Nevada may sway 2020 race, unfortunately
Beneath Nevada’s noble veneer of a working class immigrant population — the heart of both the economy and the state’s Democratic electorate — lies a soft underbelly of timid business-worshiping blue dogs.
And if that politically and culturally powerful Extreme Caution Wing of the Democratic Party holds sway in next February’s presidential caucus, it won’t be a surprise.
Ever since the 2008 presidential cycle, when Harry Reid got Nevada the third spot after Iowa and New Hampshire in order to build the state party and help salvage what then looked like his super-duper-doomed career, Nevadans have been promised an out-sized influence in picking the Democratic nominee.
Nevada’s purported impact is usually couched in terms of making candidates confront Nevada and, to a lesser degree, Western issues (every Nevada journalist who has never asked a presidential candidate about Yucca Mountain, raise your hand; seeing no hands, let’s move on…), and forcing candidates to address concerns that union members and people of color in Nevada might have that the snowbound farmers of Iowa and New Hampshire might not.
Read more: https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2019/05/15/nevada-may-sway-2020-race-unfortunately/