Nevada is game for '08 caucuses

[Olney Blue]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-nevada15jan15,1,5820171.story?coll=la-headlines-politics&ctrack=1&cset=true

Nevada is game for '08 caucuses
The state's Democrats have unique concerns that 2008 candidates ignore at their peril.

By Mark Z. Barabak, Times Staff Writer
January 15, 2007

Road to the White House
LAS VEGAS — Forget the jokes about caucusing in brothels, or trawling for votes amid the slot machines and blackjack tables along the neon-drenched Strip.

When Democratic presidential hopefuls come calling on Nevada, the real challenge will be the party faithful they find in this independent-minded state, which will host the West's first nominating contest in a little over a year.

Democrats here like guns, loathe taxes and see nature as a source of fun and profit, not a place that some Washington bureaucrat should lock away. And skip the Rust Belt rhetoric about all those manufacturing jobs fleeing to China and Mexico. Economic issues require a different approach in a state that has boomed for the last 40 years.

"If you give the same speech on the economy in Nevada that you give in Iowa, you're going to seem out of touch," said Eric Herzik, who teaches political science at the University of Nevada in Reno.

"A lack of knowledge," he added, "can offend quicker than anything."

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[NV1962]

1. Here's another bit of gratis advice: ignore rural NV at your peril...

I think Montana's election of Senator Tester is just another such warning signal that it takes more to conquer a sufficient number of electoral votes than a new and improved John Kerry.

Getting back to this state, NV: it's awesomely endearing to see people focus on Las Vegas, but unless the local get-out-the-vote apparatus gets some serious hormone treatment, it'll be another major disappointment in the making. The low Dem voter turnout in Vegas has been the biggest contribution to this state going red in 2000 and 2004; the widely presumed Dem strength in LV is its worst Achilles heel. Boots on the ground, people!

So, I rather see an early opportunity to campaign out here in the Nevadan boonies, so as to get an early corrective whiff of pseudo-heartland reality in the West and so better prepare for the real battle for 2008.

Nevada ain't for the effete politico addicted to pressing the flesh at staged glitter podiums in large cities, that's for sure.

[rollin74]

2. it's becoming more difficult for candidates to ignore the West

it's nice to see a western state like Nevada getting some early recognition/attention from the 2008 presidential hopefuls.
The westward shift in population will undoubtedly make it necessary for candidates to focus more on states like Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. All places where Democrats can win with the right candidate and message.