Posted on 01/09/2008 4:19:34 PM PST by I'll be your Huckleberry
Well, good luck to all Nevada conservatives. I wish someone could explain Harry Reid to me.
This is my caucus site
GOP caucus site moved from mansion to senior center
By Geoff Dornan
Appeal Capitol Bureau,
January 16, 2008, 5:11 PM
With just two days until the Nevada caucuses, Republican Party officials have announced that one of their two Carson City caucus sites is being moved.
Republicans who have been told they meet at the Nevada Room on the Governor’s Mansion grounds Saturday will instead meet at the Carson Senior Center at 911 Beverly Drive.
The time remains the same with check-in at 8:30 a.m. and the caucus beginning at 9 a.m. The other GOP location at Capital Christian Church at 1600 Snyder Ave. is unchanged.
The last-minute change means roughly half the registered Republicans in Carson City were given incorrect information about where to show up to caucus in mailers sent to them by the party.
Zach Moyle, executive director of the state GOP said the county chairman had told him all the proper arrangements were made to use the Nevada Room, but that he was advised today by the governor’s office the necessary paperwork had not been filled out and that the room was not available to the party.
He said in one way, it works out better because the space at the Senior Center is much larger than the Nevada Room, which can only hold 250 people. He said the e-mail and phone response to the mailings sent to GOP voters indicate many more than that intend to show up Saturday morning.
Ours is at the middle school.
I have no idea, but I will report live from the caucus and that is one question that needs answering.
Please do...that’s screwed up. We also got the “ purge postcards” over here. I know a lot of people are going off of those.
12:00 AM CST on Thursday, January 17, 2008
By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News
LAS VEGAS – The Hispanic vote is seen as a test of the West, where forces are combining to knock on doors, blast airwaves – even form soccer teams – to shake awake a slumbering political force.
Moved toward the front of the line, the Nevada caucuses Saturday are seen particularly by Democrats as an opportunity to make history and to mold it. It will be the first contest in the nation where the presidential candidates will face a sizable minority population – 24 percent of the state is Hispanic.
If the targeting and the message can work in Nevada, it probably will be transferred to other states, such as Texas, to give punch and impact to the long-dormant Hispanic vote.
“We’ve seen enthusiasm we haven’t seen before,” Nevada Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirsten Searer said. “We’re excited to see what the turnout is. We feel very hopeful.”
Last year, the state party began an aggressive Hispanic recruiting plan that included untraditional ways of reaching potential Latino voters, such as registering newly minted citizens at the end of their swearing-in ceremony.
The party even sponsored a team – Los Democratas – in the city’s Hispanic soccer league. It was a successful season; in addition to registering 100 new voters, the team made it to the playoffs.
The campaigns of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are running ads on Spanish-language radio. Mrs. Clinton has gone block-walking in a Hispanic neighborhood and held a round-table discussion in a popular Mexican restaurant.
About one-third of her paid organizers in the state are bilingual.
Mr. Obama’s campaign is targeting Latino neighborhoods and going door to door. But because the best place to reach Hispanics is often at their jobs, special emphasis has been devoted to work sites. Obama workers have recruited laborers to reach out to their colleagues, especially at construction sites and hotels.
They also approach employees at the end of work shifts – including the 4 a.m. changeover – to hand out literature and answer questions.
John Edwards, who has focused much of his recent efforts on South Carolina, hasn’t devoted significant resources to Nevada.
Mr. Obama won the influential endorsement of the 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union, half of whom are Hispanic. And he has come to speak to the union workers.
“This is going to be a watershed year, in all candor,” said Vito de la Cruz, a Reno lawyer and Latino activist.
While he supports Mr. Obama, Mr. de la Cruz said Hispanics are energized both by Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama. The anti-illegal immigration stances by the state Republican Party also have invigorated Hispanic voters.
“The loudness and viciousness of the debate has alienated a lot of Hispanics,” Mr. de la Cruz said. Margarita Rebollal, executive director of the East Las Vegas Community Outreach Corp., said she sends e-mails every week and talks to everyone she can about voting.
“We are doing everything we can. We’re giving it every shot,” said Ms. Rebollal, a Clinton supporter.
She said Spanish-language radio is filled with talk of politics, and fliers, mailings, TV and Spanish newspapers are infiltrating the community.
She said there are always efforts to engage Hispanic voters but this time feels different.
“We’re making history by changing the face of politics, and we want to make sure that we are a part of that history,” she said. “This is a biggie.”
But outreach programs have been launched and deflated before. “Sometimes people have been disappointed with the results,” Ms. Searer acknowledged.
In the 2004 Nevada presidential election, about 8 percent of voters were Hispanic. Raising that will not be easy.
First, the process is a caucus, where registered voters must stand with neighbors in a one-hour process to be counted. Only 10 percent of registered voters – or about 45,000 people – are expected to turn out.
Besides the sometimes-daunting process, early on the Democratic Party discovered it would have a difficult time explaining how the process works because there is no equivalent Spanish word for caucus.
Ms. Searer said the party worked with local media to develop a coherent translation.
David Damore, a political science professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, said some newcomers will brave the caucus, but the true test of Latino voting power might have to wait until the November general election, where the impact could be substantial.
In 2004, President Bush narrowly won the state.
“This is the most aggressive that the party and the campaigns have been,” Dr. Damore said. The Democrats, he added wryly, “have been helped by the Republican Party.”
In Nevada, GOP leaders have provided mailing lists to groups opposed to illegal immigration, and the state party has adopted a platform calling for a constitutional amendment to end birthright citizenship. The actions have sparked a backlash in the Hispanic community.
“So it’s kind of like the Democrats have their attention now,” Dr. Damore said. “Can they close the deal?”
Las Vegas Sun
January 17, 2008
With the scramble for the Republican presidential nomination increasingly muddled, the Nevada caucus finally is on the national party’s radar.
Before Mitt Romney won Tuesday’s Michigan primary, his representatives had been coy about a rumored visit here before Saturday’s caucus.
But within hours of his victory, an e-mail announced that the former Massachusetts governor would be touring Nevada.
Romney is scheduled to arrive in Las Vegas at midday today, and plans to campaign throughout Southern Nevada, in Reno and in Elko.
Romney’s victory in Michigan slowed — Arizona Sen. John McCain’s momentum from his win in last week’s New Hampshire primary. It also meant that three different candidates had won the Republicans’ first three major contests, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee having won the Iowa caucus this month. (Romney also won Wyoming’s caucus, which was barely contested and received scant media coverage.)
That makes Nevada’s caucus Saturday much more meaningful nationally.
“It is now even more of an even playing field,†said Steve Wark, the communications director of the party’s Nevada caucus. “It’s a highly unusual landscape. Things are so evenly distributed among the top five candidates.â€
Of the presumed GOP front-runners, only Romney has plans to campaign in the state before Saturday.
“People want their votes taken seriously,†said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. “They’d resent it if candidates ignored them.â€
Some political observers interpret Romney’s campaign swing through the Silver State as a tacit acknowledgement that he won’t win South Carolina, whose primary also will be held Saturday. Three polls of likely South Carolina Republican voters released Wednesday found Romney in third place, well behind McCain and Huckabee.
McCain is unlikely to visit Nevada as a candidate again unless he is the party’s nominee, adviser Robert Uithoven said.
A loss would be especially troubling for Romney, said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Romney has the second-largest Nevada staff among Republican candidates, behind U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who is polling in the single digits here.
“The problem for Romney is the way expectations have been set,†Duffy said. “This would end up being man biting dog if Romney were to lose here.â€
A win here, however, would cushion the blow of a potentially poor showing in South Carolina, Duffy said.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is polling well in Nevada, won’t appear here before Saturday’s caucus, a spokesman said.
Many political observers are surprised that Giuliani, who has been dropping in national polls, has stuck with his original strategy of allowing his rivals to compete over the early states with fewer delegates while he focuses on the bigger states, notably Florida, with later primaries.
“It’s a really stupid strategy that might work,†Sabato said.
I have just arrived home from Cactus Jack’s - the casino/bar of choice for people like me.
I have a lot to report, but I would recommend that you go to your caucus sites and register to vote - from the information that I gathered tonight some (remember that this is information obtained over a shot of Crown and a cold glass of Sammy) - some precincts are (repeat some) are allowing you to register and then participate in the straw vote.
I have just arrived home from Cactus Jack’s - the casino/bar of choice for people like me.
I have a lot to report, but I would recommend that you go to your caucus sites and register to vote - from the information that I gathered tonight some (remember that this is information obtained over a shot of Crown and a cold glass of Sammy) - some precincts are (repeat some) are allowing you to register and then participate in the straw vote.
Background:
There are two stories:
1. The party forgot to get all the necessary reservations for the mansion.
2. So many people are expected that a larger venue was necessary.
The real truth will almost certainly be obtained after the mandatory ass whooping and post-fight reconciliation at the bar.
I do not know what is the real reason, and I have just spent quality time with some of the Republican Board members at the bar.
You can’t make this shite up.
Solutions:
My friend (one of the hottest older ladies I know), says that they will be posting information at the Governor’s Mansion on where the new site will be.
This Caucus is only for the cool.
There is an article in the paper.
Good luck.
Facts:
I understand that we will simply be marking ballots in a straw poll.
No hand raising, no corner gathering and no negotiating with our neighbors.
So be it.
Local color:
Paula (The horse-raising well-endowed beertender) is busy for a change.
My friend and her mother are there with her daughter.
Vic from Fallon is urging me to read his letter in the Lahontan News - which I will and repost if it is available.
“What about Bob” is back from Japan and not in the best of moods.
He and Vic are discussing the earlier days of Carson City when the laws were a wee bit less restrictive - where they once hunted is now filled with Californicators and houses.
You sell your 600K Cali micro home, move to Nevada build a 400K estate and pocket the change.
Then you tell us all how it was done in California.
I digress - Bob has hit four of a kind and is getting a bit of his money back. As for me, after that regrettable experience Monday night with dollar poker there is no hope.
Just cold beer and a shot.
Here is Vic’s Letter to the Editor:
He asked me to post it.
Letter: PRESIDENTIAL CAUCUS PROCESS DISENFRANCHISES VOTERS THROUGHOUT NEVADA
January 17, 2008, 12:05 AM
I just wanted the public to know that there will be no more primary elections for the president of the United States. Thanks to Harry Reid and some officials in Carson City, we no longer have a popular vote in Nevada. We are now a caucus state. Your vote no longer counts. You have to go to your respective precinct and vote for delegates who do not have to hold with your vote! The delegates are than tallied and the results will be “your candidate.”
Did you vote for this? You have about a three-hour window of opportunity this Saturday to vote for a delegate, or delegates, who may or may not represent your vote. The decision is theirs.
It brings back memories of the late Soviet Union and the elections of the politburo. Sorry to say, but this election seems to be no more than another “appointed, anointed media show,” approved by a group of game-show contestants who are running for a spot on the TV show “Survivor.” I don’t see any of them as a “statesman” or “stateswoman” to represent this great nation. And I wouldn’t buy a used car from any of them.
Now that the popular election process is lost in Nevada, what is next? It is up to you as voters. Use it or lose it.
Vic Williams
Fallon
http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20080117/Opinion/76408836/-1/OPINION
SUNNY 34°
NEVADA APPEAL
GOP caucus site moved from mansion to senior center
Geoff Dornan
Appeal Capitol Bureau,
January 17, 2008, 4:01 AM
With just two days until the Nevada caucuses, Republican Party officials have announced that one of the party’s two Carson City caucus sites is being moved.
Republicans who have been told they meet at the Nevada Room on the Governor’s Mansion grounds Saturday will instead meet at the Carson Senior Center, 911 Beverly Drive.
The time remains the same with check-in at 8:30 a.m. and the caucus beginning at 9 a.m. The other GOP location at Capital Christian Church, 1600 Snyder Ave., is unchanged.
The last-minute change means roughly half the registered Republicans in Carson City were given incorrect information about where to show up to caucus in mailers sent to them by the party.
In addition, the incorrect information is contained both in the Nevada Appeal’s special caucus edition published today and on the Nevada Secretary of State’s Web site.
Zach Moyle, executive director of the state GOP said the county chairman had told him all the proper arrangements were made to use the Nevada Room, but Wednesday he was advised by the governor’s office the necessary paperwork had not been filled out and that the room was not available to the party.
He said in one way, it works out better because the space at the Senior Center is much larger than the Nevada Room, which can only hold 250 people. He said the e-mail and phone response to the mailings sent to GOP voters indicate many more than that intend to show up Saturday morning.
http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20080117/NEWS/548500367
Romney Endorsed By Nevada’s Largest Newspaper Ahead Of Caucus
January 17, 2008 9:21 p.m. EST
Kris Alingod - AHN News Writer
Carson City, NV (AHN) - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has been endorsed by Nevada’s largest newspaper. The endorsement comes ahead of presidential caucuses are to be held in the state, which Romney has suddenly decided to contest instead of South Carolina.
Las Vegas Review-Journal said in its editorial on Thursday that it was supporting the GOP White House contender because he “has extensive experience in the private sector, which is unusual for far too many politicians.”
“Republicans haven’t had much national electoral success of late, and for that they have only themselves to blame,” the newspaper wrote. “In the 14 years since the Gingrich revolution, too many Republicans have embraced the beltway culture and abandoned the very principles upon which their success with voters depended - smaller government, low taxes, free markets and personal liberty.”
“Mr. Romney vows to exercise his veto power if Congress doesn’t embrace spending restraint and understands the drag that excessive federal regulation imposes on the innovation and the economy,” Review-Journal editorial read.
The newspaper ended its endorsement using words, which it said “articulated a concise understanding of what made this country great.”
“The 20th century saw two economic systems pitted against each other,” Romney told the Economic Club of Detroit early this month.
“Ours, built on free enterprise and the primacy of the consumer. The Soviets’, built on government command and control, and the primacy of the state.
The 20th century history lesson is that America’s economy is strong because we put our trust in the American people, and in the free enterprises they create.”
Romney, who recently boosted his campaign with a win in Michigan, has reportedly abandoned his bid to take South Carolina and made a pragmatic decision to contest the GOP caucus in Nevada, which has been ignored entirely by his Republican rivals, according to Politico.com. Contests in both states will be held on Saturday.
McCain is currently the most popular GOP hopeful in South Carolina, according to the American Research Group. The organization found in its latest poll that 33 percent of likely GOP voters in the state support McCain, and that Romney was neck and neck with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 20 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
In Nevada, Romney ranks fifth among GOPs with 15 percent support of voters, said a new survey by the Reno Gazette-Journal. McCain also leads in that poll, but he is closely trailed by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Despite what the two polls may imply, Romney may prove right in deciding not to waste resources in the Palmetto State since, unlike Michigan, he faces two major rivals, plus the last-ditch effort of former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson in the state.
He is also still “extremely competitive with all of the other candidates” in South Carolina, according to the Washington Post. Huckabee is especially formidable, since the Southern Baptist minister has the support of Christian conservatives.
Thompson’s campaign is expected to fare better in the Silver State than in previous contests since he has been endorsed by major anti-abortion groups.
A win in Nevada would give Romney another inconsequential win. He previously won Wyoming, another uncontested state. Supporters of the 2008 hopeful should hope that he doesn’t make a habit out of taking freebies/feeding on scraps.
Las Vegas Democratic Caucuses in Nine Casinos Upheld in Court
Posted January 17, 2008.
A federal judge turns back a last minute lawsuit in a ruling that is seen as benefiting minority voters and the Obama campaign.
The Democratic Party’s plans to hold presidential caucuses in nine large Las Vegas casinos were upheld by a federal judge
Thursday, who rejected arguments from the Nevada State Teachers Association that sought to shut down the casino caucuses or at least change the way those meetings will award delegates to the party’s state convention.
“The national party says we want to increase political participation in under-represented groups. I don’t think it is up for me to upset that,” said U.S. District Judge James Mahan, ruling from the bench. “It is something that the parties decide.”
Jill Derby, Nevada State Democratic Party chair, said the casino caucuses will be held as planned on Saturday and there will be no change in the allocation of delegates.
“The Court validated the plan we had,” she said. “We are going forward with that plan.”
The ruling is seen as a boost to Barack Obama’s campaign, because most of the attendees of the casino caucuses are members of the Culinary Worker Union local 230, which has endorsed his candidacy.
The state education association, some of whose officers are supporting Hillary Clinton, filed its suit after the Culinary Union endorsement.
Lynn Warne, NSEA president, called the ruling unfortunate. She also said she had hoped that the court also would have found a way for some of its members — who open schools and staff the caucuses to vote — to take as break from work to participate in their local caucuses. She said the NSEA suit was not filed on behalf of the Clinton campaign.
The Obama campaign praised the ruling in prepared statement.
“We’re glad that the Nevada court upheld the Nevada Democratic Party’s caucus plan which encourages voter participation,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. “While the Clinton camp clearly believed the voices of workers should be silenced in service of their perceived political interest, they enjoyed a twenty five-point lead two months ago and have much of the party establishment in their camp. So, despite their inherent advantages we are pleased this should be a close and competitive contest Saturday.”
THE COURT HEARING
Judge Mahan’s ruling came after a hearing where both sides accused each other of disenfranchising likely Democratic voters.
The NSEA lawyers said Nevada’s Democratic Party did not fully disclose that it would be awarding one state convention delegate for every five participants in the casino caucuses. In contrast, throughout the rest of Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, only one delegate would be assigned for every 50 participants, they noted.
“These rules are not fair, they violate equal protection,” said Mark Ferrario, NSEA attorney.
“There was something wrong with the process that led up to the adoption of the at-large precinct caucuses.”
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