The Battle for Nevada
Posted: Monday, January 14, 2008 9:35 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Saturday, January 19 (D)
- 25 delegates up for grabs, but they are non-binding until April 19th state convention.
- Type of contest: closed caucus (but there is same-day registration, so independents and Republicans can register same day
- Delegate allocation: proportional by statewide vote
Saturday, January 19 (R)
- 0 delegates up for grabs that night (note: Nevada's 34 delegates are all unbound)
- Type of contest: closed caucus (straw vote): independents and Democrats cannot vote
- Delegate allocation: hybrid (mostly winner-take-all by CD), 15% threshold
The New York Times: “At a rally this afternoon, Senator Barack Obama questioned the timing and legitimacy of a lawsuit that had been filed here seeking to prevent caucuses from being held Saturday in nine casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. ‘Are we going to let a bunch of lawyers try to prevent us from bringing about change in America?’ Mr. Obama said, speaking to members of the Culinary workers union, which has endorsed his candidacy.
The lawsuit was filed late Friday by the Nevada State Education Association. The group has not endorsed a candidate, but several officials involved in the legal action are closely associated with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign here. The campaign has not taken a formal position. Asked about it Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet The Press,’ Mrs. Clinton said, ‘The courts and the state party will have to work it out. The caucus idea is for neighbors to get together to argue and talk about their choices,’ she said. ‘The problem is that if you have a limited period of time, as I pointed out long before anything happened in Nevada, you’re going to essentially leave people out who can’t be there during those one to two-hour periods of time.’”
The Las Vegas Review-Journal writes, “Obama had a full Sunday in Southern Nevada, first making a surprise appearance at a downtown black church, where he spoke at the end of the service. Before he arrived, the pastor of the Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ, speaking from the pulpit, advocated for Obama, possibly breaking the law. Pastor Leon Smith told the congregation that ‘the more he (Obama) speaks, the more he wins my confidence, and ... if the polls were open today, I would cast my vote for this senator.’ He urged them to do the same, saying, ‘If you can't support your own, you're never going to get anywhere. ... I want to see this man in office.’”
“Under federal tax law, nonprofits such as churches are prohibited from endorsing or opposing political candidates. The Internal Revenue Service has ruled that the forbidden partisan activity includes speech from the pulpit that indicates the church favors a particular candidate.”
