In struggling Nevada, the president prepares
HENDERSON, Nev. — Las Vegas might seem the last place a presidential candidate would choose to spend three days of sober, nose-to-the-grindstone debate preparation. But since Sunday, President Barack Obama has been encamped 17 miles from the neon excess of the Strip, in a palm-fringed, financially battered lakeside resort that serves as a vivid reminder of the economic distress that still threatens his hopes for re-election.
Known as Lake Las Vegas, the 3,600-acre gated complex — which includes three golf courses, a man-made lake, a casino and two hotels, plus a replica of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence — has the disused air of a paradise lost. Few people seem to notice Mr. Obama’s presence, but that is partly because there are so few people around.
The complex has been in and out of bankruptcy multiple times, many of the Spanishstyle houses in the residential cul-de-sacs are empty or in foreclosure, and two of the three golf courses are abandoned — their putting greens scorched to a dingy brown. A Ritz-Carlton hotel closed in May 2010 because of the gasping economy.
In its dizzying boom and bust, Lake Las Vegas epitomizes the damage done to Nevada, a state hit harder than almost any other by the housing collapse and one that Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney is fiercely contesting. Mr. Romney, who was already in Denver ahead of the debate, is sure to fault Mr. Obama, both for his housing policies and the lackluster recovery, when they face off today.
Critics in Las Vegas say Mr. Obama’s policies, which emphasized limited steps to modify loans rather than a broad bailout of homeowners, did little to cushion people from a crash that saddled tens of thousands with houses worth far less than their mortgages. “They did some things to help, but my understanding is that only about 3 to 4 percent of the homeowners who were underwater here in Las Vegas were able to take advantage of any programs,” said Stephen P.A. Brown, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
And yet, local real estate agents say there are glimmers of hope that the worst is over for Lake Las Vegas. A billionaire hedge fund investor, John Paulson, recently bought 530 acres of land on the lake’s north shore, which he plans to develop for housing. Investors — many of them from overseas — are beginning to buy houses, which can be picked up for a fraction of what they cost at the housing bubble peak.
“For a while there, people were calling it a ghost town,” said Marcy Farris, a real estate broker in Henderson. “But we’re snapping back a bit.”
Those seeds of hope amid a landscape of ruin may help explain why Mr. Obama has a chance to win Nevada, despite its 12.1 percent unemployment rate, the worst in the United States. The jobless rate has fallen slightly since last year, housing prices have started to rise, and residential construction has slowly picked up.
At the Windermere Real Estate offices on the brick-lined shopping street of Lake Las Vegas, “half the agents want to give Obama another term, and half are for Romney — just like our entire country,” said broker-owner Robyn Yates. “I’m a Republican, and I really hope Mitt Romney gets it.”
Polls show Mr. Obama with a Nevada lead of about 5 percentage points. He has made eight trips to the state this year, and his choice of Las Vegas for debate preparation was hardly accidental. His aides say he is keenly aware of the human cost of the foreclosed homes that line his motorcade routes.
“This is one of the states that, every time he comes back here, he’s reminded he wants to continue to find ways to help the housing market improve,” said campaign press secretary Jen Psaki.