This candidate-type activity is only increasing the buzz about Ensign as a possible national contender, buzz that has been building in direct proportion to his popularity as a spokesman for his party's positions on cable news channels in recent months.

Ensign spokesman Tory Mazzola said the speech to the Iowa-based American Future Fund, part of the group's Conservative Lecture Series, is about spreading the Republican gospel to as wide an audience as possible.

"The Republicans have a lot of good ideas, and venues like this are a great opportunity to share those ideas on things like health care, education, the economy and housing, and to contrast them with the big government solutions proposed by Democrats," Mazzola said.

The other stops on Ensign's tour were scheduled by the host group, he said. As for a possible presidential run, "That's several years away. Right now, Senator Ensign is focused on his work for Nevada."

A spokesman for the American Future Fund, Tim Albrecht, said Iowa's unique political profile as the first state to vote in presidential primaries is great for the group's visibility as it pursues its mission of "shining a spotlight on conservative solutions to the difficulties we're facing."

So far, the lecture series has featured former New York Gov. George Pataki. In the fall, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is on the docket.

"Conservatives are thirsty for new ideas, new energy," Albrecht said. "We always want to find emerging new leaders for the movement, like Senator Ensign, and introduce them to Iowans and our members nationwide."

Ensign's destination is in northwest Iowa, the most conservative part of the state, Albrecht said. As such, there are a lot of residents interested in meeting Ensign, so the company and ice-cream parlor tours were put on the schedule. The company, Trans Ova Genetics, conducts genetic engineering of livestock.

As for the presidential speculation, "People said it about Pataki, and they'll probably say it about anyone else who comes here," Albrecht said.

SEEKING A BAILOUT

The Nevada Republican Party took a message to the Republican National Committee last week: Want to beat Harry Reid? Then help us rebuild.

Party Chairwoman Sue Lowden and Finance Chairman Robert Uithoven were the state's representatives at Thursday's Western Regional Conference of the RNC in San Francisco.

Republicans nationally would dearly love to knock off Nevada's senior senator, the leader of the Democratic majority, who is up for re-election next year. Meanwhile, it's no secret in these parts that the Nevada party is badly disorganized and broke, even as Democrats continue to surge.

A major obstacle to efforts to defeat Reid is that he doesn't yet have an opponent. It's something national types are worried about. Lowden and Uithoven told the RNC that the party will take care of that as long as there's national money and support to back up the effort.

"There's a lot of people eager to find a candidate right now to run against Senator Reid," Uithoven said. "We basically told them to be patient. As long as there is a commitment from the RNC to build the resources we need, I'm confident we will have a good candidate ready to go.

"We believe we are seeing lots of good signs at the grass roots level," Uithoven said.

Membership and participation in local Republican parties and clubs are up. Meanwhile, RNC Chairman Michael Steele has done well in early fundraising.

"So there's good signs at the top and good signs at the bottom," he said. "Our pitch is, help us fill in the middle. Help us get the state party funded and organized, because it is very difficult to raise money in-state against Senator Reid."

MINE FIELD

Frustrated by the lack of action in the Legislature to make the mining industry pay more in taxes, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada said last week it might circulate a ballot initiative to take away the industry's constitutional protection.

For months, the liberal coalition has been calling for legislators to eliminate some of the deductions that allow the mining companies to reduce their tax burden.

The Nevada Constitution levies a net proceeds of minerals tax of 5 percent, but PLAN contends the effective rate is much lower because of all those deductions.

The industry argues that the tax is meant to be a net, not a gross, and the deductions allow the companies to account for the high cost of doing business.

The status of the mining tax proposal is unclear as the Legislature enters its final days of budget talks.

It's believed to be politically popular in the Democrat-controlled state Senate and Assembly. But the proposed change wouldn't bring in enough money to make much difference to the current budget discussion, and the industry has hired a bevy of savvy lobbyists.

"As you are probably aware, there are some ominous signs that legislators will refrain from closing mining tax loopholes in any significant way, and perhaps not at all," PLAN Director Bob Fulkerson wrote in Thursday's letter to the group's board of directors and member groups.

"I am writing to gauge your support for going directly to the people with a constitutional amendment in 2010, if mining indeed escapes taxation this session."

A constitutional amendment petition is an expensive, labor-intensive undertaking, requiring the gathering of tens of thousands of signatures and an intensive advertising campaign.

The initiative would have to pass in two consecutive elections.

But Fulkerson pointed out in the letter that it shouldn't be a hard sell politically.

"We can be sure of two things: a) The majority of the people of Nevada live in the South, and they are not at all sympathetic to the mining industry; and b) The cost to the mining industry will be far, far higher in the long and short run than the removal of some of the existing deductions," he wrote.

PLAN is no stranger to ballot initiatives. Last year the group collected signatures and ran a campaign for a Washoe County ballot initiative on sustainable water planning that passed with 72 percent of the vote.

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.