The host of Vice President Dick Cheney's fund-raising event in Las Vegas later this month said he believes Cheney's boss will also come to Nevada.
Larry Ruvo, owner of Southern Nevada Wine & Spirits, hosted George W. Bush at his Lake Tahoe home before Bush was elected president. And Ruvo, who is finance director for Bush-Cheney '04 in Nevada and who is hosting Cheney's visit, thinks Bush will be back.
"I will tell you without question that we will have the president here," Ruvo said.
Cheney's fund-raiser will be at 11 a.m. July 21 at Ruvo's Spanish Trail home. About 200 people are expected to attend at $2,000 a piece. No public events are scheduled during Cheney's visit.
Gov. Kenny Guinn, Sen. John Ensign and Attorney General Brian Sandoval are honorary event chairmen and are scheduled to attend. All three will be active in the Bush-Cheney '04 organization, as will GOP political consultants Mike Slanker and Pete Ernaut.
Ruvo said he doesn't expect any protest of Cheney's visit or ill will toward Bush if he visits Nevada as a result of the administration's decision to put high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.
"The president told me before the election that that would have to be decided in the courts," Ruvo said. "He told me that all Nevadans should support him because he doesn't believe in the proliferation of gaming in every small town and corner liquor store.
"Nevadans have to look at this man's record as a president. He will go down in history as one of the best leaders we have had."
Although no protests are planned, the state Democratic Party's executive director said she thought there may be citizens who do picket Cheney's visit.
"The president still owes Nevada an answer," Rebecca Lambe said of the Yucca decision. Lambe said that since Cheney is the highest-ranking administration official to visit since the Yucca decision last year, she expects some public unhappiness.
Lambe also promised Nevadans would see more of the Democratic candidates for president in coming months. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., and Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., have already held private fund-raisers in Las Vegas.
"I can almost guarantee that the Democratic candidates will campaign here more than once every three years," Lambe said.
Enviro ADvice
The Natural Resources Defense Council this week launched what could be a pre-emptive strike on behalf of Democratic Sen. Harry Reid.
The Washington-based environmental group took out full-page ads in both the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun lambasting Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons' recent vote on the Healthy Forest Initiative.
The ad showed a swath of forest with felled trees and states: "Forest experts recommend thinning trees around your house to protect it from forest fires. Congressman Gibbons has a more extreme idea."
Amy Mall of the council said the reason Gibbons was among three congressional members targeted with ads is "We thought it was important to focus on Western states where this is an important issue and in Nevada, the two senators are very important to this issue."
The ad does mention Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., as the senators who can "protect our communities rather than pad the pockets of the timber industry."
Gibbons, in a statement obtained by his press secretary while he was returning from a trip to Iraq, said he was "disappointed, but not surprised that the NRDC has decided to use scare tactics to mislead the people of Nevada about the Healthy Forests initiative."
"We want to protect our forests, not watch them burn to charcoal as we have over the past few years, thanks to do-nothing environmental policies of groups like the NRDC," Gibbons said in the statement.
Gibbons is considering whether to run next year against Reid, who has historically received support from environmental groups outside Nevada.
And since there aren't any forests in Las Vegas, the ad serves well as a precursor to what could be.
Johnny Baseball
Although Ensign struck out this week on the medical malpractice issue, he made a strong performance on the baseball field Thursday night in the Roll Call Congressional baseball game.
Ensign dazzled the crowd at the Washington fund-raiser with two "spectacular" defensive plays. He also went 1 for 1, with a walk, stolen base and a run batted in, to help the Republicans to a 5-4 victory.
Ensign's now-famous diving grab of a pop-up from last year's game made the cover of this year's Roll Call Congressional baseball game program and was featured in an ad on the congressional newspaper's website.
He won the game's MVP award the last two years but was not selected this year after making two errors in the field.
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