LAS VEGAS — A last-minute federal court battle over caucus rules demonstrates just how important a tight three-way Democratic presidential contest in Nevada has become in the battle for momentum headed into Super Tuesday’s votes.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards are in a statistical dead heat in polling here before Saturday’s caucuses.
And Nevada’s sizable blocs of Latino, union and urban voters could provide an indicator of where the race is headed Feb. 5, when hundreds of delegates will be awarded in states with significant minority populations.
By contrast, Republican candidates have stayed away from the diverse electorate and unfamiliar electoral landscape as Nevada voters weigh in earlier than ever before.
At issue in a federal court hearing today is whether Democratic caucuses will be held in nine casinos along the Las Vegas Strip. The special locations were designed to make it easier for housekeepers, waitresses and bellhops in the state’s biggest industry to caucus at midday near their jobs rather than returning home to neighborhood precincts.
The rules were unanimously approved by the state Democratic Party in March and ratified by the Democratic National Committee in August.
But Friday, six Democrats and a teachers union, which has ties to the Clinton campaign, sued to shut the sites on grounds they allocate too many delegates to one group. Of roughly 10,000 delegates to Nevada’s presidential nominating convention, more than 700 could be selected at casino caucuses, depending on turnout, which could make them more valuable than some sparsely populated Nevada counties, the lawsuit said. Four plaintiffs are on the committee that approved the sites.
The DNC petitioned to join the suit on behalf of the state party Tuesday.
The Clinton campaign has denied any involvement in the lawsuit, but Obama noted it was filed two days after he was endorsed by the powerful Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which has organized many workers along the Strip.
The union is the state’s largest, with 60,000 members, more than 40 percent Latino.
