Presidential race heats up in Nevada

While you battle the onset of extreme temperatures, the presidential candidates are already waging war here in the West's best bellwether state.

We've heard national pundits return to crowing about Ohio and Florida, with their huge caches of electoral votes, but Democrats are eyeing smaller Western states to help Barack Obama win the White House.

And while New Mexico has been trending blue for some time, Nevada is only now morphing out of purple and into a more bluish hue.

The battle here will be intense, and the major party candidates -- who again chase each other in Nevada this week -- will have dozens of opportunities to press the flesh as the year continues.

Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has been setting the agenda here thus far (first on the air with a commercial and first to announce two visits). Obama has subsequently gone on the air and has scheduled trips to Nevada to coincide with McCain's trips last month and this week.

Recent polls by both Rasmussen and Mason-Dixon show the presidential race is essentially a toss-up here. McCain is up slightly on Obama, but not outside of the margin of error.

But this week signaled an advantage for Obama not evident on the air, in the public events or the polls. On Monday, Hillary Clinton's supporters did their best "Kumbaya" with an announcement of statewide unity, however forced, behind Obama.

This is really the week in which Obama will finally step out from the contentious primary battle and reach out to Clinton's most ardent fans. There's a joint campaign event scheduled for Friday.

Numerous Clinton supporters, including her delegates and leaders of her campaign, announced Monday they are now working for Obama. That includes state Treasurer Kate Marshall, who spearheaded Clinton's efforts in Northern Nevada, and Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid, who chaired her statewide campaign. Rep. Shelley Berkley also came to Obama's side recently after having aggressively campaigned for Clinton in the run-up to the January caucuses and state Democratic conventions that followed.

On McCain's side of the aisle, unity has a much different look.

Not only is the big tent party trying to oust Gov. Jim Gibbons from its three-ring circus, McCain has chosen a less-than-stable ringmaster to try to restore order. Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, who has been the subject of a state investigation into his past performance as state treasurer, was tapped to head up McCain's Nevada campaign for the general election.

Republican voters cannot be underestimated in a state that voted twice for George W. Bush, but getting someone to lead them has not been an easy task for McCain.

First of all, you need someone with good statewide name recognition who won't bring the top of the ticket down. Gibbons was obviously out, his popularity lower than that of Bush or Congress, and with voters disgusted by him becoming just another national joke: "I did not have text with that woman."

McCain couldn't get Sen. John Ensign, who's still as popular as ever in Nevada. Ensign's too busy heading up GOP efforts to avoid losing more seats in the U.S. Senate this year. He has the unenviable task of defending some lackluster incumbents and having to root for some fringe candidates.

Where else could McCain turn? Rep. Dean Heller might have a statewide profile -- he used to be secretary of state -- but his congressional opponent's only shot this year is to turn him into a Bush/McCain clone. That would be so much easier if Heller were working for McCain.

Rep. Jon Porter's too busy fighting for his right to stay in the band to get bogged down with McCain. Besides, Porter was for Rudy Giuliani before McCain.

State Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio of Reno is too busy angling for a fiscally conservative solution to the budget crisis on the eve of his primary race to work for McCain.

So, the Straight Talk Express landed with the most roundabout talker in Nevada politics. Krolicki may have won three statewide races, but he's known more recently as the guy who likes to talk himself out of problems.

And with so many Democrats surrounding him in the Capitol, Krolicki is like a whipping boy -- in a useless office to boot.

And with his prime nemesis Kate Marshall now fronting for Obama, the general election dynamics will be shrill.

It's amazing what a few weeks will do. Once-warring Democrats are now united, and the early nomination victory by McCain still hasn't resulted in the selection of convention delegates from Nevada's GOP.

In a few months, we may look to this week as a turning point.

Contact Erin Neff at (702) 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.