Nevada Caucus Challenge Dismissed
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Hillary, Law, NevadaGood news for the Obama camp. Bad news for the Clinton’s credibility.
“State Democrats have a First Amendment right to association, to assemble and to set their own rules,” [U.S. District Court Judge James] Mahan said.Nevada’s Democratic Party approved creation of the precincts to make it easier for housekeepers, waitresses and bellhops to caucus during the day near work rather than have to do so in their neighborhoods.
The state teachers union, which has ties to Clinton, brought the suit against the special precincts shortly after local 226 of the Culinary Workers Union endorsed Obama for the Democratic nomination. The union is the largest in Nevada, with 60,000 members. The Clinton campaign said it was not involved in the suit.
The suit contended party rules allowing the precincts gave too much power to the casino workers and violated federal equal protection guarantees.
But the judge said, “We aren’t voting here, we’re caucusing. That’s something that parties decide.”
He said it is “up to the national party and the state party to promulgate these rules and enforce them.”The Democratic National Committee ratified the state party’s rules in August.
Do note the “August” timeframe in that last sentence. These people have known since August, and they only filed after Barack got the Culinary Workers endorsement? If Hillary had gotten that union’s backing, would the State Teachers Union have filed the suit? Well, I think you know my opinion.
In the end, the Clintons would have done well to get out in front of this and challenge the lawsuit. It was so blatantly disenfranchising their own party’s voters, and I don’t understand how they could’ve miscalculated that. Now Nevadans are pissed at Hill’s campaign, which doesn’t bode well for her in Saturday’s contest. Not that she has been counting on a win in Nevada anyway, but if she loses there and then in South Carolina (which is likely), what will that do to her chances going into Super Tuesday?
We shall see…
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Hillary, Law, Nevada. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
