Forum a big draw in Northern Nevada

Michael J. Mishak

Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007 | 7:16 a.m.

Democrats in Northern Nevada are clamoring for access to the presidential candidate forum in Carson City on Wednesday, a strong first indication of voter interest in the Silver State caucus next January.

Demand for access rose sharply within hours of Sen. Hillary Clinton's decision last week to attend, said Steve Platt, chairman of the Carson City Democratic Central Committee.

Platt said the party has received hundreds of phone calls since the announcement. He said his personal cell phone has been ringing off the hook as well.

"The town is abuzz with activity," Platt said. "Interest is at an all-time high. These kinds of things don't happen in Carson City."

That is precisely why the state capital was chosen as the location for the first of five Nevada caucus events, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

"I'm so happy that this forum is not going to be held in Reno or Las Vegas, where 90 percent of the people live," Reid told reporters in a conference call Tuesday. "I'm happy that every one of these eight presidential candidates is going to see a different part of Nevada."

The forum will be open only to members of the sponsoring union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which will use it to help determine the organization's national endorsement. The national public employees union represents about 3,000 workers in Nevada.

But the closed nature of the event has irritated some Democrats.

"As an activist, it's very frustrating," said Theresa Navarro, a longtime Reno activist who's also directing New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's Northern Nevada campaign. "We've been working on getting the caucus for the last few years, and now, all of a sudden, people are stepping in and saying it's not open to the public."

American Federation spokesman Ethan Rome said Democrats should not take it personally. The forum is classified as a "membership education" meeting under Federal Election Commission law, a designation that bars the union from inviting the public, Rome said.

The forum will be at the Carson City Community Center, which holds about 800 people. More than 600 active and retired American Federation members are expected to attend, said Gerald McEntee, the union's president. The crowd will be rounded out by state legislators and party leaders from Northern Nevada, all of whom can attend as "dignitaries" under FEC law, Rome said.

To accommodate the additional demand, the state party has arranged for a closed-circuit feed for up to 400 people in the Nevada Appeal newspaper building in Carson City, state party spokeswoman Kirsten Searer said.

Yet even that will not be enough. The party already has received more requests than it can handle for that TV viewing, Searer said. Carson City and Northern Nevada residents will be given preference.

"We have an overwhelming number of people who want to see this forum who come from counties that traditionally vote Republican," Searer said. "We're thrilled to have this level of interest. It's one of the reasons why Nevada deserves an early caucus."

The picture was quite different just a few weeks ago.

Representatives of Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards met with staff at the Democratic National Committee to complain about the number of early candidate events, including the Carson City forum.

"The response initially wasn't very promising," Reid said Tuesday of the Carson City event. So the party took steps to boost interest. "We politely asked a few people if they couldn't find some time to be there," he said.

RSVPs started rolling in last week, punctuated by Clinton's announcement, which was quickly followed by Edwards'.

Besides Clinton, Edwards and Richardson, the other Democrats expected are Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd of Connecticut, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

Obama will not show. He plans to campaign in Iowa that day. But his campaign said he will be in Las Vegas on Sunday. The purpose, time and location of his appearance have not yet been announced.

Democratic officials are working with news organizations to try to have the forum broadcast live in Southern Nevada, Searer said.