Nevada Caucus

LAS VEGAS - State Democratic leaders came together in Las Vegas Monday to display their unity behind Ill. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

LAS VEGAS - State Democratic leaders came together in Las Vegas Monday to display their unity behind Ill. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

Kirsten Searer, deputy executive director of the Nevada Democratic PartyEvery Monday, PolitickerNV.com profiles one of the staffers and consultants who work so hard to get these guys and gals elected and us something to write about. Today's subject: Kirsten Searer, deputy executive director of the Nevada Democratic Party.

LAS VEGAS-If you've been paying any attention to Nevada politics in the last year or so, you've certainly read a lucid quote by one-time Nevada Democratic communications director, now deputy executive director Kirsten Searer. Searer, 28, has been the voice of the party through the 2006 election and now the record-breaking 2008 caucuses, a job she couldn't have imagined holding a decade ago.

"I started studying journalism in high school and decided that was what I really wanted to do," said Searer. "My first exposé was on the cleanliness of our high school bathrooms."

Tom Vanderpool, 59, of Las Vegas, discusses the Apr. 12 Clark County Democratic Convention re-vote and his hopes for his candidate-of-choice.

Note: The cellphone ringing near the end of this video did not belong to this reporter.

Irene Houghland, 56, of Las Vegas, discusses the April. 12 Clark County Democratic Convention re-vote and her hopes for her candidate-of-choice.

Obama volunteers phone-banking Clark County delegates for the Apr. 12 re-voteLAS VEGAS-Saturday, elected delegates from the Clark County Democrats' Jan. 19 precinct caucuses will descend on the Thomas and Mack Center at UNLV to cast make-up votes from their unsuccessful Feb. 23 convention. As the date approaches, both remaining Democratic presidential campaigns are working feverishly to turn out their delegates and hopefully improve on their positions heading into the state convention May 17-18.

Since the new county voting plan was announced Mar. 5, the campaigns of both N.Y. Sen. Hillary Clinton and Ill. Sen. Barack Obama, with the help of state and county party staff, have identified their full complements of delegates for the re-vote and mailed delegates their credentials. Now, the campaigns are relying on telephone and e-mail contacts for a GOTD (get-out-the-delegates) effort to get their people to the Apr. 12 poll.

"We're just whipping our delegates," said Clinton state and Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid today. "It's a pretty small universe relative to what we had to deal with prior to Jan. 19. We're just encouraging them to come to the convention on the 12th and vote for Hillary."

LAS VEGAS—It is a story that has been rumored about for months. Some Nevada Republicans, taking advantage of state Democratic rules that allowed them to register as Democrats the day of the Jan. 19 caucus, may have participated in their own party’s caucus in the early morning, switched parties to take part in the Democratic caucuses afterward, only to re-register again as Republicans shortly thereafter.

Unfortunately for those who may have thus attempted to multiply their say in the nomination process, however, they just might still be registered as Democrats.

Democratic leaders announce new county delegate plan.: From left: Commissioner Rory Reid, convention chair Bill Stanley, former state Sen. Terry Care, county chair John Hunt, state Sen. Steven Horsford, state chair Sam LiebermanLas Vegas- Democratic Party leaders hosted a press conference this afternoon at the Thomas and Mack Center on the campus of UNLV to outline their new plan to elect Clark County delegates for their party’s state convention May 17-18. Chairman John Hunt kicked off the press conference with a solemn mea culpa for the chaos Clark County Democrats experienced at the aborted Feb. 23 county convention.

“The turnout was unprecedented,” said Hunt, “ten times more than any county convention has ever held in Clark. I want to apologize to all Democrats who were inconvenienced or frustrated.”

Hunt outlined the negotiations that had taken place over the last week among the Clark County Party, the Nevada Democratic Party, the Democratic National Committee and its Delegate Selection Committee and the two remaining Democratic campaigns to reach a plan for what he called “a fair and equitable election so that we can seat our delegates at the state convention in Reno.”

The motion to recess is voted down.

Note that convention chair Bill Stanley does not use the convention's comically oversized gavel.

Clark County Democratic Convention chairman Bill Stanley moves to recess the convention until a later date.

Many disagree with the idea.