The one about Bill Raggio almost going to the U.S. Senate

Even newcomers to state politics know that that 81-year-old William Raggio has dominated the Nevada political arena for more than forty years. But do young Nevadans know the story of how Raggio was Spiro Agnew’s hand-picked guy?

Back in 1970, national Republicans wanted to beat Howard Cannon, a two-term Democratic United States Senator. They almost did six years earlier, when Paul Laxalt, then the Lieutenant Governor, came within 48 votes of winning in a year when Lyndon Johnson was carrying Nevada with 59% of the vote.

Raggio has been viewed young rising star in Nevada politics since his election as Washoe County District Attorney in 1958, at age 32.

Ten years later, Raggio wanted to run against Democratic U.S. Senator Alan Bible, but he lost the GOP primary to Lt. Governor Edward Fike by a 53%-45% margin. (In the general, Bible was re-elected to a third term.)

Raggio and Fike were preparing to face off again in the 1970 Republican gubernatorial primary, when Laxalt, who had been elected Governor in 1966, declined to seek re-election.

But in the spring of 1970, Vice President Agnew called Raggio at home on the evening of April 30 to say that the White House wanted him to drop his bid for Governor and run against Cannon. Agnew liked the Washoe D.A.’s law-and-order resume and weighed in personally with national GOP leaders on behalf of Raggio. Republicans had a poll showing Raggio within six points of Cannon.

But 1970 turned out to be a Democratic year in Nevada. Mike O’Callaghan beat Fike, 48%-44% (Harry Reid was elected Lt. Governor), and Cannon defeated Raggio by a wide margin – 59%-41%, a plurality of nearly 25,000 votes.

(For extreme junkies: A month before the election, Las Vegas oddsmaker Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder predicted Cannon would win by 4,500 votes.)

Raggio was elected to the State Senate in 1972, where he has remained a considerable force in Nevada politics. But his loss in a 1974 Lt. Governors race – his third defeat in a statewide election – effectively ended his path to higher office.