Hunt, who is in the midst of her second term in the second-highest office in the state, began musical studies at age 9 and a professional musical career at 19, performing in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe.

Her musical career evolved into the business world when she became president and chief executive of Perri Inc., a restaurant management company. As she became more involved with professional organizations -- the Nevada Commission on Tourism, the Nevada Restaurant Association and the Nevada Motion Picture Commission -- she grew interested in politics and was elected to the Clark County Commission.

She successfully ran for lieutenant governor in 1998, a position that came with the chairmanship of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development and the Nevada Tourism Commission.

Hunt talked with In Business Las Vegas about the work of those commissions, her trips to Asia to generate tourism and her plans to run for governor in 2006.

Question: Why has it taken so long for Nevada to diversify its economy?

Answer: I think the focus for so long has been on our fame and our fame is gaming and entertainment and Las Vegas and Reno-Tahoe. That's a hard act to follow. So many people around the world have thought of us as just a single-industry state and they've almost made that prediction come to reality. But the reality is that the business climate in the state is extraordinary. It's extraordinary for entrepreneurs, first-time businesses, women and minority businesses. Our proximity to California, our low tax environment. What has happened is that so many business people, Fortune 100 companies, Fortune 500 companies, CEOs have come here as a visitor or for a convention or conference and they've suddenly discovered what fertile ground this is for business. We are global leaders in tourism and I do believe with the right leadership in our state that we can become g lobal leaders in business.

What is best business diversification opportunity on Nevada's horizon in the next five years?

We're doing so many things with major companies. Fortune 500 companies are moving in. They're recognizing the potential. I would love to see one big coup, one big federal contract perhaps on the Nevada Test Site, which I call the world's largest industrial park, 800,000 acres with infrastructure. If we could get the federal government to find a major project where we're employing 10,000 people in the high-tech industry, that would be something that would be a dream come true. Working with our new chancellor, Jim Rogers, who has the vision to help our education funding to another level with endowed chairs, we have the possibility of getting one of those big contracts. In the meantime, we're happy to bring in these major Fortune 500 companies that are bringing in 100 employees, 200 employees, 500 employees because the word is spreading throughout the global business community that this is where businesses should be.

How important are recent Las Vegas events, such as the arrival of electronics distributor CDW, IBM's purchase of Las Vegas software company SRD and the dramatic expansion of Qualcomm?

Those companies that you just listed are companies that we have been wining and dining for the last 6 1/2 years and we have been instrumental in bringing them here. Our labor is bearing fruit and I think you're going to see many, many more coming as long as the leadership in our state realizes just how important that is.

Switching gears now, what is the biggest opportunity on Nevada's horizon in terms of tourism?

In tourism, the sky's the limit. When you look at the population of the People's Republic of China -- 1.3 billion people -- you look at another emerging market, India -- over 1 billion people -- those are all potential customers. Those are all people who can come to this state, recreate, gamble, spend a lot of money, go back home, want to come back again, helping us pay our bills, keeping us a low-tax state. This is a great place to recreate. The more we promote our outdoor activities, and I say "from neon to nature," the better we look to all these global visitors. As long as we make it easy for them to get here, because they're coming from thousands of miles away, obviously they're not going to take boats anymore and they certainly can't drive; it's air transportation. That's why these direct flights between the People's Republic of China and Las Vegas, Seoul, (South) Korea and Las Vegas, Tokyo and Las Vegas are important. We're doing it with Germany and Las Vegas and England and Las Vegas. The more we can grow our airport to make it easy with direct flights, the better off we'll be for the future. The Ivanpah Airport is way in the future, but before we know it, the future is going to be here. We've got to be thinking ahead.

One of your goals as lieutenant governor was to get nonstop flights to Las Vegas from China. You've been to China several times now. Isn't it time to be seeing some results?

We've been to China three times now and I think the results have been spectacular. They certainly have been happening much faster than I thought. When I went to China the first time, there were people saying, "You're way ahead of your time, it's not going to happen for another 10 years." Well, all that has changed abruptly. A lot has happened in the last 2 1/2 years. It's moving very quickly. I think the fruits of our labors have already been shown in expediting the visas for the Chinese visitors. I think we've also shown that Nevada has established the only state tourism office in the PRC in Beijing. More importantly, Nevada has a license to market its state in the People's Republic of China and the United States of America doesn't have a license to market the United States of America in the People's Republic of China. But we do because we went there early, we made friends, we set up the relationships that you need to do in China and it's happened much more quickly than I ever expected. I'm thrilled with the results.

In your meeting with airline executives in China, they actually made a request for you to sing and you did. Isn't that a little beneath the dignity of someone in high office?

My early beginnings was that I was a music major and I'm very proud of that. I started in Las Vegas when I was 19 years old in the music business. I was a musical contractor; I was a businesswoman even when I was 19 because I actually ran the business of contracting musical groups to work behind people like Fats Domino and other Las Vegas entertainers. Music is a big part of my life. What I have found as an elected official is that music is a common denominator. Interestingly enough, it transcends languages, it transcends cultures. When I was first elected lieutenant governor, I was a little reticent, thinking, as you said, it was below the dignity of the office.

Then suddenly I found that, no, it was an asset and not a liability. Particularly, when I found that the Chinese love karoke and they love you to sing. In the formal meetings during the day, with the red carpets and all the formality, you conduct business on a certain level. But when you get at that table at dinner, in order to sit in with them, music is a big part of what they want to do. So when they asked me at that dinner if I would sing for them, I understood because I understand the culture. I have great empathy with the culture. It's very easy for me to communicate with them even though we don't speak the same language. I look at their eyes, I know their body language. It's very lovely. We communicate on a different level and music is one of those levels. So I sang for them and when I finished, one of them -- and I think it was one of the executives from Asiana Airlines who had a beautiful voice ... volunteered. He said, "I sing, too. May I sing a song for you?" And I was honored, so I sat back and listened to him sing. And then, the second man in command (for the CAAC), he wanted to sing. Then, everyone at the table was singing a Chinese song to me. It's a great communications tool.

Three Las Vegas companies have made a major investment in the Macau market in southern China. Does this help or hurt efforts to get the Chinese to visit Las Vegas, since they'll soon have their own Las Vegas within a few hours by bus, plane, car or boat?

I think Sheldon Adelson's pioneering Macau and Steve Wynn pioneering Macau and now Terry Lanni and the MGM folks is only expanding our market. I see it doing nothing but good. It's educating new gamblers. There are billions of people in Asia that love to gamble. They're going to find it easier to learn Nevada-style gaming and then where are they going to want to go? They'll still want to come to the Mecca. They'll still want to come to Las Vegas. So I see it as nothing but good for us. It's getting us more customers for the future.

But you can't advertise gambling at your office in China.

At the tourism office, we don't have to advertise gambling. When we talk about Las Vegas, it's subliminal. They all know. We talk about dining, we talk about shopping. We talk about the outdoor adventure of Red Rock Canyon and Lake Mead and the proximity to the Grand Canyon and they already know the tables are there and the slot machines are there in Las Vegas and Reno/Tahoe and they're going to get gaming the way it was invented. They want to see that. They want to touch and feel the real deal.

You've been following the recent controversy involving the LVCVA. In hindsight, should the decision to hand over the "What happens here, stays here" trademark to R&R Partners have been a board decision handled in an open meeting?

I was the first woman chairman of the LVCVA and I got a lot of excellent tourism experience being on that board, the most prestigious board in the world. It's difficult for me to say what the board should be doing now in hindsight, because ... it was close to seven years ago when I sat on that board. They've changed some of the directives they've given to the executive director since that time and I haven't been privy to the exact happenings. But from what I can read in the media, I think it was done as a legal shield and I think the board will have a complete hearing and come to a good decision.

Nevada Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt talks in her Las Vegas office at the Sawyer State Office Building. Photo by Matthew Minard

Assess the tenure of Gov. Kenny Guinn.

When Gov. Guinn came into office at the same time I came into office, we were both Republicans, but we did not run as a team. In Nevada, you run as an individual. I've won two statewide elections as an individual. Gov. Guinn came in with a severe budget deficit. I sat on the Government Efficiency Committee for 18 months and we looked at everything in government. How could we make the government more efficient? Where can we cut the fat? We had to lay people off and a lot of belt-tightening had to be done. As the governor was proceeding to do that, I recognized as a businesswoman that my job was to get into high gear and do everything I could to develop tourism and economic development to bring in more revenue for the state, because with more revenue, we'd have more money to pay for the things we had to pay for. So I really focused on bringing more revenue to the state and I'm proud to say, at this last session, that our budget surplus has shown that our efforts really were fruitful. That's despite 9/11. When you think about the setback we had with 9/11, I think we've come a long way.

The governor bit the bullet on a lot of things that if I would discuss now, the public wouldn't even understand. We had the DMV problem, we had some other problems that were humongous with debt out there that had been put aside. Our unemployment compensation situation was horrific. That was resolved. So a lot of things have been accomplished that people have forgotten. Unfortunately, seven or eight years move along and people forget what you did. And, we've had a lot of new people that have come into the state. We're in a good position today to turn the mantle over to a new governor who's going to have a decent budget to work with and some stability in revenue, but it can turn as quickly in the wrong direction without the right leadership. I hope that we can stay on course here.

You're planning a run for governor next year, but the political pundits say you don't have a chance to even win the Republican nomination. Your response?

Using some musical terminology, I've heard that song before. The pundits generally work with some of the predictors and people in both parties have their machinery and their annointed ones each session. I'm a very independent person and I've been a successful businesswoman and in many ways I've been elected previously because I don't need the job. I think I know what the vision for the state needs to be. I represent all people. I think that as we move on in this campaign, that you're going to find that it isn't going to be money that's going to win the gubernatorial race. It's going to be the confidence of the people. And I do feel that having won two statewide races, I have a good foundation out there. I have a great track record to show people -- it's not just talk but it is action. I have many major accomplishments ... I have already helped pay their bi lls through my efforts and when they realize what we've really done, they'll recognize that fact. So I've heard that song before, we have a long way to go and I feel very confident that I'm going to win this race. I intend to win and I intend to be the first woman governor of the state of Nevada in 2006.

Will Guinn back you for the nomination?

Gov. Guinn has been very supportive of me and other Republican candidates. Obviously, he wants to see a Republican in office and he has said that he would support any Republican that won the primary. So it's up to me now to show that I have the right stuff. I need my Republican voters to support me and then I can take it home with my Democratic friends who have supported me in the past and the independents to push me all the way in the general election.

You've been the chairwoman of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's board of directors and the Clark County Commission. Name recognition shouldn't be a problem for you. Why do you think you continue to lag in the polls?

It depends on what poll you're looking at currently. When you consider my opponents in the polls, they have been running for office for the last several years. They have been on billboards everywhere. They have been on direct fliers and mailers in people's homes. They've been on radio commercials. I have not. With 5,000 new people a month moving into Southern Nevada, a lot of people haven't learned about Lorraine Hunt. The new people are going to relate to the new names. There's also been some confusion about some of the candidacies. So I think once the new people learn who Lorraine Hunt is -- she's been here the majority of her life -- a private businesswoman who recently got into politics.

They need to look at the job description of governor. A governor is supposed to be a CEO. A governor is supposed to see the big picture. The governor is supposed to have leadership. The governor is supposed to bring people together. They're not supposed to divide, they're supposed to unite people. The governor is supposed to have a broad array of experiences. I think when they look at my qualifications and my resume, they'll see that as a long-time Nevadan I know where we've been. As a long-time businesswoman, I know how to meet a payroll. I've signed both sides of a check. After having been a successful businesswoman, pulling myself up by the bootstraps, coming from a poor Italian family with no silver spoon in my mouth, making it on my own for me and my family and then in my later years, turning to public service and doing some very good things for the s tate of Nevada in tourism and economic development, I think they need to look at that job description, my resume and the others that are finally going to throw their hats in the ring and say, "Let's hire the best person for the job." And hopefully they'll decide that's me and if they don't, that certainly is what voting is all about, hiring the best person for the job.

Assess some of your opponents, starting with Rep. Jim Gibbons.

Jim has been a friend of mine, good Republican for years. He led when he was an assemblyman the Gibbons tax constraints and Jim has done a great job for us in Washington D.C. I think Jim is a great guy and I think we have some good Republican candidates and my M.O., as you know, is not to engage in negative campaigning. I am not going to destroy my Republican peers who are good people doing good work and hit them below the belt on a personal level. I want the voters to look at us as who's competent to be the next governor of the state of Nevada and hire that person.

State Sen. Bob Beers?

Bob Beers is wonderful. He did a great job as vice chair of finance. Bob is a CPA and he looks at those numbers with a magnifying glass. I think I'm good with a budget and I am good with a budget. I started a bank. I can read a financial statement. I have companies. I love Bob and he's a great CPA and looks deeper and deeper into those numbers. He's great on finance and he's really worked very hard in the Legislature as a state senator. We've got some good people.

Chancellor Jim Rogers?

Now there's another outstanding individual. Jim Rogers and I went to Las Vegas High School together. His views as a chancellor are outstanding. Here's another guy from the private sector, much like me, doesn't need the job, doesn't owe anybody anything. He just loves Nevada and he loves education. We attended a party for him at the Railroad Museum in Carson City during the legislative session. I was a little late and I walked in and there's Jim Rogers saying what I've been saying for years, coming right out of his mouth, and we had never discussed it: "With a population of under 3 million people, we cannot fund Stanford. We don't have enough tax base. The private sector has to step up to the plate. We have to have endowed chairs. We have to have the best university system in the world, but we're not going to do it with taxpayer dollars and government funding. It's going to have to be a public-private partnership." And I said, "Amen. Jim Rogers, you're the man to be our chancellor." If I could work with a guy like Jim Rogers as chancellor if I'm governor and I could work with a guy like Bob Beers on the finance committee as a state senator and a guy like Jim Gibbons still in Congress, it would be a magnificent team for me if I could have my dreams come true.

What are the biggest issues going forward for the state?

The biggest issues going forward in the state are going to be the same issues that concern people. High taxes: That was on the front burner when people thought their property taxes might go up 34 percent or 40 percent. That's outrageous. Well, we fixed that at the Legislature. Education is always a problem. With a rapidly growing state as we have and with us pursuing our economic development efforts, we have to have a highly paid, highly skilled workforce and that's going to have to take a big focus on education.

With our hotel industry attracting entry-level workers, many of whom are minorities, Hispanics and Asians, we have a big responsibility for K-12. Yes, the higher university system is important. Our community colleges are important. But we've got to get to get to that K-12. I'm working through the Kaufman Foundation to revive entrepreneurship programs for third graders and fourth graders and teach them entrepreneurship and the free-enterprise system when their young. How important it is for our immigrants, whether they're Asian or Hispanic, wherever they come from in the world, Cubans, Filipinos, for our hospitality industry. But much like my Italian relatives, I tell them you must learn English. Because when I go to China and see that they're teaching their children English and I ask them why, they say, "Because English is the universal language of commerce." We have to realize that in Nevada, too. We have to focus on K-12, empowering our teachers, rewarding our teachers -- I'm working on some statewide initiatives that we can hopefully help our teachers with housing.

We need two things in this state to keep growing: Good education, meaning good teachers, and nursing, so that we have good medical care for the people who come here. So these are the major things I'd be grappling with and looking for solutions. That's what's fun for me. I like to find solutions for problems. Everybody can sit around -- and that's what you see in campaigns, the Monday-morning quarterbacks. Everybody can talk about, "This is wrong and that's wrong." I want to say, "I agree that's wrong, but you know what? Here's a solution. Here's how we're going to fix it." I'm good at fixing things.

You mentioned a minute ago that you envisioned some role in continuing to work on tourism in China. Isn't there an inherent political risk in taking these overseas trips, since some voters see them as pleasure trips and junkets that don't make a difference to the people of the state?

Coming from the private sector, being who I am and at the age I am now, there's no more pretense. I'll tell it like it is, I'll tell people the truth. I'm doing the right thing. I think people are very reasonable when they understand what you're doing. When they see the spots that they use in political campaigns with negativity, they'll show you in an airliner with dollars flying out in a shopping spree. It's really not that. We're sales people. The only way to make a sale is to the customer. When they see revenue increasing, they see that market being advantageous, they get it.

Sometimes the pundits and the political consultants don't give the average person the benefits of the smarts that they really do have. When you explain it to them and you tell them and they see the facts, they're pretty darn smart. This is a market we must pursue. Nevada is in a unique position. There are other states that don't see the Chinese connection and they don't benefit from the Chinese connection the way Nevada does. We're exporting an awful lot to that country and they're coming here. When you look at our numbers, it's very, very good.

Richard N. Velotta covers tourism for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4061 or by e-mail at velotta@lasvegassun.com.