Politics and Porn as the Sin City Caucus Looms
By Paul Kane
LAS VEGAS -- With the Nevada caucus nine days away, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton decided to make a quick campaign stop today in Las Vegas as a sign of her intention to make some showing in "Sin City", the epicenter of the pivotal next stage in her fight to win the Democratic nomination.
It's unclear how much of a welcome wagon she'll be receiving.
It's not just that the most powerful labor group in Las Vegas, the Culinary Union, endorsed Sen. Barack Obama yesterday. Outside the Las Vegas Hilton, an electronic billboard blasts a slogan all too similar to that of her top competitor's: "CHANGE IS GOOD."
(The billboard is advertising "Menopause", a musical hyping itself as a "hilarious celebration about women and the change.")
Clinton knows a lot about change. After running a campaign based on inevitability, she was caught off guard by Obama's insurgent generation-Y "change" movement in the Iowa caucuses. Then, on the brink of a massive staff shakeup and expecting a drubbing in New Hamsphire, Clinton found herself the unexpected winner of the first presidential primary there earlier this week.
After initial signs that she might completely bypass Nevada, which used the political muscle of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to secure this plum spot as the second caucus state, Clinton has come to Las Vegas for an event to highlight the mortgage crisis. This is part of the campaign's increased focus on the economy, which buoyed her votes among working class New Hamsphire voters.
How the Nevada caucus will turn out is an open question. The state, which has more than 300,000 registered Democrats, has never held a high-profile caucus or primary -- unlike Iowa and New Hampshire.
In those states, Obama benefited from high turnout in his battle against Clinton. Here, the opposite could be true. If turnout is low and driven by the Culinary Union, as well as the Obama-endorsed local chapter of the Service Employees International Union, it may be impossible for Clinton to overcome that institutional edge.
But Las Vegas today wasn't buzzing with excitement about Clinton, nor even for Obama's trip here tomorrow.
Instead, the 150,000 conventioneers in town for the Consumer Electronics Association show were wrapping up one the glitziest events of the year to make way for another big-in-Las Vegas event.
The Mandalay Bay Casino will be hosting the 25th annual Adult Video News Awards show, the "Oscars" of the porn industry, on Saturday night.
Posted at 5:26 PM ET on Jan 10, 2008
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Posted by: howzie | January 11, 2008 2:10 PM
Style vs Substance
Both get get things done.
One may take longer.
One may make mistakes.
Not much time.
Probably Hill.
Maybe O
Posted by: hhkeller | January 11, 2008 9:50 AM
Apparently, Mr Kane has decided he would rather entertain his well to do, cynical reporter friends than do his freakin' job. Thanks for nothing, prick.
Posted by: zukermand | January 11, 2008 6:24 AM
I, for one, cannot believe like the rest of you do that Hillary has the experience that she claims when it comes to being First Lady. When someone cheats on their spouse, the spouse is the last person to find out (i.e. Monica Lewinsky and the blue dress). I am certain that high level discussions with foreign heads of state do not include the First Lady. How any of you cannot be utterly repulsed as I am at the sight of her is beyond me. For the Clintons to move to New York so that she could be senator (She could not have won in Arkansas)is a flaw in the system. Should she be elected President of the United States then it might be time to give up my citizenship and move abroad.
Posted by: hypratt | January 11, 2008 5:58 AM
Wait a minute...so when Barack Hussein Obama pledges to work with Republicans and represent Democrats, Republicans and independents that's called being a uniter.
However, when Hillary enjoys good working relationships with all of her colleagues in the Senate, that's disappointing?
I'll never quite understand why she is always the victim of these blatant double-standards. No wonder she enjoys more support from actual real Democrats than he does. Maybe he should run as a Republican, that seems to be where all his votes come from.
Posted by: kelsey | January 11, 2008 2:22 AM
Hillary Clinton has "Partner[ed] With Many Republicans Who "Tried To Remove Her Husband From Office" (ANNE E. KORNBLUT / NY Times | April 30 2006) Rubbing shoulders with the "Conservative" elite and "opposition" Republicans (Steve Watson | May 10 2006) like R. Murdoch, the conservative whose tabloid savaged Hillary's initial aspirations to become a US senator for NY, has agreed to host a political fundraiser for her re-election campaign (Financial Times)."
"Such elite back slapping and shoulder rubbing again highlights that when it comes to getting ahead it pays to be on the same page. Like, partying at Fox News, and buddying up with the very same Republicans who tried to get her husband impeached; whilst her husband has been hanging around with the Bushes, Hillary has also been living it up with the likes of Newt Gingrich, Bill Frist, JOHN McCAIN and Rick Santorum- clearly a bipartisan move underway to shift public perception."
I am so disappointed in her. She does not represent the people, only the warmongers of the current administration.
Posted by: polisci.usa73 | January 10, 2008 10:27 PM
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As a Nevadan, may I say that while all of the out-of-towners are focused on the glitz, the Caucus has been the talk of everyone I come into contact with on a dialy basis.
It's cheap and lazy to write stories like the above--take 5 minutes to talk to people who live here, why don't you?