Prominent Republican shies away from running against Harry Reid

Bruce James, who made his fortune in publishing, was an enthusiastic Reid challenger in 1998.

James and John Ensign were running against each other in the GOP primary for the right to challenge Reid, until James gracefully yielded to Ensign. But these days, James said he isn’t interested in challenging Reid, thank you very much.

"I’m not sure I’d enjoy being a senator in the minority," James said today during an interview about Gov. Jim Gibbons’ Spending and Government Efficiency Commission.

(More about the SAGE Commission in my Thursday column.)

James, 66, has been mentioned over the years as a contender for governor and U.S. Senate.

Apparently those days are over.

"My situation now is that I place the highest value on my wife and my family and my wife is not enthusiastic about me running for office," James said.

President George Bush appointed James U.S. public printer, and he spent four years in Washington, D.C., before returning to Incline Village.

Now, as chairman of the SAGE Commission for two years, he’s not engaging in partisan politics.

He wouldn’t run against Gibbons, who named him to the commission.

But even if Gibbons doesn’t run, and he says is, James might love to be governor, but wouldn’t run. He sorts of sees himself as a counselor, someone other Republicans can come to for advice and counsel.

Reid has got to be happy to hear that a wealthy Republican with connections in Nevada and Washington, D.C., is not interested.

Of course, we’re still waiting to see if Congressman Dean Heller will enter the fray.

I don’t think he will, since almost every news story I see in Southern Nevada says he’s not available for comment, which is dumb for someone dreaming of a statewide job.

If Heller does run for the U.S. Senate, he has got to repair some damage with the news media in Southern Nevada, because for years he’s been "unavailable."

It’s a far cry from when he was a congenial young assemblyman eager to talk to reporters.

I’ve not figured out what happened to turn him into the only member of the Nevada delegation who is rarely quoted or interviewed, at least in Southern Nevada.