Update from Nevada
After a year of battling for Kerry across the web and two weeks of hard slog volunteering in Nevada, I finally got to the see the man in person yesterday at the rally in Las Vegas up close and personal. I was really electrifying.
Congresswoman Shelley Berkley launched things off. She is the Democrat who represents Las Vegas. Everything about her down to her glitzy accessories typifies her district, and she is also a great speaker with a rich, gravelly voice that typifies this raucous, wild west town.
AFSCME president Gerald McEntee also gave a brilliant stump speech mixing humour and serious themes.
The Senator Harry Reid, a great democratic stalwart, introduced Senator Kerry, and the place went wild. What can I say, KERRY WAS CLASSIC!!! It was a great rally, and really helped reinvigorate and pump up me up for the last week of no sleep and hard struggle until that fateful E-day.
It has been magical working in Nevada. There are so many dedicated, talented people working on this campaign here. Of all my work in campaigns and other similar teamwork initiatives, I must say this is one of the most cohesive and best efforts, I have ever seen.
The leadership of Rebecca Lambe, ED, and Micael Kineavy, GOTV Director, is fantastic, and the crew working with them is likewise excellent. There is some seriously great and dedicated talent here that will serve the Democrats well, well into the future
This is bourne out by the excellent numbers to date:
A record 24,042 voters went to the polls Tuesday in Clark County, bringing the total to 183,252. The mail ballot return number is now up to 34,774 and Democrats have taken a slight lead (143 voters) in the absentee ballotcount. In early voting, the Democrats had a big day and have moved out to a 7,042-voter lead.
The combined numbers:
Democrats: 96,954 (44.5 percent)
Republicans: 89,769 (41.2 percent)
Others: 31,353 (14.3 percent)
In the heavy republican Reno area we are tied, and across the state we are up by over 2,000 votes. So while the final outcome in Nevada is still on a knife-edge, this great team here is giving it their all to turn Nevada blue and looking at these numbers, we have every chance to do it.