Republicans’ disarray sealed fate for two who got swept out of office

Bob Beers putters around the house these days, picking up after the family pets.

Dr. Joe Heck has returned to his medical practice and a family he'll be seeing more of this winter.

Both Republican Party rising stars were unceremoniously bounced from their state Senate seats Tuesday night by neophyte Democrats surfing a wave of support for President-elect Barack Obama.

While Beers lost to Allison Copening by 6 percentage points in District 6, Heck lost to Shirley Breeden by just 765 votes in District 5. (Heck must cringe at the thought that Libertarian Party candidate Tim Hagan received 4,743 votes, and Independent American Party candidate Tony Blanque grabbed another 2,840.)

Some will say the losses were inevitable because of the Democrats' superior voter registration and organization efforts in a bad year for Republicans shackled with an unpopular president and economy in recession.

Others will point to the state's resurgent public employee, education and trade union presence in politics as a key reason for the Democrats' sweep.

That's true enough as far as it goes, but it neglects a big part of the problem: Nevada's Republicans have become a party in disarray, with fiscal and social conservatives and moderates at odds.

When GOP conservative bellwether Chuck Muth re-registered as an independent and vowed a scorched-earth policy with squishy Republicans, it was a sign of real trouble. When staunch-conservative Sharron Angle took on Republican state Senate icon William Raggio in the primary, it was clear there was insurrection in the ranks. When hard-nosed conservative Liberty Watch magazine slammed Rep. Jon Porter in a cover story in time for Election Day, it was proof Republicans had added cannibalism to the party platform.

As one who believed Beers' and Heck's state Senate seats were safe, I sought their thoughts about the outcome. Both kept the losses in good-humored perspective.

"I think it was just big coattails," Beers says. "It appears that there's a small, 10 percent of the population that probably only votes every four years, doesn't do their own research, and relies on TV ads. In a year like this it worked. I don't think there's anything I could have done differently.

"So you pick up and you move on. I've been fired before."

Whether the accountant and computer systems analyst will be looking for work in politics again soon, he won't say.

Heck, 47, says he's proud of staying on the high road, but won't comment on whether he traveled that road without much assistance from some of the state's top Republicans.

Beers, 49, received late help from an independent expenditure that resulted in a series of mailers that, to put it politely, focused on Copening's lack of experience.

In a year when Heck and Beers could afford few mistakes, they were outgunned, out-organized, and out-registered. They also were victimized by the dramatic difference between this year's Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.

Obama spoke in Southern Nevada 20 times to energized crowds that reflected all colors of the American spectrum.

John McCain's appearances were few and attended by devotees who were almost exclusively white and were punctuated by near endorsements of the Yucca Mountain Project.

While the inclusive Democrats were expanding their big tent through voter registration, Republicans were challenged to fire up their base while practicing voter suppression. In the process, devoted public officials, Heck and Beers included, were washed out of office.

"I am not an ideologue," Heck says. "I think we need to get back to the days of Lincoln and Reagan Republicans. When you look at certain voter demographics Republicans should have in their column (socially conservative Latinos, for instance), we're losing them whether it's at the state level or national level. It causes me concern. Unfortunately, we have reaped what we have sown."

Heck, the moderate, admits he isn't so ambitious that he wants the Democrats to fail with the country in such tough shape.

History teaches Beers, the fiscal conservative, that the GOP's time will come again.

"The new Congress and the president are not going to deliver on their promises," he says. "Eventually, folks will realize that and will come back to people who don't promise the world, but at least deliver something."

In the meantime, for Beers business is, well, picking up.

"Here at the house it's mostly dishes, scooping the cat litter and keeping the backyard picked up after the dog," Beers says.

Sounds like he's putting his legislative experience to good use.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295.