Friday, Aug. 18, 2006 | 9 a.m.
It's probably a done deal that Nevada will win final approval Saturday for an early 2008 presidential caucus, but the state's Democrats aren't taking any chances.
State Democratic Party leaders are headed to Chicago for the Democratic National Committee's summer meeting armed with icing. The frosting on cookies for the event will attempt to instruct attendees in the correct pronunciation of the Silver State. That's with the second syllable sounding like "cat," not like "taco."
Nevada's opponents will be there, too. Iowa and New Hampshire are pushing to keep Nevada away from their vaunted places first on the national primary calendar. But they admit their chances are slight.
The proposal is for Nevada to take the second spot, a January contest sandwiched between the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary.
"At the end of the day, Nevada fits the criteria better than any other state," said Danny Thompson, executive secretary/treasurer of Nevada's AFL-CIO. "The people who want to maintain what they have are going to say what they say. I'm not going to put any stock in that."
Nevada emerged as the party's choice for an earlier contest as the DNC sought to broaden voter participation in the selection process. Nevada's diverse population, strong union presence and position in the West appealed to the party. It is seen as a balance to less diverse populations in Iowa and New Hampshire.
As states in the Intermountain West move from red to neutral, or even blue, many believe the nominee who wins the West can win the White House. President Bush won Nevada by just 2 percentage points in 2004.
The Nevada-bashing began immediately after a DNC committee recommended the Nevada caucus change last month. Opponents complained that Nevadans weren't smart enough, politically savvy enough or organized enough to handle such a prominent role in choosing the party's next nominee.
New Hampshire and Iowa still oppose the move, and they've gained backing from a handful of like-minded states.
"We've made our position clear," said Erin Seidler, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Democratic Party.
Opponents say that bumping up Nevada, as well as moving South Carolina to a spot immediately after New Hampshire, will limit the ability of candidates to take the time for door-to-door, highly personal campaigning that are the hallmarks of their primary contests. Instead, candidates will have to scramble among four states in the space of a single week.
The result, say defenders of the current calendar, is that candidates will rely more on television advertising, which gives the advantage to the candidates with the most money rather than those who make the best impressions in person.
But they also know that they have little chance of keeping the current schedule. The full DNC, with the backing of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, is likely to approve the new calendar.
"Nothing's over until it's over," said New Hampshire's state party chairwoman, Kathy Sullivan. "But it's surely an uphill battle."
Nevada will make its case by sending its new Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Dina Titus, along with Sen. Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, and state party and labor officials. Titus and Horsford are two of the state's DNC representatives.
Along with the cookies, the group will take brochures and a letter from several national Hispanic leaders and lawmakers supporting Nevada's bid because it would offer the state's growing Hispanic population a larger voice in the selection.
Noticeably absent from the delegation is Reid, whose influence was widely credited with securing Nevada's position. He sent top staffers to Chicago.
"We feel good about it, but we're not leaving anything to chance," said state party spokeswoman Kirsten Searer. "We're reminding people this isn't about Nevada. We believe a presidential nominee who can take Nevada can take the entire West, and that's the key to retaking the White House in 2008."
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