Nevada Lessons
As we await Republican results in South Carolina, it’s not too soon to draw a few conclusions from today’s Nevada caucuses.
In a close race, Hillary Clinton and her supporters found ways to scramble and fight for every vote. When the Culinary Union endorsed Obama, Clinton supporters were quick to fight back with a legal challenge to holding caucuses at some of the major casinos along the Las Vegas strip where Union workers work. It didn’t matter that the challenge failed — it was a news story and occasioned a hot-tempered sound bite from Bill Clinton that was played again and again. Hillary’s campaign did a much better job mobilizing Latino voters (about a quarter of the electorate). I saw very few Spanish-speaking campaign workers for Obama. Finally, in a tactical lapse, Obama made an innocuous but nonetheless favorable remark about Ronald Reagan two days ago that Clinton supporters quickly attacked.
The Latino vote will also be key in several primary states holding votes on February 5, including California, and Obama will need to do a much better job of reaching out to Latinos in order to be competitive. The youth vote, as I’ve mentioned, will also be key.
Mitt Romney’s easy victory in the Republican caucuses gives him co-bragging rights for the next news cycle. The news from South Carolina will diminish his Nevada victory. For a while longer, the Republican race is three-man race.