Columnist Jeff German: GOP gubernatorial primary offers stark choice

AS Republicans head to the polls in two weeks, their choice for governor couldn't be clearer.

Last week, when Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren acknowledged his campaign was faltering, it gave Republicans a chance to focus on the other two leading candidates, Kenny Guinn and Aaron Russo.

Guinn, a 62-year-old Las Vegas businessman and life-long Republican who has a history of 30 years of service to the community, is backed by the political establishment. For more than two years, he has been campaigning the old fashioned way, crisscrossing the state (often with his wife, Dema), kissing babies and speaking to any group that will listen to him. He has built up a solid grassroots organization along the way.

Long a prolific fund-raiser for local charities and civic projects, Guinn has amassed nearly $4 million in his campaign war chest from a variety of sources, including the influential casino industry.

He is not new to public service, either. He spent several years as superintendent of schools here, and he took the reins of UNLV not too long ago to bring the university out of its most troubled times.

If he makes it to Carson City, Guinn wants to improve education, bolster the economy and modernize the state as it heads into the 21st Century. He wants to build on the successes of a string of modern-day governors -- Grant Sawyer, Paul Laxalt, Mike O'Callaghan, Bob List and Bob Miller -- who helped make Nevada one of the most prosperous states in the country.

Though many applaud Guinn's steadiness, he has been criticized for avoiding discussing the specifics of his vision for the state.

Then, there's Russo, who has a vision that isn't in sync with the Nevada establishment.

Russo, 55, is regarded as a carpetbagger, a Hollywood producer who has acknowledged coming to the state two years ago solely to run for governor.

A former rock concert promoter, Russo is an independently wealthy man who has had success in the entertainment field. He once managed superstar Bette Midler and the singing group Manhattan Transfer. His two biggest box office hits were "The Rose," starring Midler, and "Trading Places," with Eddie Murphy.

Russo is so new to Nevada, however, that he doesn't even own a home here. In March 1997, he registered to vote for the first time in 25 years.

He has been running an unconventional campaign (mostly on television) with his own money, tapping into what many say is a growing anti-casino, anti-establishment crowd.

Russo is high on minimizing government's role in the daily lives of citizens. He wants to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Congress from making Nevada the nation's dumping ground for high-level nuclear waste. He also wants to go to court to ban the IRS from taxing tips, and lower Department of Motor Vehicle fees.

His ideas have broad appeal, but in reality, according to political observers, they are unrealistic to carry out.

For months, the Guinn campaign, riding high in the polls, had been ignoring Russo.

But all that changed two weeks ago, when the Review-Journal released bizarre poll results that showed Russo only 7 points behind Guinn. Only a week earlier the Guinn campaign had made public a survey that showed Guinn up by 35 points.

Last week, Hammargren, in what seemed like his final political hurrah, joined forces with Russo in attacking Guinn and the political power brokers. About the same time, Russo stepped up his television assault on Guinn, accusing the front-runner of past business failures. Guinn branded the charges as false.

Having had enough, Guinn decided to go on the offensive. He aired a television ad that portrayed Russo as "embarrassing to Nevada" and "dangerous as governor." The ad featured dramatic footage of the 1996 videotape, "Mad as Hell," that Russo had produced.

The tape, which Russo now contends was merely a television pilot, shows Russo, with shoulder-length hair and an earring, ranting and raving about the government.

By week's end, Russo looked like the Darth Vader of Nevada politics, while Guinn was viewed as Luke Skywalker.

It set the stage for an epic political showdown in the next two weeks that should make Hollywood proud.

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