Las Vegas Weekly

September 14, 2008 · 9:55 AM

Goodman: Governor decision will be made after November elections

By John Katsilometes

Oscar Goodman checks out the tricycle given to his grandson, Samuel, by the Hard Rock Hotel.

Photo: Allison Duck

Oscar Goodman took some time away from his appearance at the Hard Rock Hotel Poker Lounge grand opening, where he cut a big black ribbon at the lounge’s entrance and was presented a bedazzled tricycle for his grandson Samuel’s fifth birthday (Samuel is a 9/11 birthday celebrant) to talk about his real job. You know, mayor of Las Vegas.

I asked the martini-wielding Goodman if he had set a timetable for whether he would run for governor of Nevada. There has been ample media speculation, which Goodman has not quelled, that Goodman would make a run at the job currently held, somewhat tenuously, by Jim Gibbons. Goodman, a Democrat, terms out as mayor in 2010.

“To be perfectly frank with you, probably after the (November) elections,” he said amid the celebratory chaos that follows him whenever he cuts ribbons, sips martinis and chats up cocktail servers. “I’m going to be talking to the other folks who have indicated that they are interested in running and find out how serious they are, and find out whether or not they are electable, because I feel like we need to have a change in Nevada. I believe that. I think that the governor is a nice fella, but I don’t like the direction the state is going in right now.” But as always, he seemed in campaign mode.

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