Nevada caucus effort begins

Kirsten Searer

Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004 | 11:08 a.m.

He leads, he cares, he looks good in sweaters.

Those are some of the messages in a DVD chronicling the life of Gen. Wesley Clark that recently was mailed to about 3,000 voters in Nevada.

The 18-minute video is the presidential race's first major voter outreach leading up to Nevada's Democratic caucus on Feb. 14, but there are more coming soon.

All four major Democratic candidates have staff members or volunteers planning to call Democrats in the coming days, but don't expect the kind of television media blitz seen recently in other states. Campaign workers said it takes a more personal approach to win voters in Nevada.

About a dozen campaign troops representing Sen. John Kerry arrived in the state this week and soon will start knocking on doors and making phone calls, said Kerry spokesman Dag Vega.

Clark campaigners, energized by the four-star general's win in Oklahoma, also are scheduled to arrive in Nevada in the next few days, said Clark spokesman Bill Buck.

"We're looking forward to Feb. 14," Buck said. "I think Valentine's Day will give Nevadans an opportunity to come out and show their love for Wes Clark."

And supporters of Sen. John Edwards soon will send out hundreds of letters to their friends asking for their support on Feb. 14, said Justin Gilbert, the Edwards coordinator in Nevada.

So few voters turn out in Nevada -- just about 1,000 statewide in March 2000 -- that it makes more sense to do more personalized campaigning to convince people to show up at the caucuses, said Billy Rogers, the state director for the Howard Dean campaign.

It's difficult to persuade people to give up four hours on a Saturday morning to participate in the caucus, Rogers said. So it would be a waste of money to send out DVDs or glossy mailers in Nevada, "unless the DVD comes with a car or van or something to take somebody to the caucuses," he said.

"Ultimately what our campaign is trying to do and what the other campaigns are trying to do is mobilize supporters and convince them to go out on a Saturday morning and go to the caucus," Rogers said.

While voter turnout has been smaller in previous years, when the Nevada caucus was held later in the election cycle, this February contest will hopefully attract more people, said Erin Bilbray, who volunteers for Kerry.

She said she hopes the Kerry campaign will choose to air television ads and generate excitement in Nevada.

"He's got some strong ads that I think are very compelling," she said. "We're also hopeful that he will make a visit to the state (before the caucus)."

Kerry is now running ads in Tennessee and Virginia, and it is too soon to tell if the Massachusetts senator will run Nevada ads, Vega said.

The 18-minute DVD sent out by the Clark campaign especially reaches out to women and veterans. Clark's Army commander, retired Brig. Gen. David Martin, glows about Clark's performance in the Vietnam War, and one of Clark's soldiers, Maj. Patricia Williams, commends him for respecting women and minorities.

"I'm just an average soldier serving under at great man," Williams says in the DVD.

The video also tells the story of Clark's rise from a middle-class family to four-star general who received the Medal of Freedom from President Clinton.

The video has been mailed and broadcast in other states, Buck said. It also is shown before Clark's "Conversations with Clark" town halls.

"The DVD is one of the ways that we have used to tell Wes Clark's life story to voters," Buck said. "It's a biographical piece. It lets voters know about how Gen. Clark's military experience relates to his run for office."