ShareThisBy MICHAEL J. MISHAK
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
He's a GOP incumbent in an election year when many of his fellow Republicans wish they could erase the "R" next to their name on the ballot.
He has been one of the most ardent supporters of the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq. He accepted _ and later returned _ campaign contributions from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. At a time when many Republicans are doing their best to distance themselves from the White House, he has to defend a record of backing President Bush's agenda 96 percent of the time from 2001 to 2005, according to Congressional Quarterly figures.
And to top it all off, he's running against an opponent with a famous political name _ and a father who just happened to have occupied the White House for four years.
Add it all up, and if it weren't for the fact that his hair is already that color, you'd have to say Campaign '06 would be enough to turn Sen. John Ensign's hair gray.
But despite a record and political circumstances that would seem to have him firmly in Democrats' cross-hairs, the Silver State's junior senator is sleeping very well this campaign season.
At least partly, Ensign has his Democratic opponent, Jack Carter, to thank for that.
Carter, the oldest son of former President Jimmy Carter, generated a buzz when he announced his candidacy last fall, mostly because of his family name, but his campaign has since fizzled. What little momentum he had coming off a summer tour of rural Nevada died last month when he contracted severe colitis, forcing him off the campaign trail for three weeks.
Carter remains a challenger in name more than in fact, with some polls showing him facing a sizable double-digit deficit.
While his strategy _ making the race a referendum on Bush and the Republican leadership in Washington _ is shaping up to be a winning one elsewhere, few have actually heard Carter make his case.
"National Democrats would like to include Nevada in that tier of races they need to win to retake the Senate," said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. "But they realize it's not really in play."
For his part, Ensign is simply following the old rule of politics: Ignore your opponent. In fact, his campaign ads _ in rotation since Labor Day _ put a positive spin on his legislative record and showcase his background as a veterinarian, without mentioning Carter's name, of course.
Carter adviser Terry O'Connell insists the campaign will turn primarily on retail politicking in the time leading up to the first of three televised debates with Ensign on Oct. 15. On the advice of former President Bill Clinton, a frequent visitor to Las Vegas, Carter has been heavily targeting rural Nevada.
"It depends more on having the last word than spending a lot of money to compete with (Ensign) on the first and middle words," O'Connell said.
In other words, Carter doesn't have the cash to have many of his words _ first, last or middle _ reach voters.
Despite his obvious partisan differences with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, Ensign has forged a nonaggression pact with Nevada's senior senator that has benefited both. While Reid publicly stands behind Carter, for example, some say he is hampered from lending his all-out support by his relationship with Ensign.
The arrangement, Ensign argues, has produced "a synergistic relationship that works well for our state."
Carter dismisses the talk, noting that Reid has contributed $10,000 to his campaign, given the campaign access to his staff and returned phone calls personally. "I don't have any problem with Harry's level of support," he said. "Harry and I will have the same kind of relationship when I'm elected."
After careers in law, agribusiness and commodities, Carter, 59, is running for political office for the first time in his life. He and his wife, Elizabeth, moved to Nevada from Bermuda in 2002. She wanted to escape the humidity, Carter quips, and both of them wanted to be closer to their children.
He rebuffs the often-leveled charge that he's a carpetbagger, saying that his short state residency is not an issue. "If the guy I'm running against went to Washington and voted for the administration 96 percent of the time, he might as well be from Texas," Carter said.
Carter describes himself as just a businessman who became outraged at the direction of American foreign policy and deficit spending.
(Michael J. Mishak can be reached at michael.mishak(at)lasvegassun.com.)
