CAUCUS MEMO

J. Patrick Coolican and Michael J. Mishak

Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007 | 7:07 a.m.

Some commentators have begun to refer to it as "The Obama Trick," which goes like this: Even though Republicans disagree with all of the policy positions of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, they still like him. Most recently, this was seen in a sympathetic profile by Stephen Hayes in the pages of the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard.

Now Obama's presidential campaign is turning that into a vote or two, announcing Monday that 659 Nevada Republicans will caucus for Obama, and there's now a Republicans for Obama group in the state.

More than 100 are allowing their names to be used publicly. (Obama has a bit in his stump speech when he talks about Republicans who support him; he says they whisper to him for fear of letting their Republican minders know.)

The campaign used Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who endorsed Obama early on, to make the announcement. He and his predecessor, Mark Warner, created the model for Democrats winning in Republican states.

Kaine said Obama has crossover appeal because he's seen as a consensus builder, which, he says, is what independents and moderate Republicans want right now.

The potential problem for the Obama campaign: Democratic primary voters and caucusgoers tend to be red meat liberals not in the mood for consensus building. Though perhaps tofu-patty liberals is the better term.

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign is making its first ad buy on Spanish-language radio, trotting out two prominent Hispanic officials - Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen, D-Las Vegas - to announce the news.

Villaraigosa and Kihuen spent the weekend in Las Vegas going door to door for the campaign and meeting with supporters, and used the media call to talk about the strength of Clinton's ground game, especially in the state's Hispanic communities.

Nevada is nearly 24 percent Hispanic, up 4 percentage points from 2000, according to the most recent U.S. Census estimates. That growing population is one of the major reasons the Democratic National Committee awarded the state an early caucus. Still, Democrats have never been able to mobilize this voter group.

Obama put ads on Spanish radio in August, then took them off the air, but will put them on again soon, his campaign said.

Rory Reid, chairman of Clinton's Nevada campaign, dismissed Obama's Republican support in the caucus and said Clinton was focused on traditional Democratic groups - unwittingly acknowledging Clinton's lack of crossover appeal with Republicans. (According to a recent Review-Journal poll, Obama does better in head-to-head matchups with potential Republican candidates in Nevada.)

The presidential campaign of former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards has had trouble gaining traction and attention in Nevada, in part because he came in with high expectations - as a friend of Bruce Raynor of Unite Here, the parent union of Culinary 226, whose endorsement is seen as an important ingredient of success.

Also, he pulled staff from Nevada and sent them to Iowa, and his state director left for a Senate campaign.

These factors have led to a perception that he's less competitive here.

In Iowa, though, which is ground zero right now, Edwards has a huge and loyal following, a top-notch staff and, as one political reporter there put it: "The cool thing to say among political press here is that Edwards will win."

Indeed, that may be spreading to the national media: Mark Halperin of Time magazine has listed a dozen reasons why Edwards is strong in Iowa, including a better work ethic, a retooled speech and a strong organization. (Of course, in October 2006, Halperin wrote a piece for The New York Times that said the Republicans would likely hold Congress.)

Edwards is also on the cover of the current Newsweek as "The Sleeper," with the subtitle "How John Edwards Could Win Iowa."

The task for his skeletal campaign here: Get ready for a wave if he wins back East.