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    Political Fight Gets Local in Nevada
    By Matt Renner
    t r u t h o u t | Report

    Sunday 20 January 2008

    Las Vegas, Nevada - Saturday morning was caucus day across the state of Nevada. The heated debate between top Democratic contenders for the party's nomination became verbal brawls between neighbors.

    After a week of rancorous and passionate campaigning, Las Vegas residents entered a small community center on the outskirts of the city with a visible enthusiasm for the democratic process. Their state's primary contest was, for the first time, actually going to matter in choosing a Democratic candidate for president. Previous experiences had not prepared them for the drawn-out controlled chaos that ensued.

    Over two hundred Nevadans filed into the Whitney Recreation Center on the South East side of Las Vegas to participate in district caucus meetings; a first for many of the citizens. Every other day of the year, the modern recreation center provides stability for the lower-middle class community, serving as a senior center, a free after-school program, a community gym, and a meeting hall. On Saturday, the center briefly became a free-for-all.

    The initial confusion started because the small center was hosting two separate caucuses, one for precinct 7054 and another for precinct 7335. Getting people into the correct room became a process of elimination with roughly half of the citizens initially joining the wrong line. Their error only became clear after reaching the front of the line and finding out that they were not on the registration rolls. In an attempt to be helpful, a man with an Obama pin gave out incorrect information, sending many Obama supporters to the wrong line. The single county representative - and the only person with real authority - was a small, intense man who was struggling to hold the entire operation together.

    Fireworks began when Obama supporters accused the Clinton campaign's precinct captain, Barbara Ryan, of violating caucus rules by trying to persuade voters to caucus for Clinton before the meetings began. The Obama supporters who lodged the complaint refused to comment on the issue. Ryan told Truthout that she was talking to people in the halls and handing out glittery hats to Clinton supporters. "I thought I was supposed to convince people to caucus for Hillary," Ryan said, "I thought that was my whole job." Participants whispered to each other and exchanged dirty looks with those supporting other candidates.

    The hostile feelings between the Clinton and Obama camps were obvious after the initial round of voting. Supporters of former Sen. John Edwards and Rep. Dennis Kucinich failed to meet the threshold 15 percent of the vote required to qualify for delegates. Under the Democratic caucus system, these voters were given an opportunity to join Clinton or Obama's groups as a second choice.

    In the precinct 7054 meeting, the Obama camp sent a cadre of supporters over to the unaffiliated participants. They repeated the familiar talking points of the national campaign, calling Obama "the candidate who can change Washington to work for the middle class," adding that Obama was "the only candidate who could restore hope for the American people."

    Clinton supporters waited and listened closely to the Obama pitch. When their opportunity came, two older women told a group of four unaffiliated women that "Clinton would represent our interests because she is a woman," arguing that Clinton "understands us; Obama can't."

    The intense contest for the Edwards voters turned many of them off. A majority of the Edwards supporters decided to sit out the contest and not caucus for either Clinton or Obama. This result was dumbfounding for many of the Obama supporters who were shocked that the Edwards supporters would not join their camp.

    Edwards campaign precinct captain Mike Prior said that he convinced the Edwards camp to decline to vote in the second round because their refusal to support either Clinton or Obama would serve as a protest vote. Prior said that he was "for Edwards from the beginning," and was proud of Edwards' role in the primary process because "Edwards set the agenda and forced the other candidates to respond." Prior had not lost faith in his candidate even after the Edwards defeat. "He is a fighter. That's better that someone who can give a good speech or shuffle papers any day," Prior said.

    After two hours of standing around, vote counting and jockeying, the two precincts came back with very different results. Precinct 7054 broke for Obama with 58 of the 97 participants supporting him over Clinton, giving seven delegates to Obama and four to Clinton. Cries of joy and applause erupted from the rejuvenated Obama camp while the Clinton supporters slumped and appeared worn out.

    The Obama camp's victory was short-lived. Precinct 7335 in the next room returned 73 votes for Clinton and 34 votes for Obama. This win gave Clinton 13 delegates and only six for Obama.

    As the results from across the state were tabulated and posted on the official election website, the news of the Clinton victory spread quickly. The most vocal Clinton supporters, clearly angered by the previous outburst of the Obama camp, cheered even louder than their opponents had.

    When the meetings ended, the exuberance and hope that the Nevadans carried in with them that morning had completely dissipated, replaced by resentment and exhaustion. On his way out, a man in a tan hunting jacket grumbled that they should "just vote on paper like the rest of the damn country."

    After a bitter fight, Clinton won the State with 51 percent of the total vote. Obama received 45 percent, and Edwards finished with 4 percent. The 10,561 delegates selected Saturday will meet again at the various county conventions where they will thin their numbers by voting on delegates to the state convention. At the state convention, the remaining delegates will vote for delegates to the national convention. Delegates can unilaterally switch their allegiances at any point in this process.

    The campaign moves on to South Carolina, where the Democratic primary will take place on January 26.