Reid, Ensign both put fear of nuclear waste into their campaigns

RENO -- Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., says nuclear waste will be coming to Nevada as early as February or March next year if he's not re-elected.

Rep. John Ensign, who is challenging Reid, says his election will put him in the GOP majority in the Senate and in a better position to stop the shipments of radioactive materials to be buried in Nevada.

Both candidates also said they are not to blame for the volume of negative advertisement on television in the race.

Ensign said politics is a "war of ideas" and it's legitimate to talk about differences between candidates. Instead of the 30-second sound bites of television advertisement, Ensign said he prefers debates on the issues. And he said he would be willing to cancel anything for a televised debate in this final week of the campaign.

Reid countered it's the Democratic and Republican parties that are sparking the negative advertisement. He said the law must be changed to limit the amount corporations and labor unions can pour into the political parties for issue-oriented advertisements. Such a proposal was passed by the House of Representatives, but Ensign voted against it, Reid said.

Reid also said Ensign didn't show up for two of the scheduled debates in Reno. Ensign accused Reid of not accepting a challenge to debate on CNBC-TV.

The two met Monday before a crowd of about 300 at a luncheon of the Rotary Club, in what turned out to be a rather tame session, compared with the biting allegations being traded in television advertisements.

"We get along fine on the personal level," Ensign said.

Group against medical use of marijuana

The president of the Nevada Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs has come out against ballot Question 9, the medical marijuana question.

Vil Paskevicius said that he would be willing to participate in a discussion on the question.

In a press release, Paskevicius listed several agencies against the passage of the bill. Some of those listed included his group, the state of Nevada Drug Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the American Medical Association and the Nevada Association of Addiction Counselors.

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