Romney names Nevada director, senior adviser for presidential campaign

Mitt Romney on Thursday named the Nevada director and senior adviser for his presidential campaign in the Silver State.

The current GOP front-runner hired the same top people who helped him win the Republican caucus in Nevada in 2008.

Sarah Nelson, his Nevada director, and veteran GOP strategist Ryan Erwin, his senior adviser, have plenty of experience in the state.

Nelson also worked on Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki's 2006 campaign. Krolicki backed Romney in 2008 and is supporting his 2012 White House bid too. More recently, Nelson helped manage GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval's inaugural activities, according to Romney's campaign. In 2010, she was deputy political director for Meg Whitman's failed GOP gubernatorial campaign in California.

Erwin is one of the more experienced Republican operatives in the West. He's the former executive director of both the Nevada and California Republican parties.

In 2008, Erwin helped Romney win the GOP caucuses, although the vote was not binding and the eventual GOP nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain skipped the contest.

The stakes are higher for 2012 when Nevada is scheduled to hold the first early voting in the West in February, following the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Also, the Nevada caucus results will be binding through the GOP presidential nominating convention and competitors will split delegates based on vote totals.

“Sarah and Ryan will be the base for a strong team as Mitt Romney campaigns across Nevada,” said Rich Beeson, Romney's political director, in a statement. “We are excited that they are joining Mitt Romney’s campaign to reverse President Obama’s failed policies and bring jobs back to Nevada.”

Romney wasn't the first candidate to hire staff in Nevada.

In January, Herman Cain named Elicia Huffaker as his Nevada director. Niger Innis, his national adviser, also is based in the Silver State where Cain spends a lot of time. The former chief of Godfather's Pizza is a popular speaker at conservative GOP gatherings here. He recently won a presidential straw poll at a Las Vegas conservative event where he was a speaker. Romney, who didn't attend the meeting, finished second and is still considered the man to beat in Nevada.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas in June named Carl Bunce as his Nevada director based in Clark County, according to Paul's campaign.

In July, Paul became the first GOP presidential contender to run a TV ad in Nevada. It also aired in Iowa and New Hampshire and argued against raising the U.S. debt ceiling.

Other White House candidates have stopped in Nevada, including former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.

Nevada is a battleground state that has picked the president in every election except one during the past century.

Obama won the state by an astounding 12 percentage points in 2008, but he has grown more unpopular, according to recent polls.

A Democratic poll released earlier this week showed Obama edging out Romney in Nevada with 47 percent support compared with 46 percent, a deadheat. The automatic telephone survey of 601 likely Nevada voters was conduced July 28-31 by the Public Policy Polling group. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Romney was far more competitive against Obama than other GOP hopefuls the poll tested.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota would finish 40-50 behind Obama if the election were held now, according to the poll.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is considering a White House run, polled 40-49 against Obama.

Cain had 39 percent support against Obama at 48 percent.

Sarah Palin, the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2008, finished 39-51 against Obama. She has not announced a presidential bid for 2012.

No other Republican candidates were tested against Obama in the poll.