Obama lets Elko know, ‘I need you’

ELKO -- Four years ago, Elko County was so Republican that then-Democratic Chairwoman Dorothy North said Democrats worried about vandalism if they put bumper stickers on their cars supporting presidential candidate John Kerry.

On Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called himself an "honorary Elkonian" as more than 1,000 cheering supporters turned out at Elko City Park to hear their presidential choice.

"Elko, I need you," Obama told the crowd, many too young to vote.

The trip was Obama's third in 13 months to this city of 18,500. He reminded his supporters that in the past, both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates ignored Elko.

Now, even Reece Keener, chairman of the Elko County Republican Party Central Committee, said there is an excitement in Elko about Obama.

But Keener insisted Obama is not going to win in November in Elko County, where Republicans hold a better than 2-to-1 registration advantage.

"John McCain will be here in October, I promise," he said of the GOP nominee soon after Obama left for the Democratic stronghold of Las Vegas. "Elko is going to remain red."

That might be so, but beside the point.

Obama will not win the rural counties, political observers say, but it's a good move on his part to try to make inroads.

If Obama can pick up 30 percent of the vote here and elsewhere in rural Nevada, University of Nevada, Reno political science professor Eric Herzik said, he might take Nevada's five electoral votes.

"It was a very smart move," Herzik said about Obama's trips to Elko. "You just cannot write off a whole region. The Republicans are going to be seriously challenged. Now they have to defend Elko."

Herzik credits Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, with coming up with a strategy based on the assumption that Democratic presidential candidates cannot win if they ignore rural America.

"They may not get an immediate payoff, but they have to make an attempt," Herzik said. "What if they improve by 10 percent in close races? I think Obama will win."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has blamed Kerry's 2 percentage point loss to President Bush in the state in 2004 on Kerry ignoring rural Nevada.

Bush outpolled Kerry 4 to 1 in Elko County.

Keener acknowledges there is "a lot of Obamamania" here now, but said it will fade by Election Day.

"A lot of people here are associated with mining, and the liberal wing of the Democrat Party is not supportive of mining."

That viewpoint was expressed by some Elko residents who did not attend the Obama rally.

"Mining is our way of life," said Kim Church, an Elko mother of 15. "It's a big deal for us. Historically when the Democrats are in, mining is hurt."

"When Republicans are in power, mining flourishes," said Pete Lutz, a day laborer. "Miners like Republicans because they are more lenient on regulation. He is not going to get the mining vote. I'm not sure why he comes here."

Mining is a $9.1 billion industry in rural Nevada. It employs 13,800 Nevadans at an average pay of $70,023 a year, according to the Nevada Mining Association.

State statistics show the average income of Elko County families in 2004 was $52,000, or $5,000 above the state average and $7,000 more than that of the typical Clark County family.

When Obama first visited Elko in August 2007, he was caught off-guard when a member of the audience asked if he favored an 8 percent royalty on gold.

Nevada produces more than two-thirds of the gold in the United States, much of it within 100 miles of Elko.

"I am still in the learning phase of this process," Obama said at the time. "I don't want to destroy jobs and the interests in this area of Nevada."

On Wednesday, he told his Elko supporters that he has learned about the mining laws. But Obama still did not say whether he supports royalties on gold and took no questions from the local press.

Some residents interviewed last week said there is another reason why Obama can't win here in November: race.

"In this town there are not many blacks, and people won't vote for a black man for president," said Ray, a miner who refused to give his last name. "Elko is like many small towns. People won't vote for blacks."

Just 1 percent of the county's population is black, but most people interviewed in Elko said Obama's biracial background makes no difference.

"Those days are gone," said Rick Martin, a day laborer. "A black man can win here."

"There are a lot of people here who support Obama," added Kimberly Schmeling, a social services worker. "We are excited. We are such a small town and he comes here. He even had an office here."

Elko native Robert McKenzie said it is hard for him to believe how his hometown has changed.

"It is so different now," he said. "It gives me butterflies. People may not have been thinking then (when they voted for Bush), but they are thinking now. There has been a change."

Two years ago on Election Day there were 10,246 registered Republicans in Elko County. Today there are 9,220, or 1,026 fewer GOP members. Although there are only 4,395 registered Elko County Democrats, that's just 47 fewer than in 2006.

Also, the Elko County Democrats have a Web site that includes party registration information and how to contact the party by phone. County Republicans have neither a Web site nor a listed telephone number in the local phone book.

And some residents say they have been turned off by Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons.

Although Gibbons was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Ethics Commission in securing a $39.71 property tax bill on 40 acres of ranch land he owns in Elko County, they wonder why they pay more.

While he won't criticize Gibbons, Keener said he "hasn't helped us."

It's likely Obama will return to Elko before the election. McCain was here last winter before he won his party's nomination.

Registered nurse and Elko native Olyna Winkler senses a change in thinking in rural Nevada.

"This is enemy territory, but it doesn't mean people can't be swayed," said Winkler, who missed the Wednesday speech but earlier traveled to Las Vegas to see Obama.

"I think he will win votes here," she said. "People are opening their minds to things they hadn't heard before."

Gloria Hernandez of Fernley drove 250 miles to hear Obama speak in Elko.

She fell in love with him in 2004 when the largely unknown Obama gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention.

"He made me feel good about the United States again," she said.

Contact Review-Journal Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at 775-687-3900 or evogel@reviewjournal.com