Nevada's 2006 Senate Race: Jack Carter vs. Republican Senator John Ensign
The name most frequently featured was Jack Carter, candidate for the Democratic senatorial nomination. Jack Carter is the 59-year-old eldest child of the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, and his much-admired wife Roslynn Carter.
Carter is strongly favored to win the Democratic primary, but faces a formidable opponent in the November 2006 elections against one-term incumbent Senator John Ensign, a Republican who is well-connected to Nevada's influential gaming industry.
But reelection is far from assured for Ensign, who posted a tepid 52% approval ratings in Nevada in SurveyUSA's June 2006 polls. And Jack Carter is developing into a surprisingly strong candidate...
Carter, a US Navy veteran who holds degrees in nuclear physics and law, has been a successful investment banker for the past two decades. He and second wife Elizabeth moved to Nevada just three years ago, inspiring Republicans to label him as unfamiliar with Nevada's challenges and needs.
Carter dubs himself as "a social liberal with conservative Southern roots and a business background that taught him 'you pay for what you spend.' " And unlike opponent Ensign, Carter is in agreement with both state and national sentiment on most top issues.
On embryonic stem cell research, Carter commented, " I support live-saving stem cell research, while my opponent does not... Senator Ensign's 'No' vote stood alone in the Nevada Congressional Delegation. He voted against the wishes of Nancy Reagan who had to watch her husband deteriorate over the years. He voted against many in his own party including Senators Orrin Hatch from Utah and Majority Leader Bill Frist...
Senator Ensign's vote is directly against the interest of research within Nevada. The proposed funding could support new research programs at the Nevada School of Medicine, the Nevada Cancer Institute, or the planned Lou Rovo Alzheimer's Institute."
And on the Iraq War, Carter writes, "With the exception of our military operations (the ones the Bush Administration stayed out of), the war in Iraq was ill-conceived, and the aftermath has been ill-managed. Whether intentionally or not, our leaders misled us. We do not know the facts because the Republican-controlled Congress has blocked any investigation into the events leading up to the war.
I was against the invasion and the war before it started. And I have been appalled at the way the Bush administration has mishandled the efforts to secure the country and to rebuild the Iraqi economy. Our volunteer forces deserve more from our civilian leadership."
Republican Senator Ensign has hitched his wagon to Bush's plummeting star by wholly supporting Bush Administration policies and proposals, especially the Iraq War. Ensign has even repeated the undemocratic Bush mantra that "Iraq war critics in general have 'hurt our military' and 'embolden the enemy.' "
Per DailyKos, polling at the end of June 2006 showed Ensign winning the senatorial race by a wide margin against Carter.
Kos muses, "The campaign is betting that once people realize he's THAT Carter, that he'll get a lot more attention and voters will give him a second and maybe third look -- an advantage the typical challenger doesn't enjoy. Is it enough to earn votes? Probably not. But enough to get their attention and hold it long enough for him to make his pitch? Possibly."
Most recent SurveyUSA polling shows that President Bush has a 64% disapproval rate in Nevada, and only a 34% approval rate. And Ensign is one of only five US Senators to vote 100% of the time in sync with the Bush agenda.
As President Bush and syncophant Ensign recklessly blunder along while "staying the course," Jack Carter's appeal among Nevada voters may grow enough to land another seat for Democrats in the US Senate.
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