To paraphrase Paul McCartney - It was 30 years ago today
Election Day - November 4, 1986
I was working for KNUU, 970-AM, then an all-news radio station (it's now a religious station) and while I'd covered the campaign of Harry Reid against Jim Santini for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by President Ronald Reagan's close friend Paul Laxalt, my primary assignment that night was the race for the seat in the House of Representatives being vacated by then-Congressman Reid.
As Senator Reid is retiring, I thought that a look at all of the candidates from the races that took place on that day 30 years ago might be in order.
James "Jim" Santini was the man that lost to Harry Reid. He was the last person to serve as the sole representative of Nevada in the House of Representatives, as the 1982 election where he lost his seat in the House to Harry Reid was the first to take place after the 1980 Census reapportionment gave Nevada two seats in the House. After his defeat he moved to Washington and became a lobbyist. Sadly he died last year.
* * *
That November saw the incumbent Governor of Nevada, Richard Bryan seeking reelection. In my experiences interacting with politicians as a journalist I would rank Governor Bryan as one of the nicest ever. He won reelection that day and would go on to later serve two terms in the U.S. Senate. He's been an attorney in private practice since choosing not to seek a third term in the Senate.
Why do I think the world of him? Here's an example. I walked into the radio station on my day off to pick up my paycheck and the receptionist nearly grabbed me and told me I had to do an interview. I told her I didn't do interviews on my day off and I was going to leave as soon as I got my check out of my in-box. When she told me the governor was calling to do an interview with one of my colleagues and that reporter had been called out of the studio to cover breaking news. So I agreed to take the call. When Governor Bryan got on the phone I apologized and told him I didn't know what was going on and he explained that he was supposed to do an interview about a healthcare program he was trying to institute. I wasn't versed in that program and told him so and he said "don't worry Brian, it will be fine. Let's just do the interview." He was very gracious and very patience with my being completely unprepared for the encounter. It wasn't the only time I found him to be very nice.
He ran against a woman named Patty Cafferata, who was the incumbent State Treasurer of Nevada. Her major claim to fame was that her mother was Barbara Vucanovich, member of Congress from Nevada. Ms Vucanovich's first successful campaign for Congress featured the very memorable slogan of "what Congress needs is a tough grandmother."
* * *
James "Jim" Bilbray ran against Bob Ryan and trounced him in the 1986 race for Nevada's 1st Congressional District. He practiced law after leaving Congress and was named to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors by President Bush in 2006.
What I remember about being at his campaign headquarters on election night was that there wasn't a single phone to be had after his victory speech. With my UNLV intern in tow, I had to go to a little Korean restaurant near the campaign HQ to find a payphone. I had to phone in my story on that phone, silently moving my handheld cassette recorder to the mouthpiece at the point in my story where I needed to include the excerpt of his victory speech. Talk about "low-tech" that was it.
* * *
Now 30 years later, the last man standing from all of that night's Nevada activities still in the political arena is closing the books on his election history. I'll have more to say about Harry Reid after he officially retires when the new Congress is sworn in, in 2017.
I was working for KNUU, 970-AM, then an all-news radio station (it's now a religious station) and while I'd covered the campaign of Harry Reid against Jim Santini for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by President Ronald Reagan's close friend Paul Laxalt, my primary assignment that night was the race for the seat in the House of Representatives being vacated by then-Congressman Reid.
As Senator Reid is retiring, I thought that a look at all of the candidates from the races that took place on that day 30 years ago might be in order.
James "Jim" Santini was the man that lost to Harry Reid. He was the last person to serve as the sole representative of Nevada in the House of Representatives, as the 1982 election where he lost his seat in the House to Harry Reid was the first to take place after the 1980 Census reapportionment gave Nevada two seats in the House. After his defeat he moved to Washington and became a lobbyist. Sadly he died last year.
* * *
That November saw the incumbent Governor of Nevada, Richard Bryan seeking reelection. In my experiences interacting with politicians as a journalist I would rank Governor Bryan as one of the nicest ever. He won reelection that day and would go on to later serve two terms in the U.S. Senate. He's been an attorney in private practice since choosing not to seek a third term in the Senate.
Why do I think the world of him? Here's an example. I walked into the radio station on my day off to pick up my paycheck and the receptionist nearly grabbed me and told me I had to do an interview. I told her I didn't do interviews on my day off and I was going to leave as soon as I got my check out of my in-box. When she told me the governor was calling to do an interview with one of my colleagues and that reporter had been called out of the studio to cover breaking news. So I agreed to take the call. When Governor Bryan got on the phone I apologized and told him I didn't know what was going on and he explained that he was supposed to do an interview about a healthcare program he was trying to institute. I wasn't versed in that program and told him so and he said "don't worry Brian, it will be fine. Let's just do the interview." He was very gracious and very patience with my being completely unprepared for the encounter. It wasn't the only time I found him to be very nice.
He ran against a woman named Patty Cafferata, who was the incumbent State Treasurer of Nevada. Her major claim to fame was that her mother was Barbara Vucanovich, member of Congress from Nevada. Ms Vucanovich's first successful campaign for Congress featured the very memorable slogan of "what Congress needs is a tough grandmother."
* * *
James "Jim" Bilbray ran against Bob Ryan and trounced him in the 1986 race for Nevada's 1st Congressional District. He practiced law after leaving Congress
What I remember about being at his campaign headquarters on election night was that there wasn't a single phone to be had after his victory speech. With my UNLV intern in tow, I had to go to a little Korean restaurant near the campaign HQ to find a payphone. I had to phone in my story on that phone, silently moving my handheld cassette recorder to the mouthpiece at the point in my story where I needed to include the excerpt of his victory speech. Talk about "low-tech" that was it.
* * *
Now 30 years later, the last man standing from all of that night's Nevada activities still in the political arena is closing the books on his election history. I'll have more to say about Harry Reid after he officially retires when the new Congress is sworn in, in 2017.
posted by me at 4:30 PM
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