Posted on 09/08/2004 1:27:32 PM PDT by Richard-SIA
Ziser sets sights on Reid after winning Nevada GOP Senate primary
By SANDRA CHEREB Associated Press Writer
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Richard Ziser is banking on conservatism and an influx of cash as he sets his sights on incumbent Democrat Harry Reid after cruising to victory in Tuesday's Republican U.S. Senate primary.
Ziser, who to date has raised only $1 for every $18 in Reid's hefty $7.8 million campaign fund, said he thinks his primary win will generate more money to bolster his bid to unseat Reid, who is seeking his fourth, six-year term in November.
"The biggest problem we have is our primary is extremely late," Ziser said. "It's difficult for the national organizations, when you have a contested primary, to jump on board."
A lot of prospective contributors, he said, were "sitting in the wings" waiting for the primary results.
"There's a lot of groups out there that are really interested in helping us defeat Harry Reid," he said.
Ziser won Tuesday's GOP contest by a nearly 2-1 margin over his closest rival, getting 40,484 votes or 34 percent of ballots cast with only one precinct still outstanding.
Kenneth Wegner, a disabled Las Vegas combat veteran, was a distant second with 21,325 votes or 18 percent, while Georgia rancher and Florida resident Bob Brown had 19,504 votes or 16 percent.
"None of these candidates," a symbolic option for Nevada voters in statewide races, received 14 percent (16,759), which was better than the other three GOP candidates - Royle Melton, a Reno lawyer, 9 percent (10,505); Cherie Tilley of Spring Creek, 9 percent (10,337) and perennial candidate Carlo Poliak of Las Vegas, 1 percent (1,764).
Ziser is the former chairman of the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage, which successfully backed an initiative to prohibit the state from recognizing gay marriages. Voters overwhelming approved the constitutional amendment in 2000 and 2002.
Given that exposure, Ziser's victory was not surprising, said David Damore, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
"He had the most name recognition. His name was in the paper for two years," Damore said.
But he predicted it will be an uphill battle to unseat Reid, the second most powerful Democrat in the Senate.
Reid, 64, who was unopposed in the primary, was not taking any chances.
"I'm certainly not taking anything for granted in this election," Reid said by telephone from Washington, D.C. "I hope we can talk about the issues that are important to the people of Nevada."
Reid defeated Republican John Ensign in 1998 by only 428 votes after a lengthy recount. Ensign won Nevada's other Senate seat two years later, and Reid began amassing funds to avoid another squeaker in 2004.
Reid's slim victory showed he is vulnerable, Ziser said, adding he plans to target conservative, or so-called Reagan Democrats, in the coming weeks.
"He has a voting record. It doesn't align with what Nevadans believe," said Ziser, who said limited government, national defense, free enterprise and family values are issues important to voters.
Reid said health care, Medicare, energy, national security, terrorism, education, and nuclear waste will dominate the discussion heading into November.
"The middle class is being squeezed; seniors are terribly concerned about Medicare," Reid said.
"And we have to talk about getting our soldiers out of Iraq."
Reid and Ziser have differed on the federal government's proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
Reid has helped lead Nevada's fight against the nuclear waste dump for nearly two decades. Ziser has said Nevada should negotiate for benefits from the project 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
"There's nothing to negotiate," Reid said. "There's nothing the federal government can give us except poisons."
Other candidates on the November ballot include Libertarian Thomas Hurst, Independent American David Schumann, and Natural Law candidate Gary Marinch.
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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So let's roll up our sleeves, and get Richard Ziser elected in November!
Any chance for this seat? Maybe a strong showing by Bush top ticket?
They love their commie Reid in Nevada.
Hold on there! Not all of us are for reid.....Especially THIS Southern Nevada resident. I cannot stand reid.
..."Reid defeated Republican John Ensign in 1998 by only 428 votes"...
Reid actually LOST in 15 of the 17 Nevada counties!
Ziser CAN win, but he will need a lot of grass-roots help to overcome Reid's money.
So it really comes down to a test of how much the conservatives in Nevada really care, if the majority of them would care enough to actively support Ziser he will win.
..."They love their commie Reid in Nevada"...
No, SOME special interest love him, but the rest of us loath him!
He has betrayed his constituent base in every county in the state, he IS vulnerable.
Hold on, I have a home in Boulder City Nv, and if you think Im for Reid, you have better think again.
They love him so much he won his last race by less than 500 votes.
The odious despicable Harry Reid.
I thought the Natural Law Party is now defunct. How can they keep fielding candidates?
no I don't!!!!!!!
Of the six candidates on the ballot, Ziser was by far the best pick.
I had completely eliminated Brown, Melton and Poliak as either flakes or liberal infiltrators.
Wegner and Tilley were OK, but far too unpolished for national office.
Ziser looks good and deserves solid conservative backing against Reid.
Who was a "natural law" candidate?
Richard Ziser is a republican, his 34% beat his nearest rival by two to one!
Other candidates got between 9% - 1% of the total vote.
REID is a total dem in every sense he barks about YUCCA mountain and has not stopped the building of the site for ten years ,millions of taxpayers dollars have already been put into the project ,I feel like we should take advantage of the yucca mountain ,it will provide tons of money for this state he is not very bright.
WoodstockCat - "Any chance for this seat? Maybe a strong showing by Bush top ticket?"
Tradesports|com shows Reid's re-election chances as somewhere between 94 and 99 percent. Perhaps GOP resources could be used more productively in other races.
AND no more stealing the elections by the dems ,he rightly lost here in ninety eight by fraud, people voting twice, all dems, more than a thousand of them robbing ENSIGN OF A WIN .
Except for me...Christ, who votes for that guy??
Nevadans do NOT love Reid, and he would have been extremely vulnerable this election had a big name Republican chosen to oppose him. Unfortunately, Congressman Jim Gibbons passed on what would have been a very winnable race in order to run for Governor in 2006.
Unfortunately, I think that Richard Ziser has virtually no chance of beating Reid barring a Bush blowout of Reagan 1980 proportions (And even then it would be extremely unlikely he can pull it off). Reid wins with a coalition of Union members, Minorities (including a growing hispanic population), as well as a disproportionate share of the Mormon vote (He claims to be at least nominally L.D.S.) The Mormon vote is about 10 percent of the population that otherwise votes overwhelmingly Republican, but much less so when a fellow Mormon is the candidate. Combine that all with Democratic/Union voter fraud and like many other otherwise "conservative" states we are stuck with an unrepresentatively liberal U.S. Senator....
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