Nevada Dispatch: Casino Caucus Absurd
Strip? The exterior is a science-fiction golden-red futuristic wedge, unlike anything else in town at the moment. Who knows how long it will be a novelty -- Las Vegas Boulevard is a massive construction zone, and much more futuristic monuments may rise up in the very near future.
But for now, the Wynn is unique. Since I was in town for Nevada's "First in the West" Caucus and the weird experiment of letting unionized casino workers caucus in the casinos, I asked to see Saturday's vote from within the Wynn, just to see what it was like inside, and what it was like to pick a president from the massive bowels of a gambling hall.
I can't stand Vegas and never go there unless it's absolutely necessary, like for a presidential election or a nuclear bomb test. This is what happens when you've lived in Nevada a while. There's something about seeing old people with oxygen tanks playing video poker and chain smoking menthols at the Long's Drug store on a Tuesday night that just destroys any sense of gambling glamor.
The Wynn is indeed shiny and opulent inside, but it's still filled with the kind of human trash that gravitates to Las Vegas like fleas to a filthy dog. Cocktail waitresses were pretty and costumed in very little cocktail dresses
You can spend a billion dollars on the finest construction and interior design, but it's all ruined by that guy with the baseball cap and the mustache and the flip flops, sucking on a "free" Coors Lite..
It only took a horrifying 20 minutes or so to find the Caucus Ballroom, just a few miles southeast of the casino floor. Once the tourists faded away, I found myself walking huge, empty, opulent hallways. Surely those little dead girls from "The Shining" would appear and take me to play with the other media, forever and ever. Instead, I just found the usual pack of media people standing around with their industrial-strength video cameras and lights and other crap, waiting around for that three seconds of video you may or may not notice on the 6 o'clock news.
Finally, the Culinary Workers' Union members could be seen, slowly making their way down the huge chamber. They were in their work uniforms, which makes sense considering they were working -- or taking a quick break from working. The camera guys waited in vain for a cocktail waitress to show up at the Caucus, in uniform. I sat in the "media corner" of the big creepy ballroom, on the floor, and discovered there was no Internet access, no wireless, no way to get my thrilling report to the world as it happened.
Covering elections and campaigns, you get so used to having all this stuff provided -- from phone lines to catered food -- that it's a terrible outrage when something basic like The Internet isn't available for reporters.
The workers slowly made their way into this monstrous cavern that could've easily held thousands of people. They talked and gossiped and laughed, and a few even led some half-hearted chants for either Hillary or (mostly) Obama. He won the endorsement from the Vegas union, so everybody just figured he'd win all the casino workers' votes. Hillary's campaign sure thought so: Her supporters went to court to block the "at large" casino caucus from happening. But the trick failed, and on this Saturday at noon the unionized employees of nine big casinos were all meeting in ballrooms, ready to try this most ridiculous part of the American political system.
If you've paid attention to the news once every four years or so, you've probably seen video of an Iowa caucus. These are orderly, well-rehearsed affairs, where white people meet up with their lifelong neighbors and eat some pie and talk to each other about which candidate said the nicest thing the other day at the diner, or which campaign provided lackluster pie at a "town hall meeting." Iowans have been doing this since 1492, when Columbus discovered Iowa, so they know the routine.
This was not the case in Nevada. Here's a very terrible video clip
Both prove the same point: Nobody knew what the hell they were doing.
I was not the only reporter who thought the whole thing was well underway when somebody announced at the podium that the caucus was about to start. People were blowing whistles, the kind you use in parades or riots. Sinister observers from the Hillary and Obama campaigns were everywhere, getting in the faces of the Nevada Democratic Party volunteers, arguing about arcane caucus rules. People made little groups, sort of, but not in the orderly defined way we've witnessed in Iowa. A lot of the talk was in Spanish. The reporters and photographers were finally forced back to the dark corner, too far away to hear what was going on or even get decent pictures.
And then it was over. 185 people were on the Clinton side, allegedly, and 181 were on the Obama side. Edwards had only eight supporters. Supposedly the Clinton and Obama fans were now all working these same eight Edwards supporters, but I couldn't tell from so far away. They could have been dancing or playing frisbee or raising animals for all I knew. Eventually, Clinton's crowd won with just two more supporters than Barry Obama could claim.
Despite the chaos and confusion, it was worth seeing this oddball process for one reason: It played out in almost the same exact way in all the other casinos where workers caucused behind closed ballroom doors. Hillary won the union vote and she won the Hispanic vote. The only place where Barack Obama won big was my old hometown of Reno, where the Democrats are more rare but the ones you find are more liberal, probably because so many of them came to Northern Nevada from the ultra-liberal Bay Area.
Whatever, I've seen a caucus. When my children are old enough to totally ignore me, I'll sit them down and say, "Boys, one time I stood in a mostly empty casino ballroom and watched dishwashers vote for a woman and a black man.
And they'll gaze with confusion at our kitchen, wondering about the old days when even appliances could vote.
Dr. Max Chartrand4:11PMJan 21st 2008
The problem with any of the current Democratic candidates is that they have fooled a sizable number of Americans into thinking that the government can raise someone's paycheck, healthcare, and get them a good paying job by simply legislating it into action. Government is a negative force; it cannot produce any wealth, raise any capital, or make any but make-work jobs. It is parasitic by nature and its best function, after protection of life and property, is to get out of the way of those who build businesses, create jobs, and otherwise make America the economic powerhouse of the world.
You do not help the poor by pulling down the rich. You do not create jobs by regulating and taxing business our of existence. You do not provide healthcare by forcing doctors and hospitals. Only in a dictatorship can these things be done...for about as long as it takes the entreprenuers, the investors, and the brain trust to close up shop and head to freer shores. But this is a free country. Any politician that promises you something that belongs to someone else is telling you that they plan to close the door that would otherwise allow you to advance, to start a business and grow it, and that they will be shutting down freedom and free enterprise. Their only objective with such tomfoolery is to get elected. If they follow through on their promises (and let's hope and pray they don't), every city will look like Detroit within a few years---high unemployment, idle factories, huge welfare rolls, and crime as a way of life.
That is why we support Mitt Romney as President of not just the Republicans, but of the Democrats, Independents, and everyone in between. He will inspire business (not force them) to make more good paying jobs, he will assure the door is open for everyone that wants to advance the next level. He will make the now declining American dollar strong again, and gas prices lower and find ways to protect the environment with new technologies without destroying our nation in the process. We urge everyone to get behind this good man. He knows how to truly turn this nation around, and he will represent all of us, not just a handful. Mitt Romney for President. --- Dr. Max Chartrand
Ray4:45PMJan 21st 2008
Who is Barry Obama?
It is not true that Obama only won in Reno, he won many counties outside of Clark & Nye. In fact, he won more overall delegates that Clinton in the state of Nevada. Assuming the delegates vote as they said they would, Obama won by a very slim margin. This information is easily found with a simple queery on your favorite search engine, or if you can't handle that, just follow this link:
http://www.nvdems08.com/
Kitty4:58PMJan 21st 2008
OBAMA SAYS HE HAS A LOT OF REGARD FOR Bill Clinton in one breath and is insinuating he is a racist and a liar in then next.
So why would Obama have "high regard" for Clinton if he believes he is a racist and a liar? And all this while Obama says he is a "UNITER" just like BUSH did.
SOMEONE IS A DIVISIVE LIAR AND USING THE RACE CARD HERE, MR. OBAMA, BUT IT'S NOT THE CLINTONS...
Dr. Max Chartrand5:18PMJan 21st 2008
The problem with any of the current Democratic candidates is that they have fooled a sizable number of Americans into thinking that the government can raise someone's paycheck, healthcare, and get them a good paying job by simply legislating it into action. Government is a negative force; it cannot produce any wealth, raise any capital, or make any but make-work jobs. It is parasitic by nature and its best function, after protection of life and property, is to get out of the way of those who build businesses, create jobs, and otherwise make America the economic powerhouse of the world.
You do not help the poor by pulling down the rich. You do not create jobs by regulating and taxing business our of existence. You do not provide healthcare by forcing doctors and hospitals. Only in a dictatorship can these things be done...for about as long as it takes the entreprenuers, the investors, and the brain trust to close up shop and head to freer shores. But this is a free country. Any politician that promises you something that belongs to someone else is telling you that they plan to close the door that would otherwise allow you to advance, to start a business and grow it, and that they will be shutting down freedom and free enterprise. Their only objective with such tomfoolery is to get elected. If they follow through on their promises (and let's hope and pray they don't), every city will look like Detroit within a few years---high unemployment, idle factories, huge welfare rolls, and crime as a way of life.
That is why we support Mitt Romney as President of not just the Republicans, but of the Democrats, Independents, and everyone in between. He will inspire business (not force them) to make more good paying jobs, he will assure the door is open for everyone that wants to advance the next level. He will make the now declining American dollar strong again, and gas prices lower and find ways to protect the environment with new technologies without destroying our nation in the process. We urge everyone to get behind this good man. He knows how to truly turn this nation around, and he will represent all of us, not just a handful. Mitt Romney for President. --- Dr. Max Chartrand
Hope that Obama continues to call the Clinton's bluff. The Clintons had their chance in the 90's and brought us one scandal after another. SADLY, had it not been for an energized republican congress, NOTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED during the Clinton years. Obama is smart; articulate; and he does not need his spouse to do his dirty work. WE DO NOT NEED THE CLINTONS FOR ANOTHER FOUR YEARS!
Tim5:50PMJan 21st 2008
Oh PLEASE, DR. Max! We've had Reagan, Bush 1 and now too many years of Bush 2 and how many of your fairy tales have come true? Big Businesses, ESPECIALLY your typical multinational corporation don't give a rats ass for any of us! The bottom line is EVERYTHING. Profits are the only morality. The only reason that you have a seat belt in your car and that american 11 years olds don't work in coal mines for a few cents a day is that Liberals were willing to fight the damn rich and powerful! EVERY safety advance or pollution control was excessive government interferance and would make the companys go bankrupt, except, it NEVER actually happens that way.
Now, I don't particulary trust government to get stuff right. I am old enough to know that they usually don't. But at least making fat cats even richer isn't the sole reson for its existence!
Hako1:19PMJan 22nd 2008
I would consider supporting McCain, but never Romney. I think he's two-faced shape-shifter, changing his stance on issues whenever it is politically expedient.
Romney will pretend to be whatever Independents and Republicians want....as long as he gets elected. Huckabee? No way, we don't need religious fanatics in the White House....we have enough problems already.
It is a dynasty in America.The Bush family and the clinton Family won't go away. After Hillary. Jeb Bush should take a turn.
2008 is Hillary's time. She will win. Just look at Mr. Johnson the founder of BET siding with Hillary and slamming Obamah. Since Africa,Black People hated their brothers so much that they sold them as slaves to the white People. He forgot that:
50 years ago Hillary's Dad was whipping his dad!.
50 years ago Hillary's mother made his mother sit in the back of the bus!
50 years ago Hillary's uncle kicked his uncle's butt out of a restaurant!
I do not know if it's due to a lack of education or a lack of pride. Black Americans cannot understand that a vote for Obama is not a vote to elect him president
It is a vote to tell every black children that :
they are part of the American dream!
they too can grow up to be president some day!
Election 2008 it's bigger than Obama, bigger than you and me.It's about making history
foreign eyes
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