Las Vegas Weekly

July 2, 2009 · 7 AM

Mayor reflects ahead of birthday and says he’s still mulling governor bid

By Robin Leach

Mayor Oscar and Carolyn Goodman.

Photo: Scott Harrison/Retna/www.harrisonphotos.com

Whenever you get the chance to chat with our Merry Mayor of Mirth Oscar Goodman, you can be guaranteed to get a few good, fun and solid sound bites. After his Lance Burton Day proclamation on Tuesday, I buttonholed Hizz Honor and asked him how he was feeling ahead of his 70th birthday. Oscar will celebrate it at the end of this month with 70 showgirls, 700 Bombay Sapphire gin martinis for well-wishers and a 70-inch ice sculpture down on the Freemont Street Experience.

He told me: “My problem is this: I think like a 12-year-old, I act like a 3-year-old and, my body, thank God, is in good shape. My mind is sharp as a tack after 5; it is even better after the gin. I still feel like a kid. Joking apart, these are the most challenging economic times that I think anybody of my age has seen. The city has real issues as far as our continued success. I am the cheerleader, the energy behind it all, and although that gets easier, the challenges are harder every day, but I will persevere, and we will prevail. But these are interesting times.”

I asked Oscar how his plans to run as an Independent for governor are shaping up and if his wife had definitely decided to simultaneously run for mayor.

Photo: Brian Jones/Las Vegas News Bureau

Mayor Oscar Goodman with a proclamation for magician and Monte Carlo headliner Lance Burton.

“At least half of that ticket would be a lot of laughs,” he told me, “but I am mulling it over. I don’t think people are very happy with the way things are taking place, and the party system really has become so strained and so contentious that sometimes I think an Independent or a nonpartisan might be able to bring people together and get a job done. I am exploring it, and as far as my wife is concerned, she is her own lady, and she will do whatever she wants to do and whatever she thinks is right.

“I think it would be pretty cool for the mayor and the governor to get together for a nightcap at the end of the day. The question is whether it is down in Las Vegas or up in Carson City, but I always like the idea of a nightcap with my wife in whichever place we be.”

Nothing more be said!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter HERE.

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— From Vegas Deluxe

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