County GOP set to gather

Clark County Republicans hold their convention today, hoping to rally the party faithful around their presumptive presidential nominee, John McCain.

The party expects this year's event to be the biggest county convention in history because of the Jan. 19 caucuses, which attracted thousands of people who had never before participated in Republican politics.

Today's convention is at The Orleans. Speakers are scheduled to include Gov. Jim Gibbons, Sen. John Ensign and Rep. Dean Heller.

More than 44,000 people participated in the Republican caucuses, which is a far cry from the Democrats' 117,000, but a turnout the GOP was nonetheless proud of.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was the overwhelming winner with 51 percent of the vote to his nearest rival's 13 percent. McCain came in third.

After Romney dropped out of the race last month, Republican officials wondered whether those who came out to vote for him still would be motivated to be active in the party. County GOP Chairman Bernie Zadrowski said that worry was proving to be unfounded as nearly 3,000 had pre-paid the $25 fee to attend.

"When Governor Romney was no longer in the race, we were seriously concerned we wouldn't be able to fill up the am/pm on the corner with delegates," Zadrowski said. "But with John McCain at the top of the ticket, we've got the largest Republican (county) convention in Nevada history."

At the caucuses, about 5,100 delegates were elected. Friday afternoon, Zadrowski said almost 1,000 people had stopped by The Orleans throughout the day.

"We opened (registration) at 10 a.m. and the line of people wanting picking up their delegate packets early was already out the door all the way to Peter Piper Pizza," he said.

Local party conventions are normally modest affairs devoted to internal business, speechmaking and bickering about the platform. The Clark County Democratic Convention on Feb. 23 was an anomaly, as thousands of supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama overflowed Bally's hoping to support their candidate in the ongoing, hard-fought race.

Zadrowski said he had nothing but sympathy for county Democratic Chairman John Hunt, who has been widely criticized for inadequate planning of the Feb. 23 event. Republicans, he said, were trying to secure the Thomas & Mack Center until Romney dropped out of the race.

The Republicans have rented a ballroom that seats 1,700 and two satellite rooms, equipped with live video of the main stage, each holds about 1,000, he said.

Clark County can send up to 1,970 delegates to the state convention. With the previous record convention attendance, in 2004, just 500, the county's delegation has never been filled, Zadrowski said. "Not even close."

State delegates must pay their own way to the state convention, scheduled for April 26 at the Peppermill in Reno.

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2919.