I just returned from caucus precint 5022 in Reno. This precinct assembled at Clayton Middle School. There were four precincts at this school.
The turnout at this school was astonishing. There were long lines and quite a few people got registered on location. I was told that precinct 5022 had about 20 people come out in 2004 and State Assemblyman David Bobzien (who co-chaired Edwards Northern Nevada campaign) told me they expected about 100 people to turn out in this district. In the end 179 people were in the room.
The atmosphere was upbeat and people were generally very polite. Didn’t see any negativity or tension in this precinct.
After the first allignment, Obama led with 97, followed by Hillary with 51 and Edwards just barely made the viability threshold of 27 by getting 28 supporters here. There was one Biden supporter (she said out of principal) and then alligned herself with Hillary, so she had 52 in the end. A couple of Kucinich supporters and a couple of uncommitted alligned themselves with other candidates before the first allignment.
This precinct received 9 delegates. Obama got 5, Hillary 3 and Edwards 1.
In this school Obama won three precincts and Hillary won one, though I was told that the other precinct were much closer than the one I was in.
The overall numbers show it was a very close race between Hillary and Obama statewide and Edwards must not have met viability (15%) in a lot of precincts, explaining his low number overall.
One final thought: for all the negative aspects of the caucus system, I must say it was interesting to see Democrats in this neighborhood interact and it will be a major plus for the Nevada State Democratic Party in the long run as far as organization goes.
UPDATE:
Just took a look at the results as they’re coming in and it’s interesting to see that as of now Obama won Carson City, Washoe County (Reno/Sparks) and Elko County plus several rural counties. And those are not union heavy counties. Hillary basically won the state because she won Clark County (Las Vegas) plus a few more rural counties. Edwards got double digits in several rural counties but did not garner the majority in any county.
Cross posted from My Silver State.