Rookie takes the reins for Nevada GOP

Michael Roberson is taking over for Bill Raggio. And Michael Roberson is no Bill Raggio.

For long-suffering fiscal conservatives in Nevada's Republican Party, that's cause for celebration. For legislative Democrats, it's an alarm sounding the start of campaign 2012.

"The Democrats had better eat their Wheaties, because we're coming after them hard," Roberson, the freshman GOP senator from Henderson, said Tuesday with a bring-it-on grin.

Roberson left such an impression on Republican leadership in the 2010 campaign, his first bid for public office, and during the 2011 legislative session that he was given charge of Republican Senate campaigns for next year. He's now the face and voice of a caucus one seat from capturing a majority, the front man for fundraising and recruiting candidates for 10 Senate races across the state.

For more than 30 years, this was the exclusive domain of Raggio, the longtime Republican Senate leader whose moderate politics and votes for tax increases grated on a growing wing of the GOP that wanted more conservative principle and fewer deals that favored Democratic Party interests. The Reno senator famously favored GOP candidates who, like him, were sympathetic to the idea that state government could always use more money.

The last time someone other than Raggio held this responsibility, Roberson noted, "I was 7 years old."

But Raggio was forced out as Republican leader after November's election, which, thanks to Roberson's victory over incumbent Democrat Joyce Woodhouse, narrowed the Democratic majority to 11-10 and moved the caucus farther to the right. Raggio's vote for tax increases in 2009 and his 2010 endorsement of the state's top Democrat, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- not to mention more tax hikes in 2011 -- compelled his ouster. Raggio subsequently decided to quit the Senate altogether.

Mike McGinness of Fallon served as Senate minority leader this year, his final regular session because of term limits. The party couldn't rally a slate of candidates -- including McGinness' likely replacement -- behind someone who won't be around for the 2013 session. A leader-in-waiting had to be identified.

Roberson fit the bill for lots of reasons.

"He was successful in raising a lot of money against an incumbent (in 2010), which is incredibly difficult to do," said Republican political consultant Robert Uithoven. "He knows first-hand what it's like to go to private-sector job creators and ask for their support, then have doors slammed in his face because their lobbyists were telling them not to cross an incumbent."

Roberson also set himself apart from his colleagues during the 2011 session by being unafraid to publicly challenge Democratic legislation, whether in committee meetings or on the Senate floor, while fighting for Republican bills, even if they had no chance of passing.

And the attorney stuck by his promise to oppose tax increases, voting against the compromise budget signed by Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval. Roberson was the Senate's most vocal advocate for Nevada businesses and its harshest critic of public-sector unions.

He's eager to take that fight from the Legislative Building to the campaign trail. Seven Clark County seats currently controlled by Democrats will be on the 2012 ballot, including Roberson's two most inviting targets: Allison Copening of Las Vegas and Shirley Breeden of Henderson. Both campaigned as fiscal conservatives in 2008, and both voted for tax increases in 2009 and 2011.

Las Vegas Democrats Mike Schneider and Valerie Wiener are vacating their seats because of term limits, and Majority Leader Steven Horsford is expected to run for Congress instead of another term in the state Senate. The party is vulnerable.

Meanwhile, Roberson will have two safe GOP seats to defend, depending on how the courts redraw the district maps this summer, with one Republican seat from Northern Nevada likely to be moved inside Clark County as part of reapportionment.

Although Roberson won't be able to identify GOP candidates in each race until he knows what districts they live in, he already has started meeting with prospects. On Friday, he can start raising money. And he has a clear core strategy on how to pick up at least one seat and win the Senate majority.

First, unify the party behind his candidates and "avoid wasting resources in divisive primary battles," something Raggio couldn't do the previous two election cycles. Then, don't let Democrats again "get away with misleading voters by running as fiscal conservatives. We will hold them accountable for their voting records."

Roberson's new job does not come without some risk. Because the presidential race will top the 2012 ticket, voter turnout will be high, and registered Democrats hold a huge advantage over the GOP in Clark County. If Democrats somehow preserve their state Senate majority, it will be on Roberson regardless of how much money he raises and how good a slate of candidates he recruits.

But the job also holds great potential for reward. If Republicans do claim the Senate majority next year, then Roberson would be the logical choice for majority leader -- in just his second legislative session. And a conservative reform agenda finally would make it through the upper chamber.

"Bill Raggio was never willing to fight for a conservative piece of legislation if it didn't have a chance to win," said conservative political activist Chuck Muth. "Michael Roberson, as majority leader, would champion conservative bills and force Democrats to vote against those bills, which would allow him to use those votes against them in future campaigns."

Roberson will be honored at Saturday's Conservative Leadership Conference, at the M Resort, as Nevada's "Conservative Rookie of the Year." But Roberson doesn't talk like a rookie. And he sure doesn't talk like Raggio. "If I were the Democrats, I would be very worried," he said.

Glenn Cook (gcook@reviewjournal.com) is a Review-Journal editorial writer.