's where Derby has to make her mark. She has to win it and she has to win it big," he said before voters went to the polls.

But Heller hung on to win Washoe County by a slim 47-46 percent the day after he appeared with Palin at the Reno Livestock Events Center at a rally reminiscent of the annual Reno Rodeo, complete with two professional bull riders who signed autographs.

The event was heavy on rural Western themes and was packed with so much patriotism that the national anthem was sung twice. It helped generate the kind of enthusiasm that Heller needed to buck the Democratic stampede that swept the nation the next night. And it carried over to Elko, where an overflow crowd of more than 3,000 at the high school gym turned out even though Palin's plane was late and her speech didn't begin until 11:35 p.m. Heller would go on to capture Elko County resoundingly, winning 65 percent of the vote.

At both stops, Palin's father, Chuck Heath, demonstrated how the GOP ticket was speaking the language of conservative Nevadans.

"Many years ago I taught my daughter how to field dress a moose, but tomorrow I want you to see her field dress a donkey," he said to thunderous applause.

Heller reminded the more than 3,500 people in Reno he was among the few in Congress who had the courage to stand up to President Bush and his own party leaders to oppose the "massive bailout of Wall Street."

It not only distanced Heller from an unpopular president, it muted Derby's criticism that Heller was a "rubber stamp."

"Do you guys still think this bailout stinks?" he asked.

They did.

His two votes against the bill stood in sharp contrast to Porter, who knew he was in for a battle against Titus, a longtime state legislator.

"I'm willing to risk my re-election to do what I think is right," Porter said, warning of a national and international financial collapse. "I'm convinced I did the right thing to protect Nevada taxpayers."

Heller couldn't have disagreed more.

"I cannot with good conscience put Nevada's taxpayers on the hook for the foolish excesses of Wall Street," he said.

At least one Heller backer, Gary Gladstone of Incline Village, said he voted for Heller because he opposed the bailout. He said he had telephoned Heller's office.

"I begged him to vote against it the second time," Gladstone said. He said he received a letter from Heller that was "very well-articulated, intelligent and showed he has a good grasp of the issue."

Devin Dupree, a 20-year-old student at Truckee Meadows Community College who registered as a Republican and voted in his first election, was among those who crossed over to support Obama but also cast a ballot for Heller.

"With the first black running to be president, I wanted to speak my mind," Dupree said. "I didn't like what Derby stands for," he said.

Democrats were optimistic about Derby's chances against the freshman congressman, in part because the best chance to unseat an incumbent is before they become entrenched. In addition, Nevada's early Democratic presidential caucuses helped build an organization that cut the GOP's 44,000 advantage in registered voters in the 2nd District in 2006 in half for this year's race.

Herzik had predicted a close contest, but said the numbers were just too big for Derby to overcome.

"I think that Jill Derby is an excellent candidate, has run an excellent campaign," he said, even though he judged her 2006 campaign to be a better effort.

"I think it was easier for her two years ago. She had more money, and Heller was not an incumbent ...This time, even with the Democratic wave, she was facing the incumbent now in a fairly safe Republican district," he said.

In the end, Heller ended up winning by a bigger percentage than in 2006 in the district that has not elected a Democrat since it was created in 1980. He won 52-42 percent compared with 50-45 percent last time around.