Las Vegas Sun

February 13, 2012

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SUN EDITORIAL:

Nevada delivers for Clinton

Senator’s strong win here follows solid victory in New Hampshire

Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s decisive win in Saturday’s Nevada Democratic presidential caucus provided a critical boost to her candidacy and dealt a setback to Sen. Barack Obama’s bid.

Clinton beat Obama handily in Clark County — 53 percent to 43 percent — and this is all the more significant because Obama had the endorsement of the influential 60,000-member Culinary Union. There were concerns that union leaders were placing undue pressure on their membership to vote for Obama, but Clinton did well among Culinary Union members and labor in general.

Another reason why Clinton’s victory was impressive, especially as it regards her national campaign, is that Nevada — unlike Iowa and New Hampshire — better reflects the demographics of the nation and the Democratic Party, including ethnic diversity. Twenty-four percent of Nevada’s population is Hispanic, and exit polling by CBS showed Clinton beating Obama by more than 2-1 among Hispanics. Furthermore, this caucus was the first contest for Democrats in the West, and the Southwest is shaping up as a key battleground in the general election.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney easily won the Republican presidential caucus in Nevada, although its impact is negligible since most of the other candidates didn’t campaign here because the results were nonbinding. Later on Saturday, Sen. John McCain won the Republican South Carolina primary, as Romney was headed for a fourth-place finish there.

The real news out of Nevada was Clinton’s victory and the incredible turnout by Democrats. Just 9,000 Democrats attended 2004’s caucus, but on Saturday more than 115,000 participated — promising news for Democrats in November and worrisome numbers for Republicans. (More than 44,000 Republicans voted Saturday.)

The Democrats’ next primary is Saturday in South Carolina, where Obama is expected to do well, and the big prize — Super Tuesday — is Feb. 5, when 22 states hold their Democratic primaries.

Clinton clearly connected with voters here — they understood she has the right ideas to jump-start the economy and to provide universal health care, and that she is our best hope to kill a nuclear waste dump planned for Nevada. If she can keep this momentum heading into Super Tuesday, she will be well on her way to being the Democratic presidential nominee.

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