County Democrats expecting a crowd

Anticipating a Clark County Democratic Convention of unprecedented scope, party leaders are making extensive preparations.

With Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama still battling for the nomination, the convention, less than two weeks away, could draw more than 8,000 people looking to continue the fight for their candidate.

"The county convention in the past has been a rah-rah meeting, a pep rally," said Bill Stanley, the convention's chairman. "This year, we actually have some important business to conduct, and with the possibility of a brokered convention, the delegates from Nevada could be very significant."

The county convention will be one of 17 held across the state on Feb. 23. Precinct delegates from the Jan. 19 caucuses vote at the county convention for a smaller number of delegates to represent Clark County at the state convention.

"This will undoubtedly be the largest county convention in the history of Nevada," Clark County Democratic Party Chairman John Hunt said Tuesday. "The response so far has been tremendous."

The caucuses drew 117,000 Democrats statewide, far exceeding the party's hopes and overwhelming its capacity. If you thought the process was confusing and chaotic in a room with a couple of hundred people, wait till you see the county convention.

"We're dealing with problems of riches," Hunt said. "We're doing everything we can to make sure it goes as smoothly as possible and accommodates everybody."

The county party is trying to avoid the problems that plagued the caucuses and its Jefferson-Jackson dinner in November. Last-minute registrations for the dinner, at which all of the candidates spoke after their national debate in Las Vegas, with human error and time constraints, led to problems getting attendees checked in.

A traffic jam at the door is still expected at the county convention. But those who want to avoid it can preregister online and pick up their convention pass the night before, then bypass the lines.

Preregistration is at www. clarkcountydemocrats.org, and the deadline is Friday. Delegates were sent postcards with the information they will need.

As an indication of the extent to which the party is preparing for high turnout, there will be 80 check-in lines when the day starts at 8 a.m. at the Bally's Event Center.

Hunt said the venue is a former jai alai fronton, the term for the arena where the fast-moving Basque ball sport is played.

The all-day event won't be all tedious electioneering. Humorist and U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken is the keynote speaker; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Nevada Democratic Party Chairwoman Jill Derby will speak too, Hunt said.

At the precinct caucuses in Clark County, 7,504 delegates were apportioned. However, at nearly 1,000 precincts, delegates were assigned to candidates, but no actual person was elected to be the delegate, said Stanley, who is the director of organizing for the international elevator builders union.

Those delegate slots will be filled with alternates, as will no-shows to the convention.

Anyone who attended the precinct caucuses can be an alternate to the county convention. The alternates seated must share the presidential preference of the absent or unassigned delegates. Priority will be given to alternates from the same precinct as the delegates they're replacing.

Although they were selected based on candidate preference, the delegates are not bound, meaning they can change their minds. The Clinton and Obama campaigns both have said they're keeping their supporters mobilized to drive their delegates to the county conventions.

Clinton won the majority of Clark County delegates, 54 percent to Obama's 44 percent.

Anyone can attend the convention as a nonvoting guest if they pay the $50 registration fee. The fee, intended to help defray the cost of the convention, is optional for delegates who cannot afford it.

The delegate election process at the county conventions is similar to the precinct caucus process, with an initial preference poll, then a realignment for those whose candidates do not have at least 15 percent of the vote.

The county party is hoping an 8,000-person caucus nonetheless will be manageable because of preparation, manpower, contingency plans for possibilities created by high turnout and, most of all, lessons learned, Stanley said.

Up to 2,463 delegates to the state convention in Reno in May can be elected at the county convention, but they must be willing to travel to the event and pay their own way.

In another effort to streamline the county convention, the party is separating the debate over its platform from the main convention and holding it in two work sessions beforehand.

All Democrats are welcome at the platform meetings, the first one at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Painters union hall in Henderson, the second at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Sahara West Library.

The platform will be voted on, but not debated, on the floor of the Feb. 23 convention.

Clark County Republicans, for their part, are planning for a smaller affair at their convention, scheduled for March 8.

Before Mitt Romney, who got more than half of the vote at the caucuses, dropped out of the presidential race last week, the county GOP was scrambling for a venue to accommodate 6,000-plus people, perhaps the Thomas & Mack Center.

But "now that Romney's out of it, we're not going to see the numbers we originally expected," County Chairman Bernie Zadrowski said.

Republicans are still expecting turnout to top the previous record of 500, set in 2002. Their convention is being held at The Orleans.

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