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POLITICAL EYE: Outside spending could eclipse candidates in Nevada Senate race

For all the dollars that Shelley Berkley and Dean Heller are laying out to capture a U.S. Senate seat, their spending could well be eclipsed by big-money groups from outside Nevada that are trying to sway the race.

The two candidates so far have spent a combined $15.6 million on their campaigns, according to the latest finance reports that became available last week.

Democratic Rep. Berkley has raced past $9 million, while incumbent Republican Sen. Heller has spent $6.5 million, according to the reports through Sept. 30.

But at the same time, outside spending so far in Nevada has totaled just shy of $18 million as of Friday, according to reports compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Last week alone, groups like the pro-GOP Crossroads GPS and the pro-Democrat Patriot Majority spent $3.3 million in Nevada, according to the center.

The candidates and the outside partisan interests are on track to top $20 million apiece to influence Nevada voters, according to political science professor Mark Peplowski of the College of Southern Nevada.

That's far from a record, when just two years ago Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and GOP challenger Sharron Angle spent a combined $54.2 million and outside groups contributed another $19.2 million.

But the idea that outsiders might outspend homegrown candidates might become the new normal, Peplowski said, particularly in significant races and charged political years like this one.

"Thank you, Citizens United," Peplowski said, referring to the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that unshackled independent political expenditures and led to the formation of "SuperPACs" that can spend freely without having to disclose their donors.

"This is something we're going to see continually, particularly when there is a battle over the majority of the Senate at stake," Peplowski said. "Everything is on the table. It's like going all-in on a poker hand."

"Citizens United has changed the way that Americans are getting their messages," he said. "They are not going to be getting them directly from the candidates anymore."

The focus of the outside groups have shifted as well in the direction of negative campaigning.

In 2010, they spent $2.6 million on ads supporting Reid and $7.4 million on ads opposing him. For Angle, the spending was $2.8 million supportive and $4.6 million opposed.

This year Democratic and liberal groups have spent $9.8 million on attack ads against Heller. Republicans and conservatives have spent $6.6 million to bash Berkley. Spending on positive ads has been just $1.5 million.

"Since independent expenditure groups are not allowed to coordinate with the campaigns, it is easier for them to attack," Peplowski said. "They think the best way to change the undecided voters is to go negative, and that the candidates can do their own positives."

- Steve Tetreault

FIGHTING BACK ON LIBYA

Eddie Watson said he cried after watching the first presidential debate and then went home and cleaned the house for five hours to get over his disappointment at President Barack Obama's performance against his GOP challenger Mitt Romney.

After last week's second debate, Watson was all smiles.

"Yeah, he's back," said Watson after a debate watch party Tuesday at one of the Obama campaign offices in Las Vegas. "If I could find him, I'd give him a high-five."

All eyes tonight will be on the third and final face-off between Obama and Romney, who will debate in Boca Raton, Fla., starting at 6 p.m. PDT. The topic will be foreign policy.

In the second debate, Romney flubbed his criticism of Obama's actions following the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. Officials in the Obama administration for two weeks blamed the attack on a protest against an anti-Islam video that turned violent.

Romney called Obama on it, but got tripped up by semantics and as a result lost the debate point.

"It took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror," Romney said.

Obama said that wasn't true. He cited a statement he made in the Rose Garden the day after the attack. A transcript of the statement shows the president said the United States would not retreat from "acts of terror," and that those responsible for the attack in Benghazi would be brought to justice.

Later that day, Obama flew to Las Vegas for a campaign rally and repeated his comments.

"We want to send a message to all around the world - anybody who would do us harm: No act of terror will dim the light of the values that we proudly shine on the rest of the world, and no act of violence will shake the resolve of the United States of America," Obama said.

Will Romney try a different tactic to gain points against Obama on Libya?

Stay tuned.

- Laura Myers

ANOTHER TARKANIAN COMPLAINT

In what has become a regular trek, Nevada Democrats last week returned to the Federal Election Commission to file a fresh accusation against Republican House candidate Danny Tarkanian.

It was the third complaint the state Democratic Party has pressed against Tarkanian, charging him with legal violations stemming from sloppy and improper reporting on his official campaign finance reports.

The latest complaint filed Thursday also raised as an issue the $17 million legal judgment hanging against Tarkanian and members of his family stemming from a failed land deal in Southern California.

It challenged Tarkanian's ability to forgive a $250,000 loan he made to his 2010 Senate campaign, and a fresh $40,000 loan he made to his House campaign in July.

Facing the multimillion-dollar judgment, Tarkanian lacked legal access to his personal funds to make or dismiss loans, Democrats said.

Tarkanian is fighting the judgment, but it has become an issue in his contest against Democrat Steven Horsford to represent the new 4th Congressional District.

The FEC has taken no action on the earlier complaints against Tarkanian, and odds were slim this one would be resolved before Election Day.

Tarkanian spokesman Michael McAdams said the complaint was "just a desperate political attack. It's a political positioning ploy to have people not concentrate on the election."

- Steve Tetreault

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

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