Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 6

DECISION '08 6A RENO SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2007 Candidate wants to bring back jobs CLC panelists urge GOP to tone down immigration rhetoric the flow of illegal immigrants. "As president, I'll build that border fence, all 854 miles of it, in.six months," he said. "That is my commitment to you." Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who spoke Friday at the conference, disputed that the border fence alone can be relied upon to keep illegal immigrants out. "A little less than half they can stop, even with the double fence," he said.

"You have to turn off the magnets (of employment) and it will stop." Hunter, who has a son fighting in Afghanistan, said his priority would be to "leave Iraq in victory" and then stop Iran from gaining nuclear weapons. He also promised an abortion litmus test when appointing federal judges. "If a candidate for the federal bench can pick up a sonogram of an unborn child and not see a valuable human life, I will not put that candidate on the bench," he said. its currency and lamenting the flagging capacity of the United States to manufacture equipment needed by the military. Second visit His stop at the conservative conference marked Hunter's second campaign visit to Northern Nevada.

Over Labor Day weekend, Hunter stopped in at the Best in the West Rib Cook-off in Sparks and kicked off a rally for the troops fighting in Iraq in Carson City. 2006 elections, which found a 21 percent drop in support for Republicans who advocated an "enforcement-only" approach to immigration reform. When Republicans supported comprehensive immigration reform, including strict border security, a guest worker program and a pathway to citizenship, the party lost only 4 percent support, Nadler said. The enforcement-only approach took on new life in Northern Nevada last month with the immigration raids of 1 1 area McDonald's restaurants. Heller, who applauded the raids, spoke Saturday of his opposition to comprehensive immigration reform, saying no new laws are needed.

"I don't support amnesty. I don't support benefits for illegals. I don't support the Dream Act. I don't support anchor babies. No sanctuary cities and no 'North American Union," he said.

But Heller said after his remarks it would be wrong to describe his position as "enforcement only." He said he also supports guest worker programs to lawfully bring in an agricultural work force. "Good public policy is good politics," Heller said when asked if he was worried about his stance after listening to Nadler and Sanchez. Simcox lashed out at the notion that the problem with illegal immigration is a political issue. "We will not budge until the border is secure, and we've stopped the problem," Simcox said of his group of armed civilians who patrol the U.S.-Mexi-can border. "If we get that, can we all agree to sit down and work out the rest of the problems in a civilized way?" BY ANJEANETTE DAMON adamonrgj.com Republicans must be wary of their tone on illegal immigration if they hope to keep the presidency and several key seats in Congress, two panelists at a conservative conference in Sparks warned Saturday.

Hispanics align closely with conservative values, but reject strident anti-immigration rhetoric that focuses the nation's illegal immigrant problems solely on the U.S. border with Mexico, said Leslie Sanchez, Republican political strategist and market researcher. "If the Republican Party does not consistently win 35 percent of the Hispanic vote, we will never win a presidential election again after 2008," Sanchez said. "That is the only way we are going to win elections in the future. Hispanics are the fastest growing and politically maturing population in the country." Sanchez spoke during a panel discussion on immigration at the Conservative Leadership Conference.

She was joined by U.S. Rep. Dean Helier, R-Carson City; Chris Simcox, co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps; and Richard Nadler, a Republican analyst for the Americas Majority Foundation. To win the Hispanic vote, Republicans must think more broadly about immigration reform, Nadler said. "If the GOP renounces comprehensive immigration reform in favor of enforcement-only, Democrats will capture New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Florida and Iowa in the upcoming presidential contest," Nadler said.

The foundation recently completed a study of Hispanic voting trends in the 2004 and ANSWER: U.S. REP. DUNCAN HUNTER, R-CALIF. your positions and what you stand for. Fellow Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo recently said if he doesn't finish in the top three in at least one of the early primaries, he will drop out of the race.

Do you have any such benchmarks on your own candidacy? No. I haven't put any timetable in place. I'm going to go hard and give it 1 10 percent, and 1 don't contemplate losing. I think you have to do that. I'm not sticking around in my (congressional) seat.

I'm not going to keep my foot on the lily pad. Some of the other guys are still going to run for their congressional offices, so at some point they need to get back into the swing of things. I thought that would make me look tentative, like I didn't really believe 1 had a chance of winning if I kept my hand in for the congressional seat as well. Why do you think you will appeal to voters in Northern Nevada? 1 think we've got a lot of common ground with the folks in Nevada. I believe in a strong national defense.

You've got a ton of veterans in Nevada. I served in the 173rd Airborne in BYAMJEANETTE DAMON adamonrgj.com Before a crowd of libertarian-leaning conservatives, Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter sounded a protectionist theme Saturday, vowing to save American manufacturing jobs by ending China's unfair trading practices and to build 850 miles of double fence along the Mexican border. Hunter, a congressman from Southern California, spoke before the Conservative Leadership Conference in Sparks. "The one thing 1 will do as president of the United States is stop China from cheating on trade, bring back high-paying manufacturing jobs and hook this party back up with the middle class and the Reagan Democrats that brought us victory back in the old days," he said. Hunter spent much of his 35-minute speech decrying China's strategy of devaluing QUESTION BY GUY CLIFTON gcliftonrgj.com Question: You have been doing well in several states' straw polls, but not registering highly in the national polls.

What is the disconnect? Answer: In Texas, there were 1 ,300 delegates, who had either been to the national convention or the state convention, and I beat the nearest guy, Fred Thompson, by better than 2-to-l. Now the Iowa straw poll, where you had to pay $35 a vote, I announced early on I wasn't going to pay a dime for anybody's vote. If you wanted to vote for me, you'd have to pay it out of your own pocket. We weren't even contenders in that. Romney won that straw poll big.

I did win the Arizona straw poll in Maricopa County. The difference is I've started from a congressional seat in California without huge national name ID. This contest in running for the presidency is largely a function of name identification, at least early on. In straw polls, where you can speak to the delegates, you can acquaint them with your positions. We get a great result when people know what we stand for.

It's going to be a lot of hard work to get out there and let 200 million people know Conservative Sparks became the showcase this week for conservative angst and the Republican presidential candidates who must assuage it in their pursuit of electoral success. The Conservative Leadership Conference drew a roster of prominent conservative speakers, most of whom lamented what they called the abandonment of their cause by the Republican Party. The gathering demonstrated what some see as a splintering of the Republican base in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election. Not everyone saw a S25 OFF i Anyputcras Jjuior More i sso off i Any purcrsc SojC or More SIOOOFF 4 CW mnC at apnea 3 as am U.S. Rep.

Duncan Hunter of California, in this September photo, spoke at the Conservative Leadership Conference in Sparks on Saturday. Hunter's poll numbers in Nevada reflect his standing in national polls, which reside in the low single digits. His fundraising numbers, lag similarly behind the other Republican contenders as well. But Hunter said he doesn't need to hire an army of consultants. "I know what I stand for, and I know what I've done," he said.

He then touted his support of a double fence to protect the border in his San Diego district, which, he said has helped stem 75th Army Rangers in Vietnam. My son is in the Marine Corps now and on his third tour. I've been chairman of the armed services committee, and I think I have lot of common ground with veterans, and you've got a lot of veterans here. People in Nevada are very concerned about illegal immigration, and I'm the only guy running, Democrat or Republican, who has actually built a border fence. I built that double fence in San Diego, and it reduced the smuggling of people and drugs in our sector more than 90 percent and I wrote the law that takes it 854 miles across Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

That's the law the president signed last October. They've only built a few miles of double border fence that's in my law. One of my pledges is that as president, 1 will complete the entire 854 miles of the border fence in six months. What do you do with the illegal immigrants that are already here? I think 'you have to ask them to go home. I think if you don't enforce the law, you basically give them amnesty.

You're going to end up with a third wave of 10 or 12 or 20 million people feeling that they will get POLITICAL minority, however, when it came to the question of U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's inevitability factor. From former House Majority Leader Dick Armey to a panel of experts convened to handicap the 2008 election, most speakers said they expect Clinton to be the next president. When the convention hall of about 200 people was asked for a show of hands, about half the attendees indicated they thought Clinton would be the next president.

In other campaign news to AIR For Plumhinp- Heating, Air i Conditioning Cannot be combined wiin I other coyTvns fr srrojls 1 1 I lUMSINC A "Vlfti A-nii 'I 'If the GOP renounces comprehensive immigration reform in favor of enforcement-only, Democrats will capture New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Florida and Iowa in the upcoming presidential RICHARD NADLER Republican analyst for the Americas Majority Foundation conference draws speakers protesting defection of Republicans from ranks amnesty if they come across. At some point you have to say you really mean it. We need to enforce the law. Once you have a border that is sealed, you can focus on internal enforcement. Right now, we're like a boat with a big hole in it, and we're bailing water furiously.

You have to plug the hole in the boat. When you have a situation where people can be deported at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and be back by 6 o'clock, then you're using all your energy and all your personnel to simply operate what is effectively a revolving door. So, you have to close the border. Do you support what the Bush administration is doing in Iraq and would you do anything diffidently? My recommendation as president is to ensure that of the 131 Iraqi battalions that are now trained and equipped, all 1 3 1 of them have at least two or three months operational experience in combat. When they're battle hardened, they can start to rotate into the battlefield and displace American heavy forces, Marines and Army, and our guys can come home or go to other places in central command.

1 think we'll leave Iraq in victory. 1 think that government will hold. NOTEBOOK Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced a quartet of Nevada endorsements for his presidential campaign. Giuliani has no Nevada staff or offices, but a group of volunteers have been trying to work the state for him. The campaign announced the support of former Lt.

Gov. Lorraine Hunt-Bono, state Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno; Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka; and Assemblyrrian Tom Grady, R-Yerington. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson also picked up CONDI" Digital Thermostat with New -Installation Expires 123G20O7 Numbing --TT nvnir th'v htxrt -'V, hopeless cause, however.

Anti-tax maven Grover Norquist said the conservative base is strong, bound by a common interest in keeping government constrained. "Who are we up against? The left," he said. "We need to let them know we aren't in conflict over Ami am in Damon the vote-moving issues." Norquist was in the Clinton and U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut are the only two major Democratic candidates who have not withdrawn their names from the ballot in Michigan, which has moved up its primary in violation of Democratic National Committee rules.

Coming this week: Obama will be returning to Nevada on Thursday for campaign rallies in Reno and Las Vegas. The Reno town hall event is scheduled for 1 1 a.m. at the Grand Siena Resort and Casino. a few local endorsements as he campaigned in Nevada on Saturday, including the Plasters' and Cement Mason's Local 797 and Carson City Democratic Party chairman Steve Piatt. Nevada vs.

Michigan: Joining a fleeting alliance against Clinton, the Nevada campaigns of Richardson, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina sent Clinton a letter demanding she be true to her pledge not to campaign in Michigan.

On Q. My teenager is so frustrating. She seems so ungrateful and just lays around waiting for the world to hand her things. And then there are her moods, 1 feel like I can't take What should I do? A. This is a common complaint I hear from parents.

It can be frustrating raising teenagers. Although I'm not sure the complaint is different from our parents and their parents. The difference today is the economics involved. Previous generations of teens didn't have to advertising and marketing world aimed towards their wallets. This is an added struggle for parents and kids today.

My advice is to talk to your friends because they are going through it also. If your teen is coming home on time, achieving what you want them to at school, doing what's required at home, I'd try to ignore the moodiness as it will eventually pass. If you are worried about depression or the required things aren't happening, then find a good adolescent therapist who can help you assess what's going on. Dana Anderson recently moed to Reno from Sapa, Cdif, here she had a busy psychotherapy practice. She specializes in adolescents, eating parenting, codcpendcncy, and womrns lisurs.

Gall for an Estimate UJ Dana Anderson Marriage Family Therapist 421 Plumb Lane, Suite 775.323.4242 331 1550 775 9 1660 Guts St. Spams. NV 85431 775877.747.5942 www tthions.coa LL.