LAS VEGAS (AP) - While their counterparts across the country basked in a rare victory, Nevada Democrats wondered Wednesday how they could have come so close - and still landed so far away.
"The way I see it, there were two different elections - one in Nevada and one around the rest of the country," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who still maintained his party did well overall statewide.
Democrats in this swing state were teased by signs of the anti-GOP surge that handed their party control of the U.S. House, a tightened U.S. Senate and a majority of governorships nationwide.
But they also watched as voters sent two Republican incumbents back to Washington, along with a Republican state official. Nevadans choose a Republican congressman embroiled in scandals to take over the governor's office.
Nevada politicos said the results showed efforts to make the election a referendum on national politics had come up short. Voters here remained more interested in evaluating individual candidates and campaigns than sending a message to Washington.
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Democrat Jack Carter was among those who went down in defeat after billing himself as an able messenger. The son of former President Jimmy Carter lost his Senate bid by 14 percentage points to Republican Sen. John Ensign.
Carter, a Nevada newcomer, staked much of his campaign on voter disaffection with President Bush's policies in Iraq, but he failed to turn the frustration into votes.
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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/nov/08/110810299.html
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