GUINN HAS SOLID LEAD IN RACE FOR GOVERNOR

14 candidates: Incumbent's funds far exceed challenger cash

Political experts say that Gov. Kenny Guinn is almost unbeatable entering
Tuesday's Republican and Democratic primary elections.

As one of the most entrenched governors in Nevada history, Guinn has
amassed more than a $3 million campaign war chest over the past four years.
The sum is far more than the combined campaign funds of the 13 others that
have filed for the office. Guinn also leads all candidates by at least a
3-1 margin in most statewide polls.

But Bruce Westcott, the president of a Las Vegas recording company, doesn't
believe the experts.

Of all the challengers, he alone says his chances of winning Tuesday's
Republican primary are just as good as Guinn's.

"As incredible as it may sound, I'd say my chances are 50-50 right now,"
said Westcott, 64.

"If enough people get to the polls with enough information on both
candidates, I believe my chances may even be more than 50-50," Westcott said.

Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada,
Reno, disagrees with Westcott.

"For Guinn to be defeated, it would be like a 100-year flood," Herzik said.
"It would be like snow in Las Vegas in July."

That goes for November's general election, too, Herzik said.

"Kenny Guinn is backed by the state employees union, the teachers' union
and most of organized labor," Herzik said. "Those are endorsements that
usually go to the Democrats. Gaming backs him. That is an incredible bridge
he has built. That's why he is unbeatable."

Even Sen. Joe Neal of North Las Vegas, the front-runner in the Democratic
primary, acknowledges he faces an extremely difficult task if he survives
Tuesday's vote and advances to the general election.

"We could never match Guinn dollar for dollar," Neal said. "We can never
win that battle."

Westcott may be alone in his optimism, but all the candidates in Tuesday's
primary clutch a glimmer of hope that they will be living in the Governor's
Mansion in Carson City come November.

Many are novices when it comes to statewide politics, however.

"It can be done," Reno Democrat Dan Meyer, 43, said. "Sure it's an uphill
battle but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't try.

"There are a lot of unhappy people in the state right now," said Meyer, a
businessman who owns Comstock Slot Games and Comstock ATM. "Whether people
want me or not, I can do the job. It's important that the leadership in
Carson City have a grasp of the whole state and not just part of it. Up
here (in northern Nevada), we are a second thought to them. That is my
message. How far it will take me, I don't know. I'm not quitting my day job."

Guinn, 66, is not taking chances, even with the predictions and polls.

He still has $1.7 million left in his campaign fund with $1 million more in
pledges on hold. After pushing through his medical malpractice tort reform
at last month's special session of the Legislature, Guinn said he has been
campaigning like he's in a tight race.

"I've been to Winnemucca, Pioche, Lund, Ely, Gardnerville, Carson City,
Reno and Las Vegas," Guinn said about campaign stops. "I was in Pahrump
before the special session."

Even though he is ahead, Guinn said he is always looking behind.

"I played enough football and coached enough high school football to know
that you can never underestimate your opponent," said Guinn, a former
fullback at the University of Southern California and Fresno State University.

Guinn said he admired Westcott for his confidence but doesn't agree that
the race is even.

"I don't know about 50-50, but anybody who gets in the race has to feel in
their own mind that they have some kind of chance," Guinn said. "But I have
not seen him traveling the state. If you are not out there working, you
can't talk yourself into this job."

Westcott, however, said he has been "out there working" even if the
governor hasn't noticed.

"My political campaign has been conducted thus far through thousands of
hours of hard work, inches of shoe leather, many thousands of e- mails,
hundreds of telephone conversations, incredible amounts of word-of-mouth
networking, a preponderance of thought and a platform of sensible ideas and
solutions," Westcott said.

He adds that he has paid for the campaign with "personal donations of my
family's facilities" with $1,172.91 in expenditures, and $270.00 in
political contributions.

"The total in sum comprise a powerful force more than enough to beat the
Guinn Machine," he said.

Guinn vs. Neal

Guinn said he'll probably face Neal in the general election but is
unruffled by Neal's criticism of him.

Neal has called Guinn the "palace guard" for the gaming industry and chided
the governor for not yet returning a $10,000 campaign contribution from
Enron, the failed energy giant in Houston.

Guinn said he has yet to return the money to make sure that it goes to help
the thousands of employees who lost their retirement savings in the Enron
collapse and not back to the company's tainted managers.

"Well, he is certainly running for office and he has to say something,"
Guinn said. "But Joe Neal has been a good friend of mine for 38 years. He
as always been critical of some of the things we have done but if you check
the record, you'll find that he has also said some very positive things
about me and my administration."

Before he focuses on Neal, however, Guinn must clear Tuesday's primary.

The Republicans

Guinn faces fellow Las Vegans Westcott, Shirley Cook and Carlos Poliak in
Tuesday's primary along with Fallon's Stanleigh Lusak and Ely's Bill Hiett.

Cook, Poliak and Lusak could not be reached for comment despite repeated
telephone calls.

Westcott is the only Republican with an extensive Web site outlining his
platform.

He would like to raise state gaming taxes from their current 6.25 percent
to 7.5 percent.

"It is a very mild increase and certainly relative to what they can pay,"
Westcott said. "If we raised the gaming tax to 7.5 percent, it would give
the state an additional $115 million and that money could dedicated to our
educational plan."

He also wants to place a heavier tax on cigarettes and wants to re- direct
the state tobacco settlement money from one of Guinn's pet projects -- the
Millennium scholarships -- to heath care. Westcott wants the tobacco money
to be used specifically to help people sickened by smoking.

"My mom died of heart failure because of smoking," Westcott said. "She died
here in Nevada where the health care facilities for heart failure and other
smoking-related diseases are not good.

"Giving the tobacco money to the Millennium scholarship fund was really
politically motivated."

Westcott said that if elected, he would introduce legislation to strengthen
laws against the illegal 1entry of immigrants into Nevada.

"Nevada shall not, in any respect, be an annexation of the Republic of
Mexico," Westcott said. "As governor of Nevada, I would have two words for
anyone residing in Nevada illegally: Register and assimilate."

Westcott said that as governor, he would request that all of Nevada's law
enforcement agencies work with the governor's office to enforce current
immigration laws.

The marijuana candidate

Hiett, 61, is a confessed hippie from the 1960s. The 19-year Nevada
resident who lives off an inheritance has a one-issue platform. If elected,
he would begin state-run marijuana farms to grow pot, harvest it and sell
one-ounce bags for $100.

It would add millions of dollars to the state treasury," Hiett said.
"Millions of people would come to Nevada. Just think how that would improve
the economy."

Hiett's plan mirrors that proposed by Nevadans for Responsible Law
Enforcement, a group who feels Nevada could make millions selling and
taxing pot.

Yet federal law would prohibit any state from selling or taxing marijuana,
said Washoe County district attorney Dick Gammick.

Hiett said he also would like the state to go back to making just one style
of license plate and wants to get rid of seat belts, child safety
restraints and boating life preservers.

"They are a nuisance and are against my constitutional rights."

He said he would also admit to having smoked pot.

"I've inhaled and held it in my lungs for a long time," Hiett said.

The Democrats

For the Democrats, the biggest campaign issue has been Neal's refusal to
debate gubernatorial candidate Barbara Scott, a former Las Vegas topless
dancer who now lives in Gardnerville.

"I recognize the ploy," Neal said. "She is using me to elevate herself."

Neal said he is not ignoring Scott. He just wants to run his campaign,
lashing out at the gaming industry for not paying its fair share of taxes.

"I am running my own campaign and hope she will do the same. My fight is
not with her. My fight is with the gaming industry."

Neal's fight especially is with the state's major hotel-casinos. He wants
to raise taxes on gaming establishments those top $1 million gross profits
per year from 6.25 percent to 10.25 percent.

"They make enough money to pay that, their fare share," Neal said. "If the
gaming industry were to pay 10.25 percent, it would bring $400 million more
into the state annually."

Neal opposes an increase on the sales tax, saying that would "hit the
little guy."

"We have reached a saturation points on all the other tax resources," Neal
said. "Gaming is going to have to step up to the plate or someone like me
is going to have to pull them up to the plate."

Four year ago, Neal also mounted a campaign for governor but Democrats
chose former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones to be the party's candidate in the
general election.

This year, Neal says, no other Democrat may be strong enough to beat him in
the primary.

Neal's campaign finance report showed only his $300 filing fee, but he
vowed to step up the fund raising after the primary.

If he survives the primary, Neal said he would be running against the
gaming industry in the general election, not Guinn.

"Kenny Guinn is just the palace guard that I'll have to go through to get
to the gaming industry," Neal said.

Neal would also be the first black candidate to run in the general election
for governor in Nevada, said state archivist Guy Rocha.

"I don't know if that would be a factor, but we'll find out," Neal said.
"In the larger counties, such as Clark and Washoe, you have had many blacks
elected to substantial offices, such as (Sen. Bernice) Mathews (D-Reno) and
(Sen. Maurice) Washington (D-Sparks). In Clark, we have two black judges,
blacks on the county commission and in the Assembly.

"It becomes a question once you run statewide," Neal said. "In the smaller
towns, I would assume that there would be some prejudice against a black
running for office, but not a substantial amount. People are looking for a
candidate who can address their needs and in that sense, I seem to be on
equal footing."

The lap dancers' candidate

Scott said she wanted to debate Neal to hear his opinions of Medicaid
funding and other health issues. She also says that Guinn has mismanaged
the state's budget, leading to Nevada current $275 million projected
deficit for the biennium.

She also said that Guinn has failed to improve the funding and the quality
of education in Nevada's public schools.

"Four years ago when he was elected, people thought that things were going
to get better as far as education is concerned because Guinn was a former
school district superintendent," Scott said. "But really, they have gotten
worse. We have gone downhill."

Scott also criticized the Millennium scholarship program.

"After students graduate from school, they are not going to stay in the
state because we don't have a future for them. We don't have enough industry."

She would like to see another telephone company and power company to come
to northern Nevada, give some competition of Nevada Bell and Sierra Pacific
Power Co. as a way to drop utility bills for customers. She added she would
like the see the same competitive system occur in southern Nevada.

Scott said her past profession, as a topless dancer, hasn't seemed to hurt
her campaign. It may have even helped.

Laws governing lap dancers in Clark County have become a big political
issue and the gentlemen's' clubs strip joints in Las Vegas and Clark County
employ more than 5,000 dancers, according to Las Vegas media reports. Scott
has offered to help them fight laws that the dancers say hinder their
ability to make money.

Clark County's 5,000 dancers comprise a large block of voters, Scott hopes.

"I'm not ashamed of being a topless dancer," said Scott, who raised three
children as a single mother by dancing. "I don't believe it has hurt me in
the campaign. And they (Las Vegas dancers) need my help with what the
county is trying to do to them."

Reno's candidate

Meyer has a plan to win Tuesday.

He is the only Democrat from Reno in the race. The rest are from Las Vegas,
except for Scott. But she, too, has strong Las Vegas ties.

If Meyer can carry the Reno vote and all the rest can take votes from each
other, he just might slip into the general election.

His concerns deal with the struggles of small businessmen Reno, so he was
asked why not run for a seat on the Washoe County Commission instead of
joining the race for the state chief executive's office.

"If you are going to yell, you might as well yell from the top of the
hill," he said.

Meyer thinks he would be a good chief executive since he can think on his
feet and is a good organizer.

He also said he is a good public speaker.

"I used to be a ski instructor for 20 years and I'm used to standing in
front of people speaking," he said. "I can stand in front of people and
speak to them during a windstorm, but I do feel better with ski poles in my
hands."

He said he has run a limited campaign and it has helped in acquiring more
business contacts. He said he feels like he has grown personally just by
giving it a try.

"I'm a person taking a chance, sticking my neck out. People don't grow and
advance without taking a chance. Sometimes, you just have to step out of
the box."