Nevada woman nervous about convention speech

DENVER -- Xiomara Rodriguez has no illusions -- the Reno resident knows why she'll be onstage tonight at the Democratic convention.

"I'm Hispanic, a veteran and a woman, so I fit three different hats," Rodriguez said Tuesday.

Rodriguez is scheduled to be one of two Nevadans speaking at the convention. The other is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

A Puerto Rico native and 20-year veteran of the Coast Guard, Rodriguez, 57, retired to Reno a decade ago with her husband, also a Coast Guard veteran. Rodriguez said she was the first Hispanic female ever accepted into the Coast Guard's special agent program.

"I got involved with the campaign from Day One because I identified with Senator Obama," Rodriguez said. "I'm in a mixed marriage. My kids are the products of a mixed marriage. We saw Obama speak at the 2004 convention, and what he said touched us."

Rodriguez was in Reno earlier this month moving tables and chairs for an Obama appearance when the campaign called her and asked her to speak. Not paying attention, she brushed off the campaign worker, telling him she was busy. Her husband said, "Did you just hear what he said?"

Rodriguez is "very proud" to be representing women, veterans and Hispanics on such a big stage, but also "extremely nervous."

"I'm a behind-the-scenes person," she said. "I knock on doors, I tell people to register to vote and come to the caucus. I don't have an inflated expectation of my 15 minutes of fame."

REID IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Sen. Reid, D-Nev., has big plans for today, when he'll give his prime-time convention speech.

In the morning, he'll hit the Nevada delegation breakfast and bring some big-name politicos, which the Nevadans haven't had thus far.

Reid is scheduled to be joined by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and oilman T. Boone Pickens, an Obama campaign energy adviser. Pickens, formerly no friend to the Democrats, has gotten downright chummy with Reid since the two worked together on the clean energy summit earlier this month at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

At 11:15 a.m. Mountain Time, Reid is scheduled to host an event with the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, led by New York Sen. Charles Schumer. A bunch of the party's top Senate candidates will be in attendance, including Mark Warner, the Virginian who's giving the convention keynote speech.

The Democratic Senate candidates include two Udall cousins -- Coloradan Mark Udall and New Mexican Tom Udall -- as well as the man who's trying to oust a third Udall cousin from the Senate. Oregon Republican Gordon Smith is a member of the storied Western political family that traces its roots to the late Arizona Rep. Morris Udall. Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley is his general election opponent and scheduled to be at the campaign committee press conference.

Reid is scheduled to give his convention floor speech at 6 p.m. Mountain Time, which is 5 p.m. Pacific Time.

HISPANIC VOTES

When New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was campaigning to be America's first Hispanic president, many speculated he was really angling to be a higher-profile candidate's running mate.

At a briefing Tuesday on Hispanic voters, Richardson was asked how he thought the recent addition of Sen. Joe Biden to the ticket would affect the Democrats' push for Hispanic votes.

"I could have given you a better scenario to get that vote," Richardson, sporting his post-campaign goatee, said to laughs.

Richardson made a case in the briefing that Hispanic voters have turned decisively toward the Democrats and are going to be the bloc that turns the West in their favor.

"The three states that are going to decide this election are New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado, and these three states, I predict, will go Democratic by small margins because of the Hispanic vote," he said.

The Hispanic vote, he said, will be a bigger factor than Western voters' environmentalism or individualism.

Pollster Andrew Myers presented data on what he said was the largest research project ever conducted with Hispanic voters in the West. In Nevada, he said, Hispanic likely voters favor Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain by a huge margin: 67 percent to 25 percent.

The numbers were similar in New Mexico and Colorado.

Eliseo Medina, a longtime Hispanic organizer and executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, said he has never seen Hispanics, who historically have turned out to vote at lower rates than other groups, so keen to participate.

"What I am seeing is a highly motivated, excited electorate eager to have their voices heard," he said. "They think, they feel in their hearts, their guts, that they have been unfairly victimized by politically motivated attacks, by politicians who see beating up on immigrants as a way to win votes."

Richardson urged Obama to make the West a top priority.

"Obama needs to visit more. He needs to campaign more in the West," he said.