Elizabeth Edwards, Reno, NV, 9/30/07.

From my Campaign 2008 archives is this series of clips of Elizabeth Edwards speaking at a town hall held in Reno, Nevada, at the Carpenters' Union Hall. This, like some of the other videos I have posted, is taped from my digital camera to my television since the event was originally recorded in Hi 8 instead of digital. Some day I will get a converter! However, it is still watchable despite the dark band intruding, and her remarks are clearly heard. I was just a few feet away from her.

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John Edwards, Reno, Nevada, 1/16/08.

More from my video archives. This series of clips is an appearance by John Edwards in January, a few days before the caucuses, at the Grand Sierra Resort. Around 1,000 or more were there at the event. I was picked to sit onstage with Edwards, so the lighting is very harsh. Evidently I made it on television. Edwards had a town hall format.

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As of this time, parts 1 and 5 are not yet fully loaded in YouTube. They should be coming up, however.

Bill Clinton, January 13, 2008.

He spoke at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada, for about an hour. There are five parts (actually six, but there's only 44 seconds in the sixth clip) I have uploaded here. It took over ten hours to upload them on YouTube. I have so many political videos I made of candidates. I don't have video stills or whatever they are on the screens and haven't figured out how to put them up yet, but the videos come in great. I was just off to the side of the former president during his remarks, hence a virtually unobstructed view.

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This video, without the video stills, is really good quality.

Nevada

abolished its presidential primary back in 1981, and the caucuses have always been dismal failures, especially for Democrats with their paltry showings.

I KNEW there had been none in all of the years I have lived here, or I would have voted in the state's primaries. I moved here in 1984, a couple of years after the caucuses started.

Naturally Sheila Leslie, an Obama supporter, thinks the caucuses are just wonderful. Never mind they are inherently undemocratic. The caucuses deny Saturday workers and those with religious beliefs marking Saturday observances the right to participate.

They need to be abolished in ALL states.

The WSWS

actually has a good piece about last weekend's races in Nevada and South Carolina.

Nevada Caucus.

The Clinton campaign is justifiably pleased with yesterday's results.

The paper claims Edwards was dealt a "severe blow" with 4 percent of the caucus goers, thanks to the inherent rigging involved in caucus events.
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At Swope Middle School in Reno, some truly sane caucus goers had enough Edwards supporters to give him three delegates, which was tied with Clinton's.
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Here is another inside view of the caucuses.
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Because Obama "won" 11 out of the 17 counties, he received more delegates although Clinton had more votes statewide.
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Here is a video of one caucus.
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McCain picked up 20 more delegates while Clinton and Romney extended their leads.
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Here is Another

firsthand account of the Nevada caucus:

We had a lot of people turn up as well who were in the wrong precinct, but what I did was got on the phone right away with the Dems office and they were really good about giving out the right one. People were all able to get to where they belonged I think largely because we were right on it. The only problem we had was two people left after the final count of attendees and vialbility was determined..we lost two, so we read off the list and found that two people really were missing...(turned out they had to go to work...I won't comment on how I feel the caucus system disenfranchises people!). The only thing this hurt was it may have lost Clinton a delelgate. Obama got 3, Clinton 1, and Edwards 1. Kucininch had 7, Undecidecd had 2, so they all went to other groups, except for one Kucinich.
Over all in went pretty well...a little chaotic as we tried to make sure we had the rules right! Fun, but I think a primary so much more fair!

Turnout Today

was "off the charts," so I would say the caucuses were a success if you believe in the goddamned undemocratic things.

Hillary Clinton

won the Nevada Caucuses, hitting over 50 percent. Obama had 45 percent.

Edwards had practically nothing, with 4-5 percent thus far. Certainly if Nevada had a primary, his numbers would have been far higher; as it is, his paltry showing is a result of the quirky caucus system.

The way the system works, if you don't have "viability" in a caucus precinct, your vote doesn't count.

That's the way it was at my caucus today. At my precinct, there were 130 people there. Twenty people were needed for viability. The Edwards group needed just one more person to be viable. As it was, we had to have a second choice, which was either Obama or Clinton. Since I refuse to support Obama under any circumstances, I went to the Clinton side.

Obama wound up with six delegates, while Clinton had five in our precinct.

I will be a delegate, as will a couple of other Edwards supporters, for the county convention next month.

Truce or Consequences?

So much for the truce.

The Obama campaign is wallowing in the mud again.

John Edwards

will return to Reno tomorrow night at 6:15 at the Carpenters Union Hall on Terminal Way. I will be there as well. I will try to remember to bring Four Trials with me for him to sign.

I heard Hillary was returning back to Reno Friday to make an appearance at TMCC at 5:00. I'll try and see her then.

For some bizarro reason, I didn't get any good pictures of Clinton, and she was "right there." I usually do a halfway decent job.

If This Poll

is accurate, it is GREAT news for JRE in Nevada especially given the margin of error.

Just a few weeks ago, Edwards was in single digits.

The WSWS is

engaging in total lies about the Nevada suit.

It is NOT "disenfranchisement" to insist the rules apply to Vegas Strip workers as it applies to every OTHER GODDAMNED WORKER IN NEVADA WHO HAS TO WORK SATURDAYS. In point of fact, the OPPOSITE is true. It is FAVORITISM to grant Vegas casino workers access NOT ALLOWED for anybody else in Nevada.

The vast majority of Saturday shift workers in Nevada are disenfranchised because they must work on caucus day.

Make the day a holiday or revert to primaries and the problem is solved.

The article is a complete lie.

Bill Clinton

will be at Truckee Meadows Community College tomorrow at 11:30. It is open to the public.

In addition to Obama and Edwards, Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter will be making appearances in the Reno area this week.

Nevada Caucus.

Well, this lawsuit is interesting, to say the least.

The Nevada State Education Association has refused to endorse any candidate for the caucuses.
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Most of the Candidates

will be too pooped to come to Nevada before the caucuses. At least right now.

Nevada Caucus.

A few candidates have been a bit scarce in Nevada as of late, though most have made appearances in Reno.

Assuming the Democratic Race

for the presidential nomination becomes halfway competitive, more attention will be paid to Nevada.

Meanwhile, interest is still low in Nevada regarding the caucuses, but that could well change as the time approaches.

As Much

as the media wanted to crown Senator Clinton the Democratic nominee, with only a blip of opposition from Obama, somebody else is not letting the media get away with it.

In related news, after having pulled some key people out of Nevada to help out in Iowa, John Edwards is putting more staff back in the state:

With almost two months left until the Nevada Caucus, the Edwards campaign is beefing up its senior staff. The campaign is adding a new state director, a deputy political director and a new senior advisor to Nevada.

“Now that the Caucus is approaching it is time to strengthen our organization,” David Bonior, Edwards’ National Campaign Manager said. “We are bringing in experienced senior level staff who are familiar with key issues in Nevada and the West. Our strategy remains focused on the four early states, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina.”


The new staff includes:

Oliver Gottfried, Edwards’ Western Political Director, will be taking over as the campaign’s new State Director.

Chris Chafe, who has served as senior advisor to campaign in charge of national labor outreach since June, will become senior advisor for Nevada.

Thanks to Other States

wanting to screw around with the primary calendar, Nevada's place in the contest is still up in the air for candidates.

They are treading lightly here compared with Iowa and New Hampshire.
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