Familiar name swayed voters more than issues in mayor’s race

The magic of the Goodman name turned out to be a bone-crusher for mayoral wanna-be Chris Giunchigliani. But you don't even have to be related to Oscar Goodman to benefit from the name.

In 2010, a minor candidate named Bob Goodman ran in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. He's not related to Mayor Oscar Goodman, yet he took second place with 18 percent of the vote in a four-way Democratic primary. Now this guy barely campaigned, barely spent money and didn't have any get-out-the-vote effort. And he had done the same thing in 2006, nabbing 22 percent in a four-way primary, also for lieutenant governor.

Bob Goodman's numbers point out how the Goodman name has coattails that transfer to another, deservedly or not.

When the mayor's wife of 49 years ran, she was presumed the front-runner. It turned out she was, winning Tuesday by 61 percent to 39 percent, handing Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani her first defeat in 11 elections.

Did Giunchigliani and her savvy political consultant/husband Gary Gray miscalculate the power of the Goodman name?

Giunchigliani wouldn't admit to that but said it appeared that 85 percent of those who voted in the Las Vegas mayoral race were 65 and older, not facing foreclosure and were living stable lives.

Essentially the Sun City Summerlin crowd went with 72-year-old Carolyn Goodman instead of 56-year-old Giunchigliani, who they deemed too liberal and too tight with unions.

"We turned out people who had never voted before," Giunchigliani said at her headquarters after conceding .

But they didn't turn out enough of those first-time voters, the ones concerned about issues such as foreclosure, civil rights, equal rights, the ones struggling to pay their bills.

Giunchigliani's supporters made it clear from their contemptuous shouts that their candidate didn't lose to Carolyn Goodman; she lost to Oscar Goodman.

Goodman volunteer Maria Soto-Henry explained why she became a first-time political volunteer, and it was summed up in one word: constancy.

Soto-Henry's grandfather came to Las Vegas from Mexico in the late 1920s, and she owns his home in the downtown arts district. She lives in the midst of downtown's improvements.

"This is not a time to shake anything up," she said. "People are seeking constancy."

Soto-Henry has no objection to Giunchigliani but wanted her to stay on the County Commission, rather than have someone appointed to replace her on the commission.

"We want to hold steady," the registered nonpartisan said.

Voters, particularly seniors, believed they were getting constancy with Carolyn Goodman. That wasn't guaranteed with Giunchigliani.

The crowds at the two parties couldn't have been more different, the classic haves vs. the have-nots.

At Goodman's party, Old Vegas was there in full force. There was an aura of prosperity in the crowd.

At Giunchigliani's event, not everyone looked so prosperous. Old guard Democrats showed up late, choosing instead to go first to the successful campaign of Sam Bateman, a Democratic up-and-comer who won a seat on the Henderson City Council.

A loser's style is always more intriguing than a winner's. Giunchigliani said nothing negative about Carolyn Goodman, said the mayor-elect was up to the job and said they would work together on common issues. She laughed and joked and showed no anger or disappointment.

Giunchigliani and Gray both said there was nothing they could have done differently that would have changed the outcome. Nor did she back down from principle.

"I'll not make apologies for being supportive of labor. They are the working men and women who built this country."

But not enough of them voted for her to counterbalance the comfortably well off senior population, which was more at ease continuing Oscar Goodman's vision than taking a chance on labor's friend, Chris G.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call her at (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Morrison