Clinton Rallies Hispanic Community in Las Vegas
12 January 2008 1:14 pm by Taylor Marsh
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| Hillary Clinton at “Juntos Con Hillary, Una Vida Mejor” event in Las Vegas. Woman to her right is Rep. Shelley Berkley. |
“We’re going to see, finally, issues that are important to Nevada on the front pages.” – Hillary Clinton
Surrounded by some of the most popular and influential leaders in the Hispanic
community, today Clinton stepped out to talk to her precinct captains in an
event that only strengthened my belief that at least in Las Vegas, the Hispanic
community is behind her and ready to do everything they can to help bring people
out for next Saturday’s caucus. Announcing her “Juntos Con Hillary, Una
Vida Mejor” across Nevada, which means “With Hillary, a Better Life,” Clinton brought in what many here I talked
to consider “stars” in the community. People like Dolores Huerta,
her co-chair of Hispanic Outreach, as well as her other co-chiar Raul Yzaguirre,
the man who met Clinton 35 years ago in Texas when she went there to organize
minority voters. Nevadans like Rep. Shelley Berkley and Rep. Ruben Kihuen were
there as well, as was Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid who is Clinton’s campaign
man in Nevada. It was a precinct captain event, with canvassing kick off and volunteer appreciation events scheduled all day long, as well as tomorrow.
“I don’t believe this election is about me. I never believed that elections are about the speeches you make or the TV coverage you get, because when the camera turns off and the lights are down, what are you going to do to help somebody have a better life, what are you going to do?” – Hillary Clinton
Subtle, but on target.
The response and reaction to Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry
Cisneros was huge. The precinct captains and volunteers in the room clearly
see him as not only a leader, but a star in their community. He recently came
over from the Richardson campaign. There were several others from that campaign
at the event as well, now working with Clinton in some capacity. Cisneros’ connection
with the crowd was unmistakable, which I found out afterwards talking to a couple
of people at the event. When he spoke there was an excitement that, even in
this cozy, very enthusiastic campaign rally to pump up the troops, you could
sense. Senator Bob Menendez was another person who the crowd clearly appreciated
being present. Both he and Cisneros reached out to the crowd in Spanish as well,
getting big cheers from everyone, especially when Menendez talked about family
unification. It was one of the big guns Clinton brought out to address her supporters,
getting them excited to do phone banking and door to door canvassing. The people
brought out to talk to everyone demonstrated their importance to the Clinton
camp.
Here are podcasts of the introductions, including Cisneros and Menendez, Clinton’s
speech, with an interview with a local Hispanic supporter and volunteer as well.
I cannot begin to tell you how passionate Hillary’s Hispanic support is in
Las Vegas. They’ve got her back in this town. As for her commitment to their
community, it was unmistakable today. She sent a clear message with the Hispanic
leaders she brought in for this event that they are important to her and she
knows there are stars among them that can make the difference next Saturday.
Lots of national media in the room for the event, all of whom will be following
Clinton around today. Apropos of nothing, I sat next to Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny. One of the things
I overhead was just how tired everyone was.
Clinton looked terrific and was clearly having a great time. I’ve seen her
many times over the last year. Today there was a marked difference in her presentation
and connection. For lack of a better way to define it I’d just say she’s engaging
and speaking to the audience in a more specific way. It’s not a general speech,
with gradually rising crescendos that mark traditional campaigning of the 20th
century. Today Clinton brought the level down, with the energy and intensity
of her passion remaining, using the microphone much more, while she walked back
and forth across the stage to try to connect with different people in the crowd.
She also seems far more relaxed than she has at other times. There is a confidence
that was always there, but its grounded now, more at ease. There is none of
the push you see in politicians who are trying to force themselves or their
ideas or even their enthusiasm on you. It’s a comfortable appeal that has an
intimacy that I’ve not seen before. She’s just a much better campaigner, more
interesting to watch.
One thing I’ll add, beyond Clinton. Here’s a bit of a post from Tod
Beeton on MyDD that gives you a flavor of what Obama is doing here:
A couple final notes on the townhall. The first speaker was a gentleman who
was an Obama volunteer who made a point of revealing that he had formerly
been a Clinton supporter. The place let out a loud “boo!” which
the speaker did nothing to discourage. There was a real anti-Clinton vibe
in that room last night, which surprised me. Sure, most of these folks are
Obama supporters (which, in the race for the nomination is essentially anti-Clinton
by definition) but I found the level of contempt for her surprising. I’ll
also say this was a far more African-American crowd than a hispanic crowd,
which no doubt speaks both to the make-up of Obama’s support as well as Las
Vegas’s racial demographics. Clinton has always polled especially strongly
among hispanic voters and if last night is any indication, there is no exodus
toward Obama among that community.
There is not only “no exodus,” but Clinton Hispanic support is mushrooming.
Leaders in that community are actively engaged for Clinton here and today had
to mean a lot to all of them. Hispanic leaders that the community respect showed
up, including local politicians.
As you can see from Beeton’s post, like Iowa, Obama is pushing the I switched
to Obama from Clinton storyline hard. Remember that lady in Iowa? Same
thing here. It was picked up today on NPR. He’s also doing mini stump speeches
outside events, if people don’t get inside. He’s asking them for their vote
next week, also reminding them how important the caucus is. He knows he’s got
a fight on his hands in this state, regardless of his big union endorsement.
Nobody is proclaiming they can win Nevada. It’s very unpredictable, because
you just don’t know who will turn out on caucus day. Clinton’s camp knows Hispanics
can make the difference next week, because Las Vegas has a vigorous activist
Latino community here. The debate on Tuesday will be watched by all.
