Without doubt, Nevada is a swing state in this presidential election. Different polls in recent weeks have shown both candidates with a razor-thin, one- or two-point lead.
In Nevada two thirds of the total statewide vote is cast in Clark County, in the extreme southern part of the state. Clark County includes the city of Las Vegas. It is the only county in the entire state that John Kerry won in 2004.
Since 2004 Democratic voter registrations in Clark County are up by 63,000 while GOP registrations have grown by 38,000. Many of the new voters are Latinos. County statistics show that 70 percent of the voters who register using Spanish-language forms register as Democrats and only 18 percent register as Republicans.
All together there are 1.3 million eligible voters in Clark County. Blacks make up 10 percent of the electorate in the county and Hispanics are 27 percent of all voters there. Combined the two groups make up a whopping 37 percent of the Clark County voting pool.
But over the years voter registration and voter turnout by minority voters in Clark County have been low. There are an estimated 140,000 eligible Hispanic voters in Clark County who are not registered to vote. In 2004 nearly a quarter of all registered voters in Clark County did not bother to vote in the presidential election. There were about 40,000 registered Hispanics in the county who did not bother to vote.
Clearly there is a vast untapped bloc of minority voters in the Las Vegas area that can be mobilized to carry the state for Obama. The Obama campaign needs to run extensive campaign advertisements on KINC-TV, the Spanish-language television station in Las Vegas. Also of prime importance is radio advertising on KLSQ 870 AM and La Nueva 103.5 FM, which is the most popular morning drive radio station in Las Vegas. El Mundo, the 35,500-circulation Spanish-language newspaper in Las Vegas, supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Advertisements in this newspaper can get the Obama message to Hispanic voters.
As in other states, Latino and African-American college students at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas offer Obama a huge pool of potential volunteers to canvass minority neighborhoods in the city. There are more than 3,600 Latino students and 2,500 black students enrolled at the university.
Immigration is an issue that Obama should duck in appealing to Hispanic voters in Nevada. Any attempt to appear soft in the treatment of illegal aliens will produce a backlash with white voters in the state. Recent polls in Nevada show widespread support among white voters for the hardline positions taken by John McCain on the immigration dispute. As a result, Obama should stick to economic issues in his efforts to woo Hispanic voters.
McCain’s repressive position on the minimum wage and his solid 22-year opposition to federal Pell Grants for low-income college students can be powerful winning issues with Hispanic voters in Nevada and in other states with large blocs of Latino voters.
For more political strategies regarding the 2008 presidential election, go to ObamaElectionWatch.com.