Nevada Democrats’ 2012 team taking shape

The Democrats' 2012 election team in Nevada continues to take shape with Zac Petkanas, a media adviser to Sen. Harry Reid in Washington D.C., set to return to the state next week.

Petkanas, 26, will become senior communications adviser to the Nevada Democratic Party, where he will head the party's "war room" that will frame and push out messages and respond to the same from Republicans.

The "war room" will coordinate with the campaigns of President Barack Obama in the state and with U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Shelley Berkley, two key races in the swing state.

A party spokesman said the war room also will manage communications with Democrats running for U.S. House and the Nevada legislature.

More hires are expected to be announced in the coming weeks, Democratic officials say, portraying the 2012 effort as an evolution of the party's nuts-and-bolts build-out that commenced mid-decade.

Petkanas worked as deputy communications director on Reid's 2010 Senate campaign, decamping to the state almost a year ahead of time as Reid began early to organize his re-election effort. After the election, he joined Reid's staff in Washington as his chief liaison to Nevada media.

Petkanas, who completed a political science degree at George Washington University in 2006, also has held communications positions with Democratic Reps. Hilda Solis of California, Louise Slaughter of New York, Ann Kirkpatrick of Arizona and Kathy Dahlkamper of Pennsylvania.