Clinton Takes a Hit in Nevada

Legacy media was in full shit-eating grin mode in November and December when the talk was about the crack-up of the Reagan coalition. But we're going on two weeks now where the rifts in the Democratic party have been showing. Whereas Republicans divided themselves according to political philosophy, with social cons, fiscal cons, and foreign policy cons fighting over which direction to take the party, the Democrats are dividing themselves up according to race and privilege.

That's a generalization, but an accurate one. The Michigan primary showed for the first time just how fragmented the party can get. And the Nevada teachers' union just made things worse. They failed in their suit to prevent caucus locations from opening on the Vegas Strip in order to allow strip employees to participate.

The state teachers union, which has ties to Clinton, brought the suit against the special precincts shortly after local 226 of the Culinary Workers Union endorsed Obama for the Democratic nomination. The union is the largest in Nevada, with 60,000 members. The Clinton campaign said it was not involved in the suit.

The suit contended party rules allowing the precincts gave too much power to the casino workers and violated federal equal protection guarantees.

The polls have Clinton and Obama in a dead heat, but the last reliable poll was conducted over the weekend, before this got pretty nasty:

"While the Clinton camp clearly believed the voices of workers should be silenced in service of their perceived political interest, they enjoyed a 25-point lead two months ago and have much of the party establishment in their camp. So, despite their inherent advantages we are pleased this should be a close and competitive contest Saturday," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

I'm calling Nevada for Obama.

More: And, of course, once the Clintons lose the media, they'll have lost the race.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 05:27 PM

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