Libertarians see opening for message

With the probable nomination of John McCain as the Republican presidential candidate, the Libertarian Party sees an opening for its message, and a Las Vegan hopes to be the messenger.

Wayne Allyn Root, the flamboyant Las Vegas oddsmaker and "Millionaire Republican" author, won one of three informal Libertarian primaries last week and was the only candidate to place in all of them.

"I certainly consider myself one of the front-runners," he said, noting that the English bookmaker Ladbrokes has him the favorite. "On the other hand, it would be incredibly stupid to get overconfident. Ask Rudy Giuliani about that, or Hillary Clinton."

Root has for months been promoting his candidacy by e-mail and online. The Super Tuesday Libertarian primaries in Missouri, Arizona and California were unofficial straw polls; the nominee will be chosen at the party's national convention in late May.

Root won the Missouri contest, placed second in Arizona and a close third in California.

The Libertarian Party last week sent its condolences to the Republican National Committee in the form of an actual funeral wreath and "sympathy for the death of small-government values within the GOP," based on McCain's rise.

"It's sad to see the Republican Party drift so far away from what it used to be," Libertarian Party spokesman Andrew Davis said. "Having a person like John McCain on the ticket, who is despised by so many limited-government Republicans, will definitely drive a lot of people to us."

Also helping the Libertarian Party this year has been the presidential candidacy of Ron Paul, the Texas congressman who ran for president on the Libertarian ticket in 1988. This year, with him running as a Republican, his candidacy sparked a youth-driven online movement that raised astonishing amounts of money and made lots of noise on the unassuming 72-year-old's behalf.

Despite an invitation from the Libertarian National Committee, Paul on Friday said he definitely will not run as a third-party candidate this year. He said he is scaling back his presidential campaign to run for re-election to Congress.

But Paul's candidacy has nonetheless been a boon to the Libertarian Party, Davis said. "Ron Paul's campaign as a Republican has brought so much attention to the libertarian movement, the libertarian ideology, and also to the party itself," he said. "A lot of people have been exposed to the ideas of liberty because of him."

Root said Paul's popularity is evidence America is waking up to the dynamic that led to his disillusionment with the GOP.

"If I'm the nominee, do I think I'm winning the election? I'm not delusional," he said. "But I am very confident I will get the most votes in the Libertarian Party's history."

TREASURER TROUBLES

Unlike some other Republicans, Sen. John Ensign of Nevada has not distanced himself -- at least not yet -- from Christopher Ward, a financial consultant linked to a brewing scandal at one of the party's national election committees.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has hired outside lawyers and forensic auditors, and the FBI has been called into an investigation of accounting irregularities that reportedly centers on Ward, the panel's former treasurer.

Ward also has served as campaign treasurer to almost three dozen other Republicans or their political action committees. One of them was Ensign's Battle Born PAC.

The burgeoning scandal was a big topic on Capitol Hill last week. At least four politicians said they were severing ties with Ward, Roll Call reported.

On Friday, the newspaper reported Ward had left his firm, Political Compliance Services, on Jan. 31.

Ensign paid a total of $7,000 to the firm in 2006 and 2007, according to the Federal Election Commission. Beginning in April 2006, Ward did the bookkeeping and signed the public fundraising reports for the Battle Born PAC.

"We've looked into it and our books are clean," Ensign spokesman Tory Mazzola said Thursday. Ensign didn't comment further but continues to monitor the investigation, Mazzola added.

Besides running a PAC and a personal campaign fund, Ensign also is chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate counterpart of the NRCC. Spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher said Ward was not associated with the Senate committee.

"When Ensign took the reins over here, he ordered a full audit of the books and they were found to be sound," Fisher said.

I VOTE "GO AWAY"

A lot of Nevadans wish politicians would leave them alone.

Since it was announced in late January, the "Please Don't Call" list has attracted 10,241 online sign ups, according to the secretary of state's office.

The registry allows voters to have a mark next to their names in the official statewide voter file indicating to political campaigns that they don't want phone calls. It's up to the campaigns, many of which use lists other than the secretary of state's, to decide whether to honor people's wishes.

Bob Walsh, spokesman for the office, said the many takers showed Secretary of State Ross Miller tapped into something when he created the option.

"It didn't take a rocket scientist to know there was demand for something like this."

Walsh acknowledged campaigns may not pay any attention to the designation, but "they do so at their own risk."

"When we announced that thing, we never said it was going to stop all the calls," he said. "The incentive (for campaigns not to call) is you're going to rankle the voters you call who have said they don't want to be called."

EVERYWHERE ADELSON

If you are a Republican dignitary anywhere in America, it is getting harder and harder to ignore Sheldon Adelson.

Two prominent national organizations recently announced they're holding gala dinners at Adelson's Venetian resort next month.

The Republican Jewish Coalition on March 3 will hold its quarterly meeting in Las Vegas for the first time, featuring former Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

An e-mail solicitation from the group says Howard's speech "will be one of his very first public appearances since leaving office."

The event is open to members of the organization who have contributed at least $1,000. It will not be open to the media, a spokeswoman said.

Howard's unwavering support for President Bush and the war in Iraq was partly blamed for his failure to win re-election last year. The hawkish RJC, in its flier, calls him "an outspoken leader in the war against terrorism, a fearless defender of freedom, and one of the few world leaders willing to stand up to radical Islam at home and abroad."

Adelson is a member of the RJC's board, alongside such prominent figures as former Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer and former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman.

A few weeks after that bash, Adelson will be an honoree of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Adelson and his wife, Dr. Miriam Adelson, will receive a Woodrow Wilson Award for corporate citizenship, while crooner and USO stalwart Wayne Newton will be honored for public service.

The center was created by Congress as part of the Smithsonian Institution and the official memorial to President Wilson, similar to the Kennedy Center, which is well known for its arts awards.

The Wilson center focuses on celebrating business leaders who have given back to their communities, said Greg Houston, the center's director of development.

Other honorees this year include composer Andrew Lloyd Weber, being feted in London, and German soccer great Franz Beckenbauer, in Munich.

Speakers at the Las Vegas dinner, which requires a $500 minimum donation, will include ABC's Sam Donaldson, president of the Wilson Council, and Haleh Esfandiari, a scholar who was jailed in Iran last year. Adelson is not a board member of or donor to the center.

The Venetian also will host the closing banquet of the second annual Conservative Leadership Conference in September, Carson City activist Chuck Muth said last week.

Most of the Sept. 18-21 confab will be held at the Tuscany Suites on Flamingo Road.

The first conference, in Sparks last year, attracted about 500 registrants and a roster of prominent conservatives.

Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault contributed to this report. Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2919.