State Republicans rethink allegiances

Bill Raggio, the venerable state Senate majority leader, seemed more exasperated than sad when the presidential candidate he endorsed early on, Rudy Giuliani, dropped out of the race last week.

"I'm disappointed, obviously, in the Giuliani campaign," the Reno Republican said Wednesday, the day the former New York mayor announced he was dropping out.

"I question the strategy that was utilized, when he was running way ahead in November and then ends up in a situation where he needs to drop out," said Raggio, who has been winning elections every four years since 1972. He said Giuliani could have won in Nevada if he had bothered to campaign here.

When he dropped out, Giuliani threw his support behind John McCain, but Raggio said that would have no influence on his decision of whom to support. As of last week, Raggio hadn't decided.

Another Giuliani supporter, Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., is going to sit out the remainder of the nominating process, according to a spokesman. "The congressman will support the Republican nominee," Matt Leffingwell said.

Might Raggio's political future mirror Giuliani's? In a separate interview last week, discussing his desire to commission a study of state revenue allocation, the always inscrutable legislator appeared to drop a hint.

Raggio would like to see the next Legislature approve an independent assessment of where tax dollars go in Nevada and how they are divided between local and state governments. The Legislature after that could act on the information, but "I don't know how long I'm going to be around to see it through," he said.

Raggio, 82, is allowed to serve one more term under term limits but has not said whether he's running this year. Asked the question for the umpteenth time after his wistful aside, he reverted to his standard answer: "I don't have to make that decision until May, and in the meantime I'm going to continue to operate as a state senator."

SIG SAW IT COMING

Another man who can safely be considered a Nevada Republican institution was trying not to say "I told you so" last week, as it began to look likely that McCain would secure the nomination.

"I never did get scared, because he was so resilient," Sig Rogich said of the candidate he got behind early and has been an informal but frequent adviser to. "In all my conversations with him, he had such a positive, upbeat way about things that gave everybody confidence."

Last summer, McCain's political obituaries were being written thanks to a financial implosion and staff shake-up in his campaign. One of the results was that the Arizona senator's campaign, potentially a good fit here, pulled out of Nevada.

"Strategically, at that time, we knew that the amount of money and the amount of time (Mitt) Romney was spending here would be difficult to overcome, and it was probably in his best interest to focus on New Hampshire," Rogich said.

Romney won the Nevada caucus by a 40-point margin and McCain came in third. But Rogich said he didn't think Nevadans would have a problem voting for McCain should he be the nominee, despite McCain's open support for Yucca Mountain.

Rogich said he talked to McCain last week, after his win in Florida, and "I said, 'At the end of this, you were successful because of you, not all those so-called professionals there to help you, including me. You never lost faith in your ability to come back.'"

Rogich, whose help getting the first President Bush elected was rewarded with an ambassadorial post to Iceland, is mostly busy with business ventures, but said he would take an active role in McCain's campaign if the senator, whom he has known for more than 20 years, asked him to.

"I've been there, and I know you can't be half in and half out of a presidential campaign," he said. "I sense I'll probably be more active than I was planning to be."

THINKING, NOT TANKING

So how did President Bush wind up at the Nevada Policy Research Institute last week?

They asked him, and he said yes, according to the organization.

Andy Matthews, the free-market think tank's spokesman, said people there had heard Bush was planning to visit for a fundraiser and foreign policy speech, and sent an invitation to the White House offering to host the speech.

"Obviously, there was a lot of excitement around here," he said. "It was a great opportunity to elevate our profile."

In September, hundreds of paying guests attended the institute's annual fundraising dinner, keynoted by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Matthews credited the group's president, Sharon Rossie, with setting "a new and much more aggressive course" in the year and a half since she took over.

Established in 1991, the group hosted former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the late 1990s, but the two blockbuster events within just a few months recently show it is stepping up in prominence.

Besides Rossie and Matthews, Steve Miller is the policy director at NPRI, not the former Las Vegas city councilman, or the guitarist.

Matthews said the group doesn't disclose its finances or donors. According to its tax return, the group raised more than $500,000 in 2006 but doesn't have to reveal its funding sources.

Matthews also wouldn't discuss the involvement of Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson, increasingly seen as the shadow force behind nearly all things Republican in Nevada. Adelson's corporate and political lieutenant, William Weidner, sits on the institute's board.

Adelson accompanied Bush throughout his recent visit. The Gingrich dinner, like most recent Republican events, was held at his Strip resort, The Venetian.

NPRI has something of a counterpoint in the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, which also has seen an evolution in recent years.

Once a relatively loose umbrella organization of different liberal-leaning groups, PLAN increasingly speaks with one voice, staging protests and other grass-roots efforts. PLAN also has a think-tank aspect, its president, Bob Fulkerson, said, commissioning independent reports on topics such as tax policy, immigrant labor and water.

An academic study on extractive industries -- mining and oil-and-gas drilling -- in the West is forthcoming, Fulkerson said.

But Fulkerson acknowledged that the left does not have an institution devoted solely to in-house research, which is what NPRI is on the right. "It's a hole in our infrastructure," he said. "I would like to see it."

REACHING OUT AND GRABBING

Andres Ramirez, the Democratic consultant who most recently directed Hispanic outreach efforts for the party's Nevada caucus, is moving up.

Ramirez has taken a job as vice president of the New Democrat Network, a nationwide policy and strategy think tank that has as one of its major projects an effort to increase Hispanics' connection to the party. He will split his time between Las Vegas and Washington, D.C., he said.

Ramirez said the Nevada caucus represented the most intensive Hispanic outreach ever in the state. Its most creative effort was a soccer team in a local league, Los Democratas, sponsored by the party and featuring Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen, D-Las Vegas, as a star player.

The team exemplified Ramirez's new approach to getting the Hispanic community involved: Go to them, rather than waiting for them to come to you. Previously, Hispanic groups had been clubs for the politically engaged that didn't try too hard to get new members.

Under Ramirez's direction, the party took an aggressive approach, showing up over and over again at parks, community events, restaurants, grocery stores and even quinceaneras, even if they weren't initially welcome.

"Eventually, they saw that we were serious about it," he said. "It was about us being available and building a relationship of trust with the community to deliver an effective message."

Ramirez was behind an advertising campaign for which he took some heat, a Spanish-language ad and billboard that said talking about politics is pointless if you don't go out and vote.

"I was criticized for that -- it was openly mocking the Hispanic community," he said. "But it was so frustrating to me. Hispanics love to talk about politics, but they were not participating. We needed to challenge them, to get their attention, and we got a great response."

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