Editor's Note: State of the state Democrats

Members of the Nevada Legislature soon will set up camp in Carson City. Lawmakers from across the state will dwell in the capital for four months, during which they will pass laws, approve a state budget and bitch and moan about the lack of good places to eat and drink.

Watching the Legislature do its work is like seeing sausage get made: It's not a pretty sight. It's difficult to reach consensus when the lawmakers hail from so many different places and walks of life. There are the usual differences between Republicans and Democrats, but that's just the beginning. There also are divisions between urban and rural, North and South, veterans and newcomers.

The Republicans, bolstered by President Bush's recent Nevada victory, will no doubt arrive in Carson City with an attitude that they control the agenda. Nevada is a red state, after all, and that immediately puts the Democrats on the defensive.

But things aren't quite that simple. For one thing, the Democrats still hold a solid majority in the Assembly. For another, fast-growing Las Vegas makes it difficult for even the staunchest Sin City conservative to advocate major budget and tax cuts.

What's more, the Republicans don't have a strong conservative advocate in the governor's mansion. Gov. Kenny Guinn is often called a RINO--Republican in Name Only. He's a centrist who believes Nevada has severe deficits in education and social services, and additional funds are needed to make things better. Guinn led the charge in 2003 for a record tax increase--and ultimately got it. This year he's pushing for large spending increases for schools, mental health care, Medicaid and other social programs. Guinn's not exactly a disciple of Newt Gingrich or the Review-Journal editorial page.

All that said, the Republicans still have the upper hand going into the 2005 session. The main reason is that in recent years the Legislature's Democratic leadership has been, shall we say, less than forceful in pushing a progressive agenda. Probably the last take-no-prisoners Democrat in Carson City was Gov. Mike O'Callaghan, who left office in 1979. The Democrats still have some solid people of conviction--Dina Titus, Chris Giunchigliani, Barbara Buckley--but the party leadership in the past has often pulled its punches, presumably so it wouldn't upset its right-leaning constituents.

This has been a strategic disaster, contributing to the key problems the state faces today: severely underfunded schools and a cotton candy social safety net. When the Republican governor is shouting the loudest for beefing up education and social programs--for restoring funding to a mental health system decimated by a previous Democratic governor's budget cuts--Democrats clearly aren't doing their jobs.

Nevada Democrats should change their ways and swing for the fences this session. With the state's economy revving so well that we have a massive budget surplus, there's an excellent opportunity to pull Nevada out of the bottom of the barrel where it so often dwells with Mississippi, Louisiana and other shamefully neglectful states.

Democratic leaders need to take charge of the agenda, focusing their energies on increasing education funding, raising teacher salaries, implementing full-day kindergarten, expanding class-size reduction. They gotta dump this lame and distracting idea to create a state lottery. It's not going to happen--and probably shouldn't--in a state so dependent on casino gambling.

They should push for mental health funding above what Guinn has proposed, to ensure that crisis and triage facilities are established so mentally ill people get proper care quickly and to ease the severe crowding and delays in Las Vegas emergency rooms. They should rally behind a minimum wage hike and push for expansion of Medicaid benefits. They should demand tougher rules on voter registration to prevent the GOP-sponsored scams that afflicted the 2004 election.

It's time for Democrats to abandon the go-along, get-along approach and lead. They should exploit ways to get on TV and radio and in the newspapers on a consistent basis. They should keep the pressure on, constantly pointing out the severe and growing problems the state faces. They need to beat crafty Republicans like Sen. Bob Beers to the punch on populist issues. They need to anticipate challenges and respond quickly and coherently. They can't sit around twiddling their thumbs like John Kerry did as the Swift Boat Veterans tore him apart.

Who should lead this new Democratic attack? That's easy: Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins of Henderson and Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus of Las Vegas. They are not only the technical leaders of legislative Democrats but probably most capable of getting the job done.

Titus and Perkins have an added incentive: They both plan to run for governor in 2006. How they perform during the next four months could play a large role in whether they have any chance of winning the state's top office next year.

--GEOFF SCHUMACHER