Reid: Obama-Gibbons good idea

Gov. Jim Gibbons thinks President Barack Obama should meet with him when the president visits Las Vegas next month, and Sen. Harry Reid agrees.

Gibbons sent Obama a letter last week demanding a meeting when Obama comes to town for a Reid fundraiser May 26. Though some saw it as presumptuous, especially given the snide tone of the news release that accompanied Gibbons' letter to the White House, Reid said he didn't see why not.

"My reaction is if the governor wants to meet with him, he (Obama) should meet with him," the Senate majority leader said in an interview last week. "He's the governor of the state."

In a news release last week, Gibbons said that many locals were offended by Obama's earlier comments slamming lavish Vegas junkets by companies receiving federal bailout funds. Meeting with Nevada's governor, Gibbons suggested, would placate those who were insulted by the president's remarks.

"I think a face-to-face meeting between the President, myself, and Nevada business leaders would do a lot to help overcome the perception that President Obama finds visiting Las Vegas somehow offensive," Gibbons said in the news release. "If President Obama can come to Las Vegas to ask for political campaign cash, he can certainly take some time to explore helping the people who live and work here, we are all Americans."

In the letter, Gibbons proposes including "key business leaders" in a meeting to "discuss how we can get our tourism industry back on track in Nevada with the support of the federal government to urge Americans to consider America first when they plan their vacations or business meetings."

White House officials didn't respond to inquiries about Obama's trip to Nevada, such as whether the president is planning on holding an event open to Nevadans who aren't paying thousands of dollars to see him.

The fundraiser will benefit Reid and the state Democratic Party, Reid said. Reid is expected to announce raising about $2 million in the first three months of the year in campaign finance reports due this week.

Asked whether he was gratified by the president's support, Reid smiled. "We're friends," he said. "Why wouldn't he do it for me?"

RE-ELECTING REID

With Reid home for the two-week congressional Easter recess, his re-election campaign is gearing up. A host of events this week and last are aimed at raising money and organizing support for Washington's most powerful senator, whose poor approval ratings back home have him leaving nothing to chance.

On Tuesday, the state Democratic Party is scheduled to hold an "organizing convention," with barbecue, at which Reid is scheduled to speak. The 6 p.m. event is intended to serve as the grass-roots kickoff of Reid's re-election campaign, state party spokeswoman Phoebe Sweet said.

"The goal is to energize our volunteers and give them a chance to get to know Senator Reid better," she said. "Senator Reid will talk about the importance of grass-roots organizing to his campaign."

Reid also will host fundraisers in both Northern and Southern Nevada. A fundraiser scheduled to be held Wednesday in Reno is notable for the name listed first among the event's hosts: Reno Mayor Bob Cashell.

Cashell, a Republican, recently discussed his potential run for governor on "Nevada Newsmakers." As Clark County Republican Party Chairman Bernie Zadrowski noted on his blog last week, hosting a fundraiser for a powerful and embattled Democrat is no way to win a Republican gubernatorial primary.

Cashell is a former Democrat; he's also a former Nevada Republican Party chairman. "I could be wrong, but my gut tells me that you aren't going to see any real conservatives supporting him, assuming he stays 'Republican,'" Zadrowski wrote on his "Bernie's Law" blog.

There's also the entertaining possibility that, should Cashell run and win the Republican primary, his opponent would be Reid's son, Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid, who's raising money to try for the Democratic nomination. As Zadrowski also noted, it's doubtful Cashell could expect a Harry Reid endorsement in return for his support in that case.

WHINE AND CHEESE

With two Republicans (not counting Bob Cashell) already set to challenge Gibbons, it's not too soon for them to start feuding.

A fundraiser reception for the Nevada Federation of Republican Women earlier this month was supposed to feature rival challengers Joe Heck and Mike Montandon, but only one of them showed. And his involvement caused a mini-controversy.

Montandon, a member of the abstemious Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, partially pulled his sponsorship of the event after complaints that a Mormon shouldn't be funding a wine-tasting reception.

Montandon's contribution didn't go to pay for the wine; it was redirected to the group's scholarship fund, said the federation's president, Michele Turner. "He still helped defray costs," Turner said. "But Joe Heck paid for the wine. Mike Montandon did not because of his religious background."

Montandon campaign manager Bryon Geddes said some people were upset to see Montandon listed as a sponsor of a wine tasting, which was "not accurate." The federation corrected the mistake, and the campaign is satisfied, he said.

"People want to make a mountain out of a molehill," Geddes said.

Heck had to cancel, but not because he didn't want to share a room with Montandon: Heck was called to military duty. "He had to go away for the weekend," Lisa Heck said of her husband, a colonel in the Army Reserve. She said Heck would have preferred to host a separate event from Montandon, such as the lunch the day after the reception, but they ended up on the same event together.

Lisa Heck said the event has generated an amount of gossip that is far out of proportion to the level of drama between the two men, who have a cordial relationship and hope to keep the campaign focused on the issues.

Gibbons also was offered the chance to be a sponsor, Turner said, "but he declined. That was kind of interesting."

GONE TO POT

The Marijuana Policy Project is opening a permanent state chapter in Nevada, the group announced last week.

The Washington, D.C.-based group twice tried and failed to get voter approval in the state for a measure legalizing possession of small amounts of nonmedical marijuana. But they're not done with Nevada, according to a press release.

"MPP has been working to try and end marijuana prohibition in Nevada since 2001," Neal Levine, who heads the new state chapter, said in the release. "After the enormous progress we made when Question 7 was narrowly defeated, we took a little time to retool and reassess our strategy in the state. MPP has made a long-term commitment to this community and this state. This is the beginning of the end for marijuana prohibition in Nevada."

The chapter will focus on educating Nevadans about the cause and working to end "marijuana prohibition ... in the near future." It will be the only state chapter in the country of the national MPP.

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.