Porter bailout vote riles Titus

U.S. Rep. Jon PorterWASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Jon Porter (R-Henderson) may have been one of only a handful of vulnerable members to support the bailout bill on Monday, but Porter's Democratic opponent insists the vote isn't a profile of courage. "I don't see it as a vote that should be looked at in a vacuum," state Sen. Dina Titus (D-Henderson) said Tuesday evening in a telephone interview.

Titus argued that Porter was in the pocket of Wall Street and big business, saying the Republican had raked in contributions from the financial sector. Porter's vote, the Democrat said, was simply an extension of his allegiance to the financial industry.

Titus, embroiled in what is quickly becoming one of the nastiest and hard-fought House races in the country, was responding to a Wall Street Journal column Porter's campaign was circulating to reporters the day after Porter voted in support of the $700 billion rescue package. The column praised Porter and the six other vulnerable members who "stuck their necks out" and voted yes on the bill.

But Titus's campaign was quick to note that the Chamber of Commerce, which aired a radio advertisement for Porter in August and which over the last three cycles has contributed $5,000 to Porter's election coffers, was aggressively lobbying Porter and others in the House for the bill's passage.

In the interview and in a news release, Titus suggested that she would have voted against the bill, explaining that it didn't provide sufficient regulations on the mortgage industry or protections for families facing the threat of foreclosure. Porter's campaign pounced on Titus's comments, saying that only last week she appeared supportive of the Treasury Department's package.

Republicans also sought to drive home one of their central themes against Titus: that she wants to raise taxes on working Americans already struggling to make ends meet. In the days leading up to the vote, Porter's campaign and the conservative advocacy organization Freedom's Watch aired advertisements revisiting the "Dina Taxus" theme Republicans used against her with success in the 2006 governor's race.

"If anyone could identify with reckless fiscal policy it would be Dina Titus," said Ken Spain, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. "Her nearly religious support for massive tax increases has rightly earned her the nickname Dina Taxus."

The flare up over Porter's bailout vote comes as Titus's campaign is suggesting it has gained significant ground on the third term Republican. The campaign is hawking an internal poll showing the Democrat leading Porter, and several days ago it seized on news that political oddsmaker Stu Rothenberg had upgraded the race in Titus's direction.

Porter's campaign has rushed to stop the bleeding, circulating their own poll showing Porter leading Titus 41 percent to 39 percent.

No matter, Titus said, Porter was in trouble.

"It didn't seem like his poll numbers were very strong for him," she said. "All he's run is negative ads because he's got nothing to brag about."

"Democrats have been making the same claims year after year and we are confident Jon Porter will be victorious on Election Day once again," shot back the NRCC's Spain.

Squabbling aside, analysts say the financial crisis will be a crucial issue in a Las Vegas-area district hit hard by job losses.

David Wasserman, who monitors House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, wouldn't predict how Porter's vote would impact the outcome of the race but said, "It's either monumentally stupid or monumentally smart."

"Jon Porter clearly is taking a risk by voting for this package. But it fits his image as a business-minded conservative," Wasserman added.