Swing State Swing: Nevada

We asked our chief political writer, David Paul Kuhn, to get in a car and drive from Portland, Maine to Portland, Ore., via all the Battleground States – those states expected to be the most hotly contested in the presidential election. Armed with a pen, laptop, camera and plenty of No Doz, Kuhn is sending back dispatches that will offer impressions and snapshots of a country making up its mind.

NEVADA

Las Vegas

Elvis is endorsing John Kerry. Well, at least one of Las Vegas' many Elvis impersonators is. In his $4,000 white sequined jumpsuit, red sash and slicked back hair, this guy certainly has Elvis down, even his curled upper lip.

"If I was just a regular guy, a man's man, I would probably vote for Kerry," he says with a drawl. Then Elvis gets shy. "I'm just, ah, everybody is going to see this and harass me if I say anything about the war," the drawl forgotten.

Elvis perks up again. "John Kerry's gotta win for president people, you hear me. Take it from me, Elvis Presley, vote for John Kerry. Thank you very much."

Elvis says he's worried about Iraq. He leaves character once again, saying. "The war needs to end. We have to get everything right in there. And we have to liberate those people."

Elvis swears he's dating a model named Priscilla. "It was a just a coincidence," the thirty-something impersonator says. "But, of course," he adds, "we love our little mamas."

And two blonde twenty-ish women ask to be photographed with the King.

"I'm very disappointed with President Bush," the 65-year-old says with a scratched voice. "I've been a Republican for many years. I don't like his moves right now. He's not doing nothing for the United States. He's worried about Iraq more than United States."

But Paul's no fan of President Bush's rival either.

"And Kerry," he continues, "I don't like, cause he's a wimp. His record, it's yes, it's no. Whatever the crowd wants to hear, that's what Kerry says."

Paul's wife, Brenda Desan, looks even younger than her 46 years. She's a fit, Marisa Tomei type. She wears the tight shirt and short skirt of a woman who knows she pulls it off.

"I might vote for Bush if he gets off of his tush," she says. "He's really putting too much money overseas and not enough money in the United States."

They're a blunt pair, Paul and Brenda. Married 22 years, it's not their style to mince words. Yet both are unsure how they'll vote this election.

Nevada's five electoral votes went to George Bush in 2000. It's still GOP ground, but like Colorado and Arizona, it's changing because of shifting populations. The Desans are former Californians and bipartisan in their criticism of the candidates.

"Kerry is so worried about his medals and Vietnam. He's not worried about what's going on in today's status," Brenda says. "So neither one of them is saying what they really want or really caring for our rights or what is going to be in our future."

Paul first drove into Vegas in 1954. "I liked the good old days," he says, bemoaning how much things have changed in the city.

"It's more the big boys taking over and buying each other out and in the good old days they used to treat you better. It wasn't as corporate. It was more personal then. Each club was owned by a different party."

When he cruised the Strip 50 years ago, Paul says, "I thought this was God's country. This was beautiful then, are you kidding me. I said, eventually one of these days, I'm going to live here."

They are a young family of Iraqi and Syrian ancestry. Gino, 27, is unsure if he'll vote. Rudayna, 24, doesn't hesitate.

"I'm going to vote for Kerry," she says, sitting before stacks of cigarettes. "Just because Bush made me hate him after what he did in Iraq, he killed so many innocent people. People from here, all the guys that went there from U.S. and the people in Iraq, I just don't think it was fair what he did."

Gino nods but is too unsure to speak. Rudayna wants him to vote. He may, he says, with a shrug, explaining that he's "never been political."

To Rudayna, it's urgent. "I think he's going to make the U.S. better," she says of John Kerry. "Better than Bush, hopefully."

Henrietta says George Bush gets her vote, not so much for the war, but because she likes him. She hesitates to explain why she thinks the president is doing a "good job."

She stares off and suddenly begins to cry. "Because I just think he's wonderful," she says, her voice choked. "He's got scruples and I believe he's a Christian person."

Henrietta is a Christian. She says her scruples sustain her in Sin City. She says non-locals "very definitely" have the wrong impression of Las Vegas.

"In 1970 I came here as a tourist and I met a cocktail waitress." The waitress told her, "God has brought me here because I can tell his story, here more than any other place."

And so the long-time Minneapolis resident moved to Las Vegas seven years ago. "I have found no where I can witness for Jesus Christ and tell of his love," shy says, nodding proudly.

"I think Bush is more for the white-collar crowd," says 49-year-old Carl, his high sleeves revealing a shoulder tattoo. "I think some of the things he's done are disgusting because he's favoring big business over small business."

Carl is a Navy veteran and thinks the war in Iraq is being mishandled.

"The first time we did it, we did it right. Back in '91, I was in the Gulf War," Carl says. "We went over there. We did what we had to do and we got out. Now they are in there and they want to stay there. They should do whatever they want and get out.

"The way the Iraqis are acting," Carl continues, "it's like we have a puppet American government in there. Let's let them try to govern themselves and see what happens."

Ryan, the youngest of the three, is 24. He's dark, with Native American features and a buzz cut. He has not registered to vote.

"I rarely ever voted. I don't register to vote," he says. "I haven't really thought about it, whether Kerry or Bush. I hear a lot about it. I don't know why I don't go to register. It's something I'm not used to doing, I guess."

Fred Billings sits quietly eating his Kung Pao Chicken. He's 53 with short gray hair.

None of the men hangs out on the Vegas Strip. They say it's like another state. They came here from San Diego (Carl), Portland (Fred) and Arizona (Ryan). All are Vegas residents now.

"You rarely meet someone who is a native here," Fred explains. "Actually, in Las Vegas they say if you've lived here over five years you are a native. I'm a native," he adds, proudly.

They came for jobs in the booming Las Vegas economy. It's the fastest growing major city in America.

If President Bush wins, Carl says, there will be "less and less jobs. It's going to be tougher. Is Kerry the solution? Maybe," he says. "To me he's the lesser of two evils, if nothing else."

Carl and Fred are sure to vote for John Kerry. Ryan's undecided, if he even votes at all. Like Carl, Fred supports Kerry more as a better alternative than an ideal.

"I'm at the point in my philosophy, pretty much anybody but Bush at this point," Fred explains. "With the direction that I feel he's taken the government. There are some things about Kerry," he shrugs his shoulders, "that I don't really care for.

"When all this ruckus came up about his war experience that's now in the media. I feel like he should stand up and say, this was the way it was in 1968 and this is what we had to do; we were soldiers… rather than try and backpedal whether what was politically correct now was politically correct in 1968. I think he should say what it is to the voters and let the chips fall where they may."

Fred is sure that if Kerry would just speak bluntly with the American people "it would absolutely benefit" him. "People would see the integrity and honesty in that kind of statement."

By David Paul Kuhn