Columnist Jeff German: Reid, Ensign drop gloves in a hurry

THREE months before the November election, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and his Republican challenger, Rep. John Ensign, are burning up the television airwaves in what is expected to be the most expensive race ever in the state.

The two men are beating each other bloody in attack ads at both ends of the state in a political donnybrook never before witnessed so early in a campaign here. These kinds of no-holds-barred television spots generally aren't unleashed until the last week of a race.

The ferocious sparring illustrates how much attention this race is getting from the Democratic and Republican parties in Washington. Most politicos on Capitol Hill list this race among the top three in the country.

It pits the steady, two-term incumbent who has a chance to rise higher in the Senate's Democratic leadership if re-elected, against the brash, youthful Republican who has become one of the darlings of the conservative right on the Hill.

Both camps, which expect to spend nearly $4 million apiece, say they are prepared to sustain this level of bombardment over the airwaves until election day.

But there are signs the voters don't like what they've been seeing.

"This is going to cause people to turn away from the polls," says one veteran political consultant. "Nobody's developing any kind of positive image for themselves, and nobody's running on their record of accomplishment."

That attitude is shared in Northern Nevada.

"I think people are getting turned off up here," a northern political pundit says. "The candidates have gotten into a finger-pointing mode and everybody's really confused."

In recent weeks, both campaigns, with the help of their parties, have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on negative television ads.

A couple of examples:

"That old card shark Harry Reid sure talks a good game," one Ensign ad says. "Call that card shark Harry Reid. Tell him on taxes and negative ads ... start dealing straight."

Not to be outdone, a Reid ad counters: "Beware. This Washington Republican TV commercial is a personal attack on Sen. Harry Reid's integrity and Congressman John Ensign supports it ... Be careful, Congressman Ensign. This sleazy commercial can come back and bite you."

Who do you believe? How did it come to this?

Ensign Campaign Manager Mike Slanker charges that Reid started it all last April when he aired spots attacking Ensign on his education and environment records.

"It's gotten ridiculous, but we've had no choice but to respond," Slanker says. "For an incumbent United States senator to be attacking a challenger in the spring and summer is unprecedented. I would say he's scared to death."

The Reid camp doesn't deny it struck first. Its strategy has been to draw Ensign into an attack mode early, rather than late in the race.

Ensign, Reid strategists say, has demonstrated a penchant for running negative ads in the closing weeks of a race. Those ads have helped him win twice in a heavy Democratic congressional district. If Ensign is forced to go negative early, however, it's likely to minimize the effectiveness of any shots he might take at the senator late in the campaign.

"The fact that we came out early is bad for them," one Reid aide says. "They seem to be protesting too much."

Though he acknowledges both sides may not look good right now in the eyes of the voters, Reid Campaign Manager Larry Werner insists there's a clear difference in the tone and substance of the ads being aired by the two camps.

The Democratic ads, he says, are issue-oriented and go after Ensign's voting record, while the Republican spots attack Reid's character and integrity.

Werner doesn't believe the Reid campaign is running scared at all.

The latest polls, even those done by Republicans, he says, still show Reid with a double-digit lead over Ensign.

So far, it seems as though Reid's strategy to draw Ensign into a battle over the airwaves may be working. If you believe the polls, Ensign has failed to close the gap on the senator amid all the televised jabbing.

But Ensign still has plenty of time to make up some ground.

Both men, however, risk losing esteem in the eyes of the voters if this keeps up for three more months.

Just which candidate loses the most won't be known until Nov. 3.

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