Bernstein files for U.S. Senate

Las Vegas lawyer Edward Bernstein filed for the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, promising to "work for people and not special interests."

"You don't represent HMOs. You don't represent the tobacco companies," he said. "You represent working men and women."

He said he thinks health care and education are among the top priorities but that Nevada must also continue to battle attempts to dump nuclear waste in Nevada.

"The reality is that it's the Republicans in the Senate that are pushing this agenda," he said.

Bernstein said it's time Nevadans like himself "made some grassroots efforts to talk to the people in states where these senators are voting on behalf of special interests."

He said people in those states need to know they are in danger from nuclear waste shipments passing through their towns.

He said the issue with health care is "putting medical care into the hands of doctors and patients instead of stockholders."

"We have to keep government out of the private life of people," he said.

Bernstein, 50, said that applies as well to women's issues, including abortion which he said should be a discussion between a woman and her physician, not government.

Bernstein owns one of the state's largest and most prominent legal firms, specializing in personal injury lawsuits. He said that experience, handling thousands of legal battles with big business, gives him the ability and stamina to fight for Nevada's best interests.

"I know how to fight and I know how to stand up against big companies and corporations," he said.

He was challenged recently by the GOP which protested that his corporate advertising illegally overlapped his campaign ads. He said he has satisfied the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Elections Commission by changing his ads but described the Republican party complaint as nothing more than a diversion.

"They'd rather talk about my commercials than the issues," he said.

Bernstein faces Republican John Ensign, the former member of the House who was defeated in his 1998 bid for U.S. Senate against Harry Reid. Ensign has not yet filed but has raised more than $2 million to campaign.