POLITICAL EYE: New TV ads tout ‘Big Dog,”Leader’

It's "Big Dog" versus "Leader" in the new presidential campaign TV ad wars in Nevada.

Ahead of the Feb. 4 GOP caucus here, Rep. Ron Paul is airing a snappy 30-second spot that portrays him as the "big dog" when it comes to plans to cut the federal budget if elected.

Mitt Romney, meanwhile, is airing a 30-second commercial that highlights his leadership abilities.

The contrast between the two candidates and the two ads is stark.

In Paul's ad, the narrator speaks over heavy metal riffs and animated graphics.

"What's up with these sorry politicians?" the narrator asks, then a dog on screen yelps several times. "Lots of bark. When it's showtime, whimpering like little Shih Tzus."

Paul would cut the budget by $1 trillion his first year, the ad says: "That's trillion with a T!"

The Texas congressman plans to eliminate five departments, the ad notes.

"Department of Education -- gone! Interior, Energy, HUD, Commerce -- gone!"

"That's how Ron Paul rolls," says the narrator as a truck screams by on screen.

In contrast, Romney's "Leader" ad features images of his family, including his wife and five sons. Orchestral music soars in the background as the former Massachusetts governor speaks about his life.

"I think people understand that I'm a man of steadiness and constancy," Romney says as old family photos flash on screen, from the time when his sons were babies and young children. "I don't think you're going to find somebody who has more of those attributes than I do."

A Mormon, Romney says he's been a member of the same church all his life and he's "been married to the same woman" for 42 years. He worked for the same company for 25 years, Bain Capital, before he "saved the Olympics" by successfully running the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, he says.

"If I'm president of the United States I will be true to my family, to my faith and to our country," Romney vows at the end of the ad. "And I will never apologize for the United States of America."

If Newt Gingrich, fresh off his victory in Saturday's South Carolina primary, comes to Nevada, he's sure to join the TV ad wars, although it's possible the political action committee backing him and funded in part by Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson hits the air first. Adelson recently gave the PAC $5 million and there's more where that came from.

-- Laura Myers

'SEEMS LIKE A SMALL THING'

It took the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., last January to get members of Congress to pause and reflect on the tough rhetoric thrown around Capitol Hill that had become the norm for political discourse.

As at least a gesture to comity, many lawmakers made the point to sit with someone from the opposing party during President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech a few weeks after the tragedy.

"No Labels," a group formed in December 2010 that wants Congress to get along, is pressing lawmakers to do the same when Obama addresses a joint session for his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

More than 140 lawmakers have said they will, including ones from Nevada. Aides said Republicans Joe Heck and Mark Amodei plan to flank Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley, assuming she has returned to Washington following her father's heart surgery last week.

"While sitting together seems like a small thing, it is a step we can take to show that there is more that unites us as Americans than divides us," Republican Sen. Dean Heller said, although he wasn't tipping his hand on a seatmate.

Alas, Democratic Sen. Harry Reid may not be participating in any love-ins. As Senate majority leader, he has an assigned seat, "so he will be sitting in that one," his spokeswoman said. Last year, he was seated beside fellow Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois.

-- Steve Tetreault

ONLINE POKER HOPES

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has given online poker players fresh hope for federal legislation that would legalize their games.

Reid told a reporter for a gaming news service that the Department of Justice ruling that has some states angling to operate poker websites will also impel Congress to get moving on a bill to set regulations at the federal level.

"It'll give us an incentive to get something done," Reid told Gambling Compliance website reporter Tony Batt, who camped outside NBC studios in Washington while the Senate majority leader was taping "Meet the Press" last Sunday. Batt previously wrote about gaming policy from Washington for the Review-Journal.

"We cannot have a series of laws around the country related to gaming," Reid said. "I know a lot about gaming ... I'm a former chairman of the Nevada (Gaming) Commission and I think it's very important that we have a national law."

Reid's remarks were notable in part because he has said next to nothing publicly while forming potential online gaming legislation with input from Nevada casino giants like Caesars Entertainment Corp. and MGM Resorts that are hungry to tap the Internet for revenue.

Reid told Batt he was "making progress" with negotiating partner Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., but declined to tip his strategy, including whether he might try to insert gaming provisions into an upcoming bill to extend a reduction in Social Security payroll taxes.

"I'm not going to get into how we're going to get it done," Reid said. "We're going to work together to get it."

The Justice Department ruling on Dec. 23 shook up the gaming world. In it, the department revised its interpretation of the federal Wire Act of 1961, previously thought to make all forms of Internet wagers illegal.

Justice attorneys now say the federal restriction applies only to sports betting, a softer reading that analysts say opens the door for states to sell lottery tickets online, and more.

-- Steve Tetreault

Contact reporter Laura Myers at lmyers
@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Follow her on Twitter @lmyerslvrj. Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.