Human Events: Politics '99

Of the Cowboy, Dr. Doolittle and Political `Second Acts'

In 1944, Nevada Republicans faced an awesome task in trying to take their state's lone U.S. House seat. Not only was FDR going to be strong at the top of the wartime Democratic ticket, but Nevada Democrats had a well-known House nominee in Berkeley Bunker, a former speaker of the state assembly who had served as an appointed U:S. senator from 1940-42.

But GOPers were undaunted, largely because their nominee was Rex Bell, well-known star of a score of Western movies, a true-to-life cowboy who owned the 600,000-acre Rancho Clarita, and a leader in the Boy Scouts and the state grazing association.

Ruggedly handsome, dressed in Western suits and a stetson, and often campaigning astride his white charger, the 41-year-old Bell had charisma before the word was in vogue. Audiences responded enthusiastically to the cowboy-candidate and his message of states' rights and a rollback of intrusive New Dealism.

But in the fall, Bell's highflying campaign was jolted when his wife, onetime movie femme fatale Clara Bow, attempted suicide. Bow, who had grown reclusive after several setbacks in her Hollywood career, was apparently terrified by the thought of public life in Washington and had taken an overdose of barbiturates. Found unconscious by the two Bell boys, she was rushed to the hospital. Although she was quickly revived, the incident had an obvious impact on her guilt-ridden husband and his candidacy. In November, a shaken Bell lost the House race to Bunker by 63% to 37%.

A decade later, Bell decided that, while he did not want to divorce his wife, her mental condition necessitated Bow's living apart from him and their two sons. After arranging a place for her to live in Los Angeles and providing for her care, Bell was free to resume his political career with his wife's support (since she did not have to campaign with him).

He was elected lieutenant governor in 1954 and, four years later, when Democrats swept the state, BeR was the lone GOP survivor. In 1962, assured the Republican nomination for governor and considered a strong fall favorite over Democratic incumbent Grant Sawyer, Bell addressed a Fourth of July picnic, accompanied by running mate Paul Laxalt

An hour later, at the Las Vegas house of friend Katie Jenkins, the lieutenant governor died of a heart attack at 58-the end of one of the great "might have beens" in GOP politics. (A substitute nominee for Bell that year lost to Gov. Sawyer. But, in a poignant story of carrying on for a fallen leader, Laxalt was elected lieutenant governor over old Bell nemesis Berkeley Bunker, ousted Sawyer from the governorship in 1966, and went on to the U.S. Senate.)

Photo Finish

Rex Bell's dramatic comeback and subsequent rise was recalled by some in Nevada last month, as another magnetic conservative Republican lost a much-watched heartbreaker of a race. The recounted race for the U.S. Senate showed two-term Republican Rep. John Ensign losing to Sen. Harry Reid-Democratic whip of the U.S. Senate and a fixture in Silver State politics for three decades-by only 438 votes out of more than 417,000 cast.

"Heartbreaking" is an understated way to describe the feelings of Nevada GOPers in the weeks of hope, uncertainty and, finally, despair that followed the closing of the polls November 3. To them, Las Vegas veterinarian and stalwart conservative Ensign (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 94%) appeared every inch a leader for the future. He forcefully articulated a welcome manifesto of eventually privatizing Social Security, passing an acrossthe-board tax cut and a balanced budget amendment, abolishing the Department of Education, and ending government funding for Planned Parenthood and international organizations that provide abortions.

Like the young Rex Bell, the 40-year-old Ensign had an engaging style that attracted many eager volunteers and made it easier to sell his message. One TV spot showed him using a stethoscope to examine a puppy as its child-owner looked on. With his casino-style plum shirts and often accompanied by some of his four-legged patients, Ensign would steal the show at parades and GOP conventions. He seemed to be Dr. Doolittle come to life.

"When it came to John, it didn't matter whether he was Republican or Democrat or conservative or liberal to many folks," observed Dan Burdish, executive director of the state Republican Party. "They just liked him."

The initial tally showed the 59-year-old Reid leading Ensign by 459 votes. Then, a court-permitted recount of 6,000 absentee ballots in Washoe County (Reno) cut the Democrat's margin to 401 votes and heightened GOP votes for an eventual win following a statewide recount.

With Republicans at the state and national level encouraging him and raising an estimated $59,000 to cover the cost (under Nevada election law, the candidate seeking the recount must pay for it), Ensign requested that the ballots be tallied again. The week before Christmas, with the recount yielding a net gain of 27 votes for Reid, Ensign conceded defeat with grace and dignity And Now Where?

So John Ensign now returns to his beloved constituency of dachshunds, sheepdogs, papillons and bulldogs. Following a family vacation in Hawaii, he intends to go back to full-time practice at the animal hospital he has owned as an investment while in Congress.

"I'm anxious to get back to veterinary medicine," Ensign told me from the House cloakroom December 18, the day before he was to cast "my final and most important votes in Congress [for three of the four articles of impeachment against

President Clinton].... I haven't really thought beyond that."

Other Republicans do think beyond that, when it comes to Ensign. There is a growing movement among GOP activists to make the former congressman finance chairman of the state party. Others in Las Vegas have boomed him to run in the nonpartisan race for mayor of Las Vegas this year against longtime incumbent Jan Jones (who is a registered Democrat).

But the office for which Ensign's name is most mentioned is Nevada's other U.S. Senate seat, which comes up for election in 2000. Now that Reid's reelection has been decided, the "$64,000 question" among state pols is whether junior senator and fellow Democrat Richard Bryan-after two terms in Washington following six years as governor-will run again at age 63. Although Ensign would in all likelihood not oppose Bryan (who is considered far stronger politically than Reid), he would be, state GOPers say, their natural and almost-certain nominee in the event of an open Senate seat.

Among Democrats, the names that usually come up as prospective heirs to Bryan are Bob Miller, who just finished a decade as governor, and State Atty. Gen. Frankie Sue Del Pappa, the lone Democrat left in statewide office after the Republican sweep last fall led by just-inaugurated Gov. Kenny Guinn.

"Beyond those two names and those of Jan Jones and some state legislators," said the state GOP's Burdish, "you don't have much of a Democratic farm team left here."

And so Nevada politics remain as uncertain as the roll of the dice or spin of the roulette wheel in Las Vegas. But one thing that state Republicans feel is certain is that, like Rex Bell after his defeat, John Ensign will discover that there are second acts in politics.

Mr. Gizzi, political editor of HUMAN EVENTS, welcoms political intelligence from subscribers on campaign and issues at the local and state level. Though be cannot reply to all respondents, we appreciate your contributions.

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