An ominous sign for state caucus

An army of bored election attendants looked up eagerly as I walked into my precinct voting site on Tuesday.

I was a rare sight indeed. Yet somehow, the sixth official who spoke to me still sent me down the aisle of machines to the farthest one available. Maybe he wanted to make certain each machine actually got some action.

There's only one word to describe Tuesday's municipal primary election turnout: abysmal. Just 15 percent of registered voters -- not residents of legal voting age, mind you -- actually bothered to vote sometime in the past three weeks.

In a typical election, if you add those who vote by mail to those who vote early, the total surpasses election day turnout. Not this week. Tuesday's primary turnout was even worse than the measly 7 percent who voted early.

How is this going to play nationally, as both major parties eagerly try to prove to the rest of the country that Nevada is a major presidential election player? The state Democratic Party has suggested to presidential candidates that 100,000 people will turn out for a Jan. 19 caucus even though Nevada voters have never participated in the lengthy process before.

This isn't as simple as pushing a few buttons at the grocery store before you pick up the milk and bread. A caucus requires voters to -- shudder -- talk to their neighbors about which candidate they like and why. And sometimes it takes time. Will 100,000 Democrats agree to set aside a few hours on a Saturday for such a purpose? And even if the party can create an open caucus location near the Strip for service workers who cannot make it to their home precincts, is such a high number really possible?

It's no better for state Republicans. With the Nevada GOP essentially rudderless and out of cash, the decision to move up the Republican caucus to coincide with the Democrats' event -- after Iowa's and ahead of New Hampshire's -- will bring plenty of national doubt. Simply by moving up the GOP caucus to Jan. 19, the party has triggered greater green envy in the White Mountain state. The New Hampshire secretary of state can set his primary whenever he darn well pleases, and he may decide to trump Nevada.

The candidates, either because of history or tradition or fear of losing what has been an important early state, are all over New Hampshire all the time.

Perhaps Nevada, with its vast stretches of barren desert and counties with more cattle than voters, isn't seen as anything other than a media state for candidates. Sure, they'll come, and most attended the two previous events established to draw them in. But will the candidates really spend three straight days bouncing from town to town, South and North, the way they do in Iowa and New Hampshire?

How can a candidate be expected to reach out to voters when it's not certain who, exactly, will be participating early next year in the nation's second scheduled vote? Why not just scatter a friendly message in the decidedly cheap Reno and relatively cheap Las Vegas TV markets?

Rudy Giuliani's first real campaign stop here last week showed Las Vegas to be an unusual place for retail politics. The former New York mayor and front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination was here to raise money but didn't want to leave without raising a little free media from the local newspaper and TV stations.

But we didn't see Giuliani at the Coffee Pub or Bagelmania after all. No, he was pressing the flesh at a Target where he could also make some highly scripted purchases to please various voting blocs. But please, a "Remember the Titans" DVD?

The candidates don't know what to make of Las Vegas. If retail politicking is alive at the Target, why not hit the casinos and the brothels as well?

Tuesday's turnout numbers will only further lead the growing chorus of naysayers to doubt our voters.

Heck, direct mail to inveterate voters may be the way to go for the presidential candidates. Look how well that strategy worked in the open Las Vegas Municipal Court race. Martin Hastings survived the primary and advanced to a June runoff against Lynn Avants because he inundated voters who've participated in past municipal elections with mailer after mailer.

Avants, a man voters might have mistaken for a woman thanks to his first name, pulled in 800 more votes than Hastings, making him the one to beat in the general. Voters here like to elect women in judicial races simply because they're women. Avants has a good consulting team behind him at Paladin, but he may very well win the seat because of his first name. Maybe Hastings can change his name to Martina.

Tuesday's elections were uninspiring to participate in and impossibly boring to cover. The only people who may get excited about Tuesday's numbers are the ones in Concord, N.H., who can't wait for Nevada to meet their expectations.

Erin Neff's column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at (702) 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.