Candidates hoping Silver State delivers presidential gold

It's Caucus Week in Nevada, and the politicians want you.

Candidates, especially the top Democrats, will be all over the state in the coming days leading up to Saturday's presidential nominating contest.

If you have managed not to hear by now that Nevadans for the first time have a major voice in determining the presidential nominees, that fact is likely to hit you in the face on Tuesday, when Democrats Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama will participate in a nationally televised debate at Cashman Center.

The 6 p.m. debate is being broadcast on MSNBC and features NBC's Brian Williams and Tim Russert.

Tickets to the debate are no longer available, but there should be plenty of opportunities to see the candidates up close and personal in the coming days.

Today, Obama is in Las Vegas and Pahrump. At 3 p.m., he rallies with his supporters at the Culinary union at its hall downtown.

At 6 p.m., Obama meets with local residents at Pahrump's Rosemary Clarke Middle School, 4201 N. Blagg Road. To obtain a free ticket, call the Pahrump campaign office at (775) 537-1008.

On Monday, Obama is scheduled to visit Reno, Fallon and Carson City. He returns to Las Vegas for Tuesday's debate.

Edwards has not been to Nevada since November. Since his third-place finish in last week's New Hampshire primary, he has been campaigning in South Carolina, which votes after Nevada.

Edwards will return for Tuesday's debate, however, and his campaign says he will spend the next two days in the state. On Wednesday, he'll campaign in Reno and Las Vegas. On Thursday, he'll be in Las Vegas and Henderson. Details of those events haven't been released yet.

After visiting Las Vegas and Reno on Saturday, Clinton today is in South Carolina. She spends Monday in New York and returns to Las Vegas Tuesday for the debate.

Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to campaign for his wife in Northern Nevada today.

A Republican candidate, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, is scheduled to visit Pahrump this evening. Paul is scheduled to attend events in Reno and Carson City on Monday, and to appear in Las Vegas on Tuesday. No details have been released.

No other Republicans have announced visits here, although Mitt Romney, who has built an organization in Nevada, is expected to visit before the caucus.

The Republicans are preoccupied with a Michigan primary, scheduled for Tuesday, in which the Democrats are not competing, as well as a South Carolina primary on Saturday. The Democrats' South Carolina primary is a week later than the Republicans'.

All the active campaigns will be sparing no effort in the coming week to find potential voters, win them over and make sure they show up at their proper caucus locations on Saturday.

The campaigns are combing the state with staffers and volunteers knocking on doors and making phone calls, while local television and radio stations air candidate ads and fliers come through the mail.

Local unions will be canvassing the state for their candidates, while some unions are importing workers from out of state, such as the American Federation of Teachers.

AFT, which supports Clinton, doesn't represent any teachers in Nevada, although some of its retirees live here. It plans to bring in about 15 staffers and its president, a spokeswoman said.

Obama has the Culinary union hard at work for him, while his supporters in the Service Employees International Union, who call themselves "Ba-Rock-Stars," also have been deployed.

And while they may not be as famous as President Clinton, surrogates for the candidates will also be roaming Nevada. For example, actress Madeline Stowe plans to knock on doors in Las Vegas for Edwards today, and the campaign says she'll stay for several days.

It all culminates Saturday. The Republicans have 113 caucus sites, the Democrats 520.

You must attend the caucus location for your voting precinct in order to participate. The Republican caucuses begin at 9 a.m., the Democrats' at 11 a.m.

If you're a registered voter with your party, you should get a card in the mail telling you where to go. You can also find links to the parties' caucus locator Web sites at www.reviewjournal.com/politics.

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