Obama quietly organizing in Nevada while GOP contenders ignore Silver State
By Anjeanette Damon, Las Vegas Sun
As most of the political world’s attention is captured by the circus of the Republican presidential primary, Barack Obama’s campaign has been assiduously reactivating the formidable infrastructure that helped drive him to victory four years ago.
Obama and the Democratic Party have been pouring organizing resources into battleground states such as Nevada, recruiting volunteers, building social networks, holding outreach events and registering voters.
That same machine will be used to identify and turn out supporters next November.
And the bad news for Republicans, who have largely skipped Nevada in their primary contest, is Obama doesn’t have much work to do to rejuvenate an organization he has been maintaining since he won the state by 12 points four years ago.
“The organizing efforts actually have been pretty good and pretty consistent for a couple of years in Nevada,” said Chip Evans, former chairman of the Washoe County Democratic Party, a key swing county in Nevada. “To some extent, they’ve expanded the Democratic base of activists beyond the typical folks we’ve usually seen.”
Ronni Council, a Democratic strategist in Las Vegas, said the same has been occurring in Southern Nevada.