LAS VEGAS—Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are fighting for support among Nevada Democrats, looking beyond the leadoff contests of Iowa and New Hampshire to a state that could play a pivotal role in the nomination fight.
Clinton presented herself Wednesday night as the party’s best choice to defeat Republicans in the fall and preserve the legacy of President Barack Obama, promising Nevadans would “always have a friend in the White House if I am your president.”
“In January of 2017, a new president is going to walk into the Oval office and America can’t afford it to be a Republican who will rip away all the progress we have made,” Clinton said, as many of Sanders’ supporters stood silently, holding up signs for the Vermont senator.
Sanders was greeted by a loud cacophony of horns and vuvuzelas in his cheering section, telling supporters that Republicans suffered from “an illness called amnesia. They seem to have forgotten the conditions they left this country in” when Obama took office in January 2009.
While the former secretary of state has led Nevada polls, Sanders has poured money and staff into the state in recent weeks in hopes of pulling off an upset. Nevada follows Iowa and New Hampshire on the Democratic calendar and a split decision by the first two states could place a greater emphasis on the Western state, which features a much more diverse electorate.
The third major Democratic candidate, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, has trailed Clinton and Sanders by a wide margin but won cheers from the crowd with a series of slams against the Republican presidential field.
Addressing Donald Trump, O‘Malley said, “I’d like to say that Donald Trump is the most outrageous and unqualified person to ever run for president. But really, that’s not fair to Ted Cruz.”
The state party’s caucus dinner at the MGM Grand brought together about 2,200 activists, one of the largest gatherings before the state’s presidential caucuses on Feb. 20.
Clinton, backed by women and Latinos in large numbers, won the popular vote in Nevada’s 2008 caucuses against Obama. But the future president narrowly prevailed in the delegate count with the help of a strong showing in rural areas.
