Heller, Berkley aim to score political points in debate

Nevada's U.S. Senate race gets real on Thursday.

Republican Sen. Dean Heller and his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, will face off in their first televised debate in what's sure to be a clash of both substance and style.

Viewed as the ethics-clouded underdog, Berkley is expected to be the aggressor, challenging Heller to defend his support for GOP policies, from keeping taxes low for the rich to twice voting for a plan to shift Medicare into a government-supported private insurance program for future retirees younger than 55.

Berkley will seek to tie Heller to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin congressman who proposed deep GOP budget cuts and Medicare reform.

Heller, in turn, will try to pin Berkley to the wall by highlighting all the times she supported President Barack Obama's unpopular policies, from backing the $800 billion stimulus bill that critics say failed to revive the economy to voting for his signature health care law, which trimmed $700 billion in Medicare spending over 10 years.

Heller also will look to remind the TV audience that he voted against a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street in the fall of 2008 that Berkley and the rest of the Nevada delegation backed, Republicans and Democrats alike. A fiscal conservative, Heller said he believed the massive bailout needed more oversight of taxpayer dollars.

Heller will need to display more of that independent streak during the debate to show he doesn't always march in lockstep with Republicans in Congress, which is more unpopular than ever.

And Berkley will need to show that she has the best interests of all Nevadans in mind, not those of her own party.

That's the assessment of political analysts who agreed that the first Heller-Berkley debate could be a make or break event for either candidate. They must each score political points and avoid gaffes in front of voters who will be getting their first side-by-side look at the contenders in one of the most hotly contested Senate races in the country.

"In a close race like this one, debates matter," said Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report. "Neither of these candidates can afford a serious mistake. There's not much time to recover."

Early voting begins Oct. 20 in Nevada. Election Day is Nov. 6.

The first of three scheduled Senate debates will be held in Reno at the KNPB-TV Channel 15 studios on the University of Nevada, Reno campus. It is co-sponsored by VegasPBS Channel 10, KUNR-FM 88.7 radio and the Reno Gazette-Journal. Mitch Fox, host of "Nevada Week in Review" on VegasPBS, will moderate.

The one-hour debate will air live Thursday at 8 p.m. on VegasPBS, KNPB and on C-SPAN.

The other two scheduled debates will be held in Las Vegas, one on Oct. 11, organized by the Nevada Broadcasters Association, and the final one on Oct. 15 on the "Face to Face" program on KSNV-TV, Channel 3.

Under the format for the first debate, Berkley and Heller will stand behind lecterns on either side of the moderator. The candidates will be allowed to use one page of notes, according to Fox. They will be given two minutes for opening and closing statements. Each candidate will have 90 seconds to respond to the same question. The candidate who answers first will gets one minute for rebuttal, Fox said.

Questions will be chosen by Brent Boynton, the KNPB news director, Ray Hagar, of the Reno Gazette-Journal, and Diego Santiago of Univision Nevada.

The debate isn't open to the public, but each campaign is allowed 10 people in the studio.

Fox said he moderated at least three debates involving Berkley when she first ran for the House in 1998 and then again in 2002. Berkley's early races were the only times the seven-term congresswoman has been seriously challenged in her safe Democratic district. She may be a bit rusty.

Fox has never moderated a debate with Heller, who was appointed to the Senate last year to replace U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who resigned under an ethics cloud. Previously, Heller was a three-term congressman representing nearly all of Nevada outside Clark County in a safe GOP district.

Heller's toughest race was his first, in 2006, when he narrowly won the GOP primary and then eked out a general election victory.

Heller, too, isn't very practiced at debating. The first matchup with Berkley will test both contenders.

WHO FACES MORE PRESSURE?

GOP consultant Robert Uithoven said there is more pressure on Berkley because she is introducing herself to many voters. She has never run for statewide office and is not as widely known in Northern and rural Nevada.

Heller, elected statewide as secretary of state three times, will be debating on his home turf.

Most of what voters know about Berkley comes from TV ads. Many are from Heller and GOP groups highlighting her ethics problems, new and old.

"She'll have her work cut out for her defending the president's policies," Uithoven said. "And she'll have to answer the ethics questions, probably by saying she welcomes the investigation to clear her name. I think there's a little more pressure on her, but at the same time it's an opportunity. If she does well, it could change the dynamics."

The House Ethics Committee voted unanimously in July to investigate Berkley's advocacy on spending for kidney treatment, which may have helped her husband financially.

A nephrologist, Dr. Larry Lehrner operates dialysis centers across Southern Nevada and has a contract with the University Medical Center's kidney transplant center. Berkley worked to keep Medicare rates from falling for kidney services and lobbied to keep the UMC transplant center open.

She has answered the ethics charges by noting Heller and other Nevada lawmakers acted together to save the transplant center in 2008 and by saying she only had Nevadans' health care in mind.

Berkley didn't disclose her husband's contractual relationship with the center at the time, however.

Berkley has tried to turn the tables on Heller and may do so again Thursday. Her campaign TV ads link Heller to a swindler who incorporated his company in Nevada when Heller was secretary of state. The company sold worthless diamond stock, ripping people off for $64 million. Heller said he had no responsibility or involvement in the case.

Berkley is expected to try to put Heller on the defensive and keep him there.

Dan Hart, a Democratic consultant, said Heller may distance himself from Romney, as he did last week when the GOP presidential contender seemed to dismiss 47 percent of the population as Americans who would never vote for him because they're dependent on government. Heller said, "I just don't view the world the same way."

"Every vote in Nevada counts, every vote," Heller said. "And as a United States senator, my job is to represent every one of those voters, whether they voted for me or against me."

Heller also played up his humble roots, noting his father was a car mechanic and his mother was a school cook. Berkley, too, often tells stories about her father the waiter and her days running keno and serving cocktails, although she's now one of the richest members of Congress, thanks to her husband's wealth.

"She has to come across as a person who's going to come to Washington and fight for our state," Hart said. "Her being a fighter plays into the negatives, too, that she fought to save the kidney center for the good of the state."

Berkley has to avoid coming off as shrill, with her New York accent and glitzy Las Vegas ways, the analysts said. She has toned down her style in the past year, lowering her voice and smoothing her hair style.

Heller, who smiles often and comes across as genial, has to become sharper in his responses and show that he can be tough and not back down, observers say. He has done some of that lately, clashing with Berkley's benefactor, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. Reid needs her to help him keep his Senate majority.

"Berkley has clearly toned down her look and rhetoric to increase her appeal to suburban voters and Washoe County voters who are not enamored with anything having to do with Las Vegas," said David Damore, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "I still think that she is a tough sell up there, but historically Heller has not done as well in Washoe as he should, so there is an opportunity."

Heller also needs to play up what he's done for Nevada, Damore said.

"He needs to demonstrate some substance and command of issues beyond his talking points," Damore said. "One of the knocks against him is that he is an empty suit who has changed his positions with the political winds."

SHARP MESSAGES

Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, said he will be curious to see if Heller goes on the attack over Berkley's ethics.

Heller seemed more than ready this past week when he called Berkley, "Probably the most unethical, corrupt person I've met in my life." It was in response to her latest attack ad, which tried to tie him to a radio talk show host who pleaded guilty to money laundering years ago.

"I think it's a safe bet Berkley will be viewed as more aggressive; that is simply her style," Herzik said. "Heller needs to sharpen his message. He is increasingly being defined by Berkley's attacks."

The two campaigns, asked what to expect during the debate, previewed the candidates' greatest hit lines.

"Dean Heller looks forward to the opportunity to debate Congresswoman Berkley," said Chandler Smith, a spokeswoman for Heller. "He is particularly interested to hear how her support for the Wall Street bailout, vote for the trillion-dollar stimulus, and efforts to cut $1 trillion from Medicare are helping Nevadans."

Xochitl Hinojosa, Berkley's communications director, also telegraphed some of the debate hits to come.

"Shelley looks forward to this debate as an opportunity to share with the voters her vision for Nevada's future and draw a clear contrast between her commitment to getting our economy back on track by creating good-paying jobs for middle-class families and Dean Heller's consistent record of siding with the special interests by voting to end Medicare by turning it over to private insurance companies, protecting taxpayer subsidies to big oil companies making record profits and preserving tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas," Hinojosa said.

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