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Nevada Caucus Pregame

By Tom Fletcher

Things are getting exciting! If I know EW, he's already gone to Vegas to campaign...

I've been curious about the recently dismissed caucus lawsuit. I'm not familiar with the pleadings or the substance (here's one link on the odd math), but here's what troubled me. You are a service union member working in a casino. Your union has endorsed a candidate. Because of your job, you can only attend the unionized casino-worker-only caucus near your job site. Does anyone really think that worker has complete freedom to vote their true preference? The union caucus takes everything bad about caucuses (the bullying, viability requirements, and lack of a secret ballot), and compounds it by mixing it up with work. Is that illegal or unconstitutional? I have no idea (indeed, cf. New York state judge convention decision this week upholding questionable selection process). But it smells terrible in my opinion.

So here's my prediction: Obama carries the union caucuses at percentages much higher than the rest of the state. Controlling for income, ethnicity, etc., the results will still be disproportionately in his favor at those caucuses. At which point, I wonder if anyone else will feel a little bit queasy.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on January 18, 2008 (boomark / email).