Media interest high in caucuses

Peter Gold, a senior news producer with Japan's Fuji Television Network, had a choice between covering South Carolina or Nevada's presidential nominating events on Saturday. A co-worker preferred South Carolina, which was fine with Gold.

"He thought the news story was bigger in South Carolina," Gold said. But with the Culinary union's endorsement of Barack Obama, the ensuing lawsuit over at-large caucus sites on the Strip and the way the vote played out in Hillary Clinton's favor, he said he got the better assignment.

"I came to think that the news story here was more interesting," he said. "The Hispanic newspapers are supporting her, the union is supporting him. What is a Hispanic union member going to do?"

Race, union membership and gender figured heavily in the analysis coming from the likes of CNN, USA Today and the New York Times, showing the state's caucuses were closely watched by the national media.

International news organizations had a significant presence as well. That's not necessarily unusual in a town that's the running-amok destination of choice for the O.J. Simpsons and Britney Spearses of the world, but this time the interest wasn't tabloid, it was political.

A dozen satellite trucks surrounded Cashman Center on Saturday afternoon and 25 TV cameras were set up for remote broadcasts from the Democrats' caucus headquarters.

In addition to English, dispatches were being given in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese and French.

Rodrigo Alvarez, who works out of Brazil's Globo TV office in San Francisco, lamented that he didn't offer a more nuanced picture of Las Vegas on this trip, although he insisted that he did better on previous stories on local companies and the construction boom.

"It sounds strange when you say that there's a caucus in Vegas, and that's the way I started my story," he said. "People could vote in casinos. That's the most strange thing. It looks like mixing two things that don't go together, like oil and water, religion and sin."

Won Tae Kim, the Los Angeles-based correspondent for MBC News in Seoul, South Korea, said Koreans have an interest in U.S. politics and therefore Nevada's caucuses.

Since the United States is a superpower with a strong military presence in South Korea and an agenda-setting role with North Korea, "whoever is elected president ... has a lot of importance to Asian countries."

That's the interest of many of Lourdes Heredia's listeners on BBC's Spanish language service.

But she said there's also far more interest this cycle in the nuts and bolts of electing a U.S. president. In 2004, she said, she probably wouldn't have been dispatched to a Nevada caucus.

"I've been following it step by step," Heredia said.

Heredia's bosses are interested in perspectives from everyday Americans: how are they choosing their candidates, what their concerns are, and whether they are ready to have a woman or a black president.

People also are interested because the nominating contests haven't been decided quickly and the process, while confusing, is exciting, she said.

"It's the kind of story that people follow," Heredia said. "People are worried about where the United States is going.

"If the American economy goes wrong, it will affect everywhere else," she said.

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate @reviewjournal.com or (702) 229-6435.