The political fallout from a nuclear-waste decision
Republicans face potential losses in Nevada, a swing state, after Bush's ruling on Yucca Mt.

USA > Politics
from the March 05, 2002 edition


POLITICAL FALlOUT: Mining engineer Gene Polorny walks out the front entrance at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, selected by President Bush as the long-term storage site for nuclear waste.
LAURA RAUCH/AP/FILE



The political fallout from a nuclear-waste decision

Republicans face potential losses in Nevada, a swing state, after Bush's ruling on Yucca Mt.

By Abraham McLaughlin | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

LAS VEGAS - President Bush's recent decision to make Yucca Mountain the nation's nuclear-waste storehouse is settling across Nevada's political landscape like a mushroom cloud.
The move has sparked renewed fears among residents. And there's evidence this is improving Democrats' chances to win control of the US House of Representatives in the fall. Even a mild anti-Republican backlash will boost the Democratic candidate in a close-fought and nationally important House race here.

But it's even more likely to hurt Mr. Bush's prospects for winning this crucial swing state in 2004.

Dissatisfaction with the president is so strong that, "If the election were held today, and Bush was on the ballot, almost anyone could beat him," says Ted Jelen, chairman of the political science department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.