George W. Bush has made his promise to Lake Tahoe.
Arriving Thursday to attend a fund-raiser at Glenbrook, the Texas governor took the opportunity to say he supports preservation efforts at the lake, including proposed tax incentives for private conservation efforts and more money for federal programs to promote preservation instead of simply placing land off-limits by federal order.
In the course of national politics, it was a bit difficult for Nevadans to get much substance one way or another from the Republican candidate for president. If you hadn't already made up your mind between Bush or Democrat Al Gore, then nothing that happened Thursday was going to help persuade you.
If anyone thought that Bush was suddenly going to be seen as an environmental savior by spending a few minutes on the shore of Lake Tahoe, then they were mistaken. In fact, they wouldn't want Bush seen as suddenly greener than Gore.
Instead, his stances on tax incentives and federal control put him more solidly in the camp that most Nevadans would find themselves: Common sense, privately driven efforts that don't simply throw money at the problems.
Unfortunately, the setting and the message weren't exactly in sync. Very few Nevadans live at Lake Tahoe. The environmentalists are on the California side, and they're not likely to vote Republican.
The real message came at the fund-raiser. The setting there was Glenbrook, and the topic was money. Bush raised $700,000, which in anybody's terms has to be considered a success.
