Berkley speaks for delegation on floor

"Nevada, you have 34 votes, how do you cast them?" the secretary of the Democratic National Convention asked from the podium Wednesday.

"Thank you, Madam Secretary," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., responded, speaking from a lectern in Nevada's section of the convention floor as the states went through their roll call to nominate a presidential candidate.

"I'm Congresswoman Shelley Berkley from the great state of Nevada -- the Battle Born state that's the battleground state in the 2008 presidential election and home to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid," she said.

"Nevada casts eight votes for Senator Hillary Clinton and 25 votes for Senator Barack Obama because he has a vision for the West: investing in renewable energy, caring for our veterans and keeping nuclear waste out of Yucca Mountain!" One Nevada delegate was not present to vote.

Thanks to its place in alphabetical order, Nevada just barely got to be counted in the roll call. Shortly afterward, the New York delegation, led by Clinton, moved to skip the rest of the roll call and give Obama the nomination.

Had delegates stuck with their presidential preferences from the May state Democratic convention, there probably would have been 21 for Obama and 13 for Clinton, including superdelegates.

Rory Reid, Clinton's Nevada campaign chairman, said he cast his vote for Obama. "I waited until today" to switch allegiance, he said. "I think Hillary clearly sent a message when she told all of us to unify. I followed her example."

Nevada delegate Erica Morris, however, said she stuck with Clinton. "She was the person that I was elected (as a delegate) to represent," said the 25-year-old Las Vegan. "I felt that it was my role to uphold that." But Morris said she's already volunteering for the Obama campaign.

MORE POWER FOR REID

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid headed a news conference Wednesday to talk about the prospect of having more of a majority to lead.

"We believe the wind's at our back," he said. "I am not here to predict how many seats we're going to pick up, but we're going to pick up some seats."

That seems almost certain given the landscape of Senate races. The Republicans' Senate campaign leader, who happens to be Reid's Nevada delegation mate, Sen. John Ensign, also has predicted Democratic gains.

Appearing with the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee chairman, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, and Democratic Senate challengers from New Hampshire, Colorado, New Mexico, Maine, Oregon and Virginia, Reid pointed out that since he became majority leader, Democrats have had the slimmest possible majority, 51 votes.

Reid said he needs more Democratic votes to get things done in the Senate.

"The Republicans haven't gotten over our being in the majority, so they've been in a snit now for 21 months, and they have done everything they can to maintain the status quo," he said.

NEVADA'S HISPANIC STAR

If you walked into Wednesday's Hispanic caucus meeting, you would have seen Nevada's own Geoconda Arguello Kline giving an interview in Spanish to Telemundo.

Arguello Kline, a convention delegate, is president of Nevada's Culinary union, which represents most Strip hotel workers. She's an immigrant from Nicaragua who worked her way up in the union after starting out as a housekeeper.

The 60,000-member union waited to make an endorsement until 10 days before Nevada's Jan. 19 caucuses. Despite a big push for Barack Obama, many union members supported Hillary Clinton in those contentious casino caucuses on the Strip. Clinton did especially well with Hispanic caucus-goers, according to exit polls.

Now that Obama is the nominee, Arguello Kline is in a position to help tell his story to the Hispanic community.

"Part of my responsibility is to explain to people that Barack Obama is a person like us," she said. "He didn't have it easy; I didn't have it easy, workers don't have it easy."

Health care, jobs, home foreclosures and "the soldiers in Iraq" are all arguments for electing Obama, Arguello Kline said.

Addressing the Hispanic caucus was Michelle Obama, who echoed many of the themes from her Monday night speech and made a pitch for Hispanic votes, which Democrats have said repeatedly this week will be crucial, especially in Nevada and other Western swing states.

A poll by Latino Decisions found that Nevada's Hispanic voters favor Barack Obama over Republican John McCain, 68 percent to 22 percent.

The margins were similar in Colorado and New Mexico, according to the poll. But McCain was ahead, 48 percent to 45 percent, among Hispanics in Florida, another key state.

MORE NEVADA POLLING

A new Time/CNN poll of selected battleground states gives Barack Obama the lead in Nevada with 49 percent of the vote to John McCain's 44 percent.

Obama also led in New Mexico and Pennsylvania in the poll, while McCain edged him out in Colorado.

The poll of 625 Nevada voters was conducted Sunday through Tuesday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The poll also found third-party candidates could have a dramatic effect in Nevada. When they were included, Obama's lead evaporated.

In a five-way contest, Obama and McCain tied with 41 percent. Independent candidate Ralph Nader had 6 percent, Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr had 5 percent and Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney had 3 percent.

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@reviewjournal.com.