Obama, Clinton camps ask party to investigate caucuses

The campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, in a clash over the Nevada caucuses, accused each other of dirty politics and irregularities on Wednesday and asked the Nevada Democratic Party to investigate.

Clinton won the majority of precinct delegates by a margin of 51 percent to 45 percent on Saturday.

The letter to Nevada Democratic Chairwoman Jill Derby from Obama lawyer Robert Bauer alleged instances of early closings, obstruction of voters and improper handling of voter preference cards.

Obama aides said the campaign has received more than 1,600 complaints, including 300 that came in to a hot line at the time of the caucuses.

A letter from Clinton campaign lawyer Lyn Utrecht released late Wednesday said the Obama campaign and its supporters "engaged in a planned effort to subvert the party's caucus procedures to its advantage."

Utrecht said caucus officials who supported Obama deliberately miscounted votes and refused to accept preference cards from Clinton supporters.

The letter accused Obama supporters of giving Clinton supporters wrong information and said voters who planned to caucus for Clinton were intimidated.

In a statement Wednesday, Derby indicated that the state party would conduct an internal review.

"We take seriously any complaint provided to us by any of the campaigns or by individuals who participated in the caucuses," she said.

Bauer said the Obama campaign is not challenging the outcome of the caucuses at the precinct level.

In their letters, Bauer and Utrecht asked Derby to conduct an inquiry into the other side's caucus tactics. Both campaigns offered to provide the names and contact information of the individuals making the complaints.

Attached to the Obama letter to the Nevada state party was an instruction sheet that Bauer attributed to the Clinton campaign. The sheet offered guidance on how to persuade caucus-goers to caucus for Clinton.

One line said: "It's not illegal unless they tell you so."