Caucus results in Nevada

Nine delegates were at stake in my precinct in southwestern Las Vegas. The results: Clinton 5, Obama 4, mirroring the overall statewide race (Hillary is ahead 51% to 45%, with 89% of the precincts reporting).

Definitely disappointing, but considering that Hillary led Obama by over 25 points in a statewide poll in December, he made up a lot of ground over the past month. And 45% is the highest percentage he's gotten in the contests so far.

The caucus process was somewhat confusing, and with the large turnout (we had around 120 participants at my precinct), occasionally a bit disorganized. There were three other precincts in the gym where we met, and our caucus chair sometimes struggled to make himself heard with so much noise coming from the other three corners of the gym. But all in all things went quite smoothly, and only 5 people arrived for our precinct who weren't already firmly in the Clinton or Obama camps.

I was elected as an Obama delegate to the Clark County Democratic Convention on February 23. This was my first outing as a precinct captain, and the county convention will be my first party convention experience. I met a lot of awesome people while canvassing and making phone calls, including a woman at the other end of my own street who already is predicting that we're going to be "bff." :-)

Thanks to Victor for going out with me at 6am this morning to put door hangers on supporters' doors and for helping at the caucus! This is the first campaign you've been involved with, and it means so much to me. You are the best, xoxoxo

The national delegate race is tight with CNN estimating that Clinton and Obama each have 37 pledged to them. So the campaign continues... on to South Carolina. Yes, we can!

UPDATES:

With 84% of the precincts reporting, CNN is reporting a record turnout for the Nevada Democratic caucuses with over 107,000 people participating. In 2004, Nevada was much later in the cycle and only around 10,000 participated.

I noted a couple of days ago that I thought it was unusual for a former president to be taking such a prominent role in the presidential primaries, and Newsweek has this article reporting similar concerns from some key Democrats:

Prominent Democrats are upset with the aggressive role that Bill Clinton is playing in the 2008 campaign, a role they believe is inappropriate for a former president and the titular head of the Democratic Party....

There is little precedent for a former president's engaging in intra-party attacks. In 1960, Harry Truman criticized the idea of a Roman Catholic president and tried briefly to stop John F. Kennedy's nomination. "I urge you to be patient," he told JFK publicly. But in 2000, former president George Bush declined to attack his son's GOP primary opponent, John McCain.