Well the Nevada Caucus has come and gone. I stayed neutral throughout the entire process. As a result I spent most of my time helping the Nevada State Democratic Party with any odd jobs which were needed to get the caucus process up and running. What this resulted in for me was mostly volunteer time. I also had a request (which I put in back in the late spring/early summer) to run one of the at-large strip caucus sites. Being I am a craps dealer, I thought this would be right up my alley.
To be sure I figured it would be an exciting place to spend caucus day (being I would not caucus for any candidate). I had no idea the level of controversy the caucus sites would generate in the week before the caucus kicked off. I also had no idea of the enormity of these caucus sites. I helped run the Mirage caucus site along with 8 other people. We were all needed!
Over the fold I will take you on a tour of history, the first at-large caucus site in history (along with 8 other sites at other casinos).
***NOTE***
- Before I start, I would like to make clear this is not a candidate diary. Though I can not really do anything about it, I would appreciate it if we left candidate debates outside this diary.
- I would also like to make clear again I was neutral throughout this entire process (I still am), and this diary is just a personal look into what I took part in on January 19th, 2008. This was Nevada's first early caucus and I think it is a good thing just to show people history as I lived it.
- I would also like to make clear this diary is the personal account of Elliot Anderson, and should not be construed to be anything other than this. This is by no means a statement on behalf on anyone or any group.
This was the sign which welcomed workers who caucused while on their shift. The at-large caucus sites were set up to allow shift workers a greater opportunity to attend the caucus. A good portion of those workers on the strip are Hispanic and African American. In addition, a lot of the workers on the strip are unionized. These were both reasons which were pitched to the Democratic National Committee in order to win an early spot on the nominating calendar. It behooved of our state party to ensure these groups were given as much possible opportunity to caucus.
Here is a look at our registration station. At this registration desk we had several different ways we could register people to caucus. At the very left of the picture, is the first station. There we had a pre-registered list of those who would like to caucus. For this station all we had to do was put on a sticker onto the presidential preference card. At the second station were several computers which were connected to the internet where we could access our voter file. This was of course for those who were already registered. Also at each computer were voter registration forms which we could give those who were not registered so they could have the opportunity to caucus. At the end of the day we had at least 75 voter registration forms. Not a bad total of registrations on any day. It should be noted these were probably not change of addresses either, because the sites were at large. So these were either new Democratic registrations, or change of party registrations. The only thing I really looked at when collecting these were the party registration box to make sure we only let Democrats into the caucus. It will be interesting to see the voter registration totals in Nevada at the beginning of March when they all have time to process.
Here is a view of the entire room where the caucus took place. The combined universe of workers who were within 15 minutes walking of this room was something like 12,000 folks. These are the workers who make Las Vegas run. After we got through all those who wanted to register, we were just below 350 people at the Mirage.
This is Senator Clinton's Presidential preference group after the re-alignment.
This is Senator Obama's Presidential preference group after the re-alignment.
I know I am going to get it if I don't mention it now. Senator Edwards had four caucusers in his Presidential preference group. The only other group to have any caucusers was un-committed which had seven. One Edwards supporter stuck with Edwards all the way through. Two un-committed caucusers stayed with un-committed all the way through. Funny story with the un-committed folks... I asked them did you guys just come to observe? They said yes. This wasn't a normal caucus. Only credentialed media (which credentialed ahead of time) were allowed in. The only other observers allowed were 10 per campaign.
This is our lead for the caucus who was running the meeting through the sound system which we needed in order to run the caucus.
This is what we call high pressure math. When your high school math teacher told you math was important, she was definitely not lying! On my right is a representative from Senator Clinton's group, on the left is another person who was helping run the meeting, and left of him off the picture is a representative from Senator Obama's group. After all the controversy about the strip caucus sites, we were making sure to be pain staking correct.
If this were not enough pressure, we even had a reporter from NPR who recorded the conversation at the desk where we computed the math!
Adding to the excitement of the day were the visitors we received. I'm sure most people on here already saw the press reports but still a neat thing to document. Sounds like another good time to re-affirm my neutrality...
President Clinton, Terry McAuliffe, and the President's Secret Service detail were counted among each campaign's ten observers. This led to a bit of confusion. Since I was controlling the main entryway onto the caucus floor from registration, this led to me being in an obviously uncomfortable situation. It was my job to tell a former DNC Chairman, a former President, and the Secret Service detail to get observer credentials. Though I thought it was cool I told the Secret Service what to do (and they listened), you know just wasn't fun! It was also fantastic to meet a President. Though if I could pick a situation to be in, this one would not be anywhere close to it!
I would like to close with a look at the progress we have made in Nevada the last year. When I first walked into volunteer in the old Nevada State Democratic Party's headquarters back in August 2005, I was taken back. I thought to myself this is the state headquarters? I wish I had pictures of the old headquarters and the new headquarters so I could show you the remarkable progress the Nevada State Democratic Party has had.
What I do have, is pictures from the Cashman Center where caucus results were reported, and the debate the Tuesday before the Caucus was held.
The message one can get from looking at the signage in and around the caucus is "Winning in the West." We have now seen unbelivable turnout all over the country. This of course happened in the west as well. The Republican Party had roughly 43,000 people show up to their caucuses. How many did we have at ours? 116,000. With the level of effort we have put into this caucus here, we will undoubtedly be able to win the battle ground state of Nevada.
Some other neat tidbits:
I got to have a great lunch with our own mcjoan who was in town to cover the caucuses. I took her to Ellis Island. Its a great local place to go... You should definitely try it if you are in town. I recommend you get the steak special (which isn't on the menu). Mcjoan (despite my insistance) would not get the steak special (which is served 24/7). Its unbelievably cheap ($6.95 for a great piece of steak, potato, soup/salad, and a home brewed beer) and good.
Speaking of Ellis Island, I also had the pleasure of taking Jim Dean the chair of Democracy for America to dinner as well. I convinced him and his assistant Danny to get the steak special. (Ask Jim how good it was mcjoan). Jim & Danny are both great guys and are working for a great organization which is empowering activists with knowledge on how to fight and organize for what they care about. Here's hoping to have them back in Nevada many times, to do many trainings.
I also met Alan Colmes and talked with him for about ten minutes. I was actually walking out the door to go home when I ran into him. As you can see my tie is slowly falling to the floor. I was exausted at this point in the day on the 19th. This was a very interesting conversation to say the least. I mentioned at least once I thought he should hold Sean Hannity's feet to the fire.
So in recap: in 2004, 9,000 Democrats showed up to caucus. In 2008, we had 12 times more. While for sure there is still room to grow, what we have seen here is progress. I can say at the caucus site I help ran, although it was confusing at sometimes because of the sheer amount of people, it was organized and fair to all sides.
We saw some hiccups statewide in Nevada's first caucus of this scale. However, we are on the right track, and the Republican Party of Nevada is just floundering. There has been some talk about going to a primary I really have no opinion on the matter.
I know no matter what we do, we will keep on building and improving our party here and continue to help "Win the West." The energy in Nevada is high. Election night 2008 is going to be sweet!