Nevada's top race: Ensign campaigns to keep seat

When veterinarian and former gaming executive John Ensign launched his first candidacy for Congress in 1994, his campaign kickoff attracted little media notice and lots of empty chairs.

Two years later, his re-election bid is receiving national attention in publications ranging from the straightforward Congressional Quarterly to the hell-bent Mother Jones.

Even conservative columnist George Will has tabbed this race as one of the most important in the country.

Why all the fuss?

It comes down to one word: numbers.

Democrats need a net gain of 18 seats nationwide to regain control of the House, which they lost in 1994, after having held it for 40 years.

Both parties think they can win Nevada's 1st Congressional District, which includes urban parts of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson.

Democrats believe they can take it because they have 33,000 more registered voters in the district than Republicans.

Republicans are hoping Ensign's huge fund-raising advantage will help him win re-election. He has raised more than $1.7 million, compared with only about $373,000 for his opponent, state Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas.

Also at stake is a seat on the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Ensign became the first House freshman since former President George Bush to land a seat on the committee.

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., who would replace Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., as speaker if the Democrats can control Congress, has said he would put Coffin on Ways and Means.

The committee assignment has been an important reason Ensign has raised so much campaign money.

With such a prestigious assignment came loads of campaign cash, including the largest share of political action committee money raised this election by a House freshman. Not surprisingly, he's the overwhelming favorite son of Las Vegas Strip casinos, which have contributed generously to his campaign.

Ensign also serves on the House Resources Committee.

Born in Roseville, Calif., and reared in Northern Nevada, Ensign has lived in Las Vegas since 1974. Even though his father is Mike Ensign, chief operating officer of Circus Circus Enterprises, the congressman has attempted to dispel the notion that life has been handed to him on a silver spoon.

He worked at odd jobs -- delicatessen kitchen help, blackjack dealer, parking valet and warehouseman -- before earning his veterinary degree from Colorado State University. Along the way, he also attended UNLV and Oregon State University, where he received a bachelor's degree in general science.

In 1987 Ensign opened the first 24-hour veterinary hospital in Las Vegas. Four years later, he became general manager of his family-owned Gold Strike hotel-casino, eventually earning $250,000 a year.

"I'm very much of a driver, someone who is very driven," Ensign said. "I'm highly competitive. I could be competitive at Pictionary."

Despite his gaming background, few people gave Ensign a chance in 1994 of defeating four-term Rep. James Bilbray, D-Nev. Bilbray tried to paint Ensign as a far-right-winger, an image Ensign may have encouraged when he met with the political arm of the John Birch Society.

But Ensign countered that Bilbray voted to raise taxes by backing President Clinton's 1993 budget package. Ensign also criticized Bilbray for supporting the president's failed health care plan.

Bilbray's campaign was dealt a fatal blow late in the election when reports surfaced that his bill to expand the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area could have potentially reaped millions for Bilbray's political adviser, Don Williams.

In the end, however, Las Vegans were no different from voters in other states who replaced Democrats with Republicans. Ensign won by about 1,400 votes, one of the narrowest House victories in 1994, and hardly a mandate with only 48 percent of the tally.

The vote could have easily gone the other way. While turnout in Ensign's strongholds in Green Valley was 70 to 80 percent, Bilbray's blue-collar territory produced turnout of only 40 to 50 percent.

Though fiscally conservative, Ensign disdains labels.

"I would say I'm a pragmatist," he said. "I don't care whether it's liberal or conservative. If it works, I want to remain open-minded and try it."

The 38-year-old Ensign is an ideal prototype of the Republican House newcomers who swept to victory two years ago.

He is a churchgoing father of two. He supports a constitutional ban on abortions and is a strong gun-rights advocate.

Ensign belongs to Promise Keepers, an all-male religious movement. Critics have criticized the group for excluding women, but Ensign has said it encourages men to be "servant" leaders in their families.

"My relationship with God comes first," Ensign said. "It's that personal relationship with him that I seek to improve every day. My family and friends come second."

He's a youthful, successful businessman with the type of good looks and expensive wardrobe that, if he were so inclined, could make him a model for the men's magazines he despises, such as Playboy.

A reader of contemporary nonfiction, Ensign's also an accomplished water skier, and he once carried a six handicap in golf. Ensign also plays full-court basketball three days a week.

"One of the gifts I think I've been given is personal salesmanship, getting people to buy into my own ideas," Ensign said. "When getting legislation passed, it's making sure people know my ideas are right."

Ensign is headstrong in his beliefs and can become excitable when reporters press him with tough questions.

He won't appear on interview programs with reporters who have hounded him on politically embarrassing issues, such as his withdrawal of support for a land exchange after his father said the deal would hurt Circus Circus.

Ensign even refuses to communicate with at least one newspaper reporter unless the reporter submits questions in writing.

Most politicians try to avoid taking on the press, but Ensign is immovable after he makes up his mind.

A case in point is his continuing allegiance with Gingrich. Ensign has probably turned off some voters, namely seniors, by not distancing himself from Gingrich, as congressional candidates have done in some states. Gingrich has campaigned in Las Vegas for Ensign.

Democrats have jumped on Ensign and Gingrich by charging that they want to cut taxes for the rich by slashing programs affecting the working class, senior citizens, students and the poor. According to Ensign, the AFL-CIO has spent about $1.5 million on television spots in Las Vegas against him.

Ensign has countered that the GOP budget proposal is designed to make federal programs more efficient while returning power to the states. Ensign has supported numerous tax-cutting measures during his first term.

He has criticized Coffin's labor supporters because many of them, particularly in the building trades, support proposals to dump nuclear waste in Nevada because of the jobs that would be created. Ensign also has alleged his Democratic opponent overbilled the state for travel expenses during the 1989 Legislature and broke campaign finance laws by taking out $100,000 in loans co-signed by his wife.

Coffin denies both charges.

This campaign, Ensign has fashioned himself as a crime fighter, based on his proposal to deny certain privileges, such as cigarettes and microwave ovens, to federal prisoners.

Clinton has already signed one part of his proposal into law. It prohibits prisoners from receiving Playboy and other men's magazines.

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