Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton rallies supporters to vote during Las Vegas appearance

Hillary Clinton is priming Nevada voters to cast ballots for her. And it all starts well before Election Day.

The Democratic presidential nominee campaigned in Las Vegas on Wednesday, reminding supporters to register to vote by Tuesday. Early voting in Nevada starts Oct. 22 and ends Nov. 4.

Clinton’s campaign is shifting into the mode of getting early votes in Nevada as Republican rival Donald Trump has had a string of recent damaging headlines.

For Trump, fallout continues after a Washington Post report with a leaked 2005 videotape that includes audio of a conversation in which he talked in explicit terms about groping women. It continued Wednesday with a New York Times report in which women allege Trump inappropriately touched them. Trump’s campaign called that report “fiction.”

Clinton hammered Trump for calling the conversation “locker room talk,” and she noted professional athletes and coaches have taken offense to his explanation and have stepped up to say that’s not locker room talk.

She also encouraged the audience to persuade their friends who support Trump to join her side.

“Stage an intervention,” Clinton told them. Her advice came as Trump is facing opposition even from prominent Republicans who are fleeing the other direction.

She added, “Friends don’t let friends vote for Trump.”

Clinton drew an audience of about 3,475 to the grounds of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, according to Secret Service figures.

Clinton’s visit comes three days after a history-making debate Sunday with barbs that included Trump calling her the “devil” and telling her he’d appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton if he’s elected.

Clinton said Trump’s attention on her isn’t a problem, but she does take issue with what he says about others, calling him an “equal opportunity insulter.”

Las Vegas DREAMer and immigration activist Astrid Silva, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, and U.S. Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto all helped introduce Clinton to the Las Vegas crowd.

Clinton hit on many of her usual policy points, including raising the minimum wage and restructuring how higher education is paid for, during her half-hour speech.

Clinton said the differences she has with Trump go beyond policy issues.

“Donald Trump is different,” Clinton said. “He is unqualified and unfit to be president and commander in chief.”

She added: “So that is why it’s so important that all of you register to vote.”

SURPRISE STOP

On her way to the rally, Clinton stopped at Tacos El Gordo at 1724 E. Charleston Blvd., surprising customers.

Clinton posed for pictures with people at the restaurant and shook hands with potential voters.

One of them was Paola Espino, 19, a Las Vegas resident who was eating there with a couple of friends.

Espino said she’s registered to vote but wasn’t sure she’d be casting a ballot. That’s changed now that she’s met the next potential president.

“Now, I have to vote for Hillary,” she said.

“I’m still shaking,” said her friend, Dulce Suarez, 19, also of Las Vegas. “I’m still in shock.”

A handful of anti-Clinton protesters stood outside the Smith Center on Wednesday night as people lined up to get into the event.

Matthew Burgart, 45, held up two signs disparaging the Democratic candidate while shouting back and forth with those in line.

“People need to be educated because they’re blindly following the corruption,” Burgart said.

Burgart, a Las Vegas resident, called Trump a “successful businessman,” and said that success in the private sector will help the U.S. economy.

“He’s not corrupt. He’s not a politician. He’s ready to straighten things out,” Burgart said of the Republican nominee.

Rosemary Simo, 59, said she supported Trump despite lewd comments he made in 2005 that were leaked last week, in which he was recorded — while on an “Access Hollywood” bus in 2005 — bragging about grabbing women’s genitals without consent

“Men say things,” she said.

“He didn’t stand up on the stage and say that,” Simo added. “It was a private conversation in a private bus.”

In a statement, Trump’s Nevada campaign criticized Clinton in response to her visit.

“While three out of four Americans say the country’s going in the wrong direction, Hillary Clinton offers more of the same. Nevadans want change and Donald Trump offers that positive change,” Charles Muñoz, Trump’s Nevada state director, said.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Find @BenBotkin1 on Twitter. Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Follow @coltonlochhead on Twitter.