Nevada Student Voters May Swing the State and the Nation

RENO, Nev. -- In 2004, the University of Nevada went red--and so did the state. This time, UNR will likely go blue--and with it, perhaps, the nation.

Nevada works like this: Las Vegas will vote for Sen. Barack Obama and rural Nevada for Sen. John McCain. In Washoe County (which is rural outside of Reno) McCain leads by one percentage point, according to local media polls. He needs Washoe to take Nevada.

For either candidate, UNR could be the key to the White House.

"This election in Nevada can be decided by a few hundred votes," Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada told a group of students on campus on Oct. 14. "A few hundred people can change Barack Obama's life."

A slew of student-run political clubs exist on campus. At least half a dozen of them are billed as Republican or conservative; twice as many as are billed Democratic or progressive. Yet the Republican groups have been much less active. Leaders of the student groups discussed issues, but could not describe any major efforts to campaign on campus.

Aside from the Clinton years, Nevadan students and residents have traditionally voted Republican. The party appeals to many of the traditional values of a rural "Wild West" state.

Second amendment rights are important here. It's not hard to find a group of folks discussing gun ownership rights as the key issue every four years, just find any old barbershop or saloon.

Financial conservatism is important here. Nevada was one of the first -- and hardest -- hit states in this sub-prime mortgage crisis. Budget cuts that were unimaginable a couple years ago have been made (and have significantly damaged the approval ratings of the state's Republican governor). The idea of smaller government and less taxes on middle class families appeals to Nevadans. And while that may not necessarily be a characteristic of the Bush administration or of a McCain administration, it is an idea for which Nevadans vote Republican.

National security is important as well. President Bush's version of it, that is. Just like in every other state (and just like they should be), when soldiers from Nevada die in the Middle East, they are regarded as heroes. Small town media outlets flock to relatives for interviews. When the mother of a fallen Marine in Sun Valley, (part of the greater Reno area) lost her mobile home to a kitchen fire, the whole community rushed to donate money in a bank account opened to help her recover.

Nevada is a state of neighbors with common beliefs.

And one common belief here is that if America doesn't "finish the job" in Iraq, that Marine died in vain.

Whether right or wrong, true or false, based on fact or faith, these beliefs run thick in Nevada. And the Republican Party has staked claim to those beliefs.

On the UNR campus, the support for Sen. Barack Obama is amazing. The Republican students call it "Obama-mania." That's not a bad way to describe it.

It seems that many college Republicans have thrown in the towel. In interviews, many Republican students cited a statistic that "there are over 200 paid interns from Obama's campaign on campus." While that statistic isn't quite accurate, it illustrates how dominant the Democratic Party is on campus.

There are of course plenty of Obama interns on campus, although a spokesperson from the campaign declined to say exactly how many interns, how many hours interns worked or how much they were paid. The interns themselves were not authorized to speak with the media.

For weeks, one could hardly walk the campus without being asked by a volunteer to "register to vote for Obama."

"Not so long ago, it was a conservative campus," says Dr. John Scire, a UNR political science professor, Vietnam combat veteran and Obama donor.

Now "I don't see any concentrated effort on campus" from conservatives, he says.

Though vastly outnumbered, Republican students do exist on campus. And for the most part, they are polite, well-read young adults willing to discuss the issues.

Perhaps it's a matter of bias, but their beliefs seem to be based on fallacies.

"I'm a social moderate. I don't believe in pushing my views on people," says Donnell Dike-Ankam, 23, a member of the College Republicans club at UNR and host of a conservative talk show on the college radio station. "But I don't want them pushing their views on me."

Dike-Ankam, who is African-American and grew up in a Democratic-voting and politically active family, shrugs when asked if he thought he should vote Democratically, based on that belief.

Abortion? The Patriot Act? McCain's promise to appoint socially conservative judges to the Supreme Court?

Shrugs, shrugs, and shrugs.

It's not a lack of understanding of the issues. Dike-Ankam is rather knowledgeable of every topic discussed. He just doesn't believe that McCain will enforce a conservative standpoint of those issues. He believes McCain to be a moderate.

Then again, many Nevadans believed Bush to be a moderate in 2000.

Dike-Ankam speaks with passion when questioned about race. Sitting on the third floor of the student union, overlooking the campus, he leans in and slams his hand against the table.

"To vote for someone based upon the color of their skin, whether they're black, white, green or blue, I think is not a good decision matrix," he says. "I think it's really actually a bad thing ... you're voting based on the color of their skin, not the content of their character."

Dike-Ankam is an exception to nearly every stereotype, including that of Nevada as a whole. Whereas he started leaning from Left to Right in 2004, most Nevadans started leaning from Right to Left.

Local media polling show that Obama leads in Nevada by two percentage points, though the poll has a four percent margin of error.

Obama ads run on local television about eight times more frequently than McCain ads.

With Nevada's five electoral votes within a two-percentage point reach of McCain, one would expect him to put more resources into his campaign here. Especially on the UNR campus. He has not.

There is more than one reason why Nevada has turned blue. One is a horribly failed Bush doctrine. Another is Nevada's influx of Californians who moved to Nevada to purchase cheap homes just before the mortgage bubble burst.

Perhaps the Nevada natives are just realizing that the Republican Party doesn't quite reflect their values.

The fallen Marine whose mother's home burned down, he was in my high school graduating class. His death wasn't in vain. Like many Nevadans, I'll be voting on behalf of my values this November. But I won't be letting the Republican Party claim those values, and neither will my neighbors.

Comments

[Daniel Riggs - Huffpost Blogger]

Washoe Country has been getting more and more attention in the past few days. Bill Clinton was here Monday; Sarah Palin Tuesday. More national media stories are coming up about the county. And local reporters here are starting to get serious about how crucial Washoe could prove to be in this election.

[gmnickles]

I'm a Nevada native and a supporter of Obama. There are a lot of us in Washoe County; there are a number of Republicans and Independents that I know who are voting for Obama. The energy on the campus at UNR is high, and the young people will vote. My students and I were told by a McCain organizer that young people won't bother to get up and go vote; the McCain campaign is counting on that, she said, and so feels that the McCain people really don't need to spend any time courting young university students, that they are interested only in showing up to rallies but won't bother when it comes to getting to the polls. How's that for cynical?

[MedinaM]

All I know is that UNLV will help deliver a victory for Obama! Clark County is behind Obama...all we need now is you folks up in northern Nevada!!!

[Call me Sweety]

I'm from Rural Nevada....near Reno and I'm voting for Barack Obama. This is the very first time I've really been interested in politics and I've volunteered for Barack for a long time now. Barack Obama has visited many many small rural towns here in Nevada and I've met and talked to him a couple of times...he is a great man. The county I live in is hot and heavy Republican, but this year...we've really been out in droves registering so many new voters..it's really incredible what a change Barack Obama has brought to our state. The Nuclear Waste Dump that McCain wants out here in Nevada is one reason I am against him....McCain wants us to immediately build 40 or 50 new nuclear plants....and where would that Nuclear waste be dumped? Out here in our back yeards....I say NO WAY to YUCCA mtn. ...Barack is against it as well. Sure those big wigs in Washington don't think people live out here in the desert....­surprise..­.we do and were working hard to change Nevada from Red to BLUEEEEEEEEEEEE yeaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

[swanseaboi2005]

I am a junior at the University of Nevada. I cannot believe the support Obama has on this campus, it is wonderful to see more and more students get out there and vote. If UNR has anything to say about it, Nevada will be blue!

Obama-Biden 08!

[R.W. Sanders - Huffpost Blogger]

I too have lived in northern Nevada for several years. Mainly Carson City and Lake Tahoe. From what I've seen locally, Obama seems to be ahead. I might take issue with a couple of points. Because Obama pretty much swept northern Nv over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, I assume that racism plays very little if any part in their communities like Elko, Winnemucca and even Austin and Ely. And there was a very strong turnout there. So, though McCain may indeed win that area, I think it also will be close.
And I have a problem with anyone who might assert that any soldier in service of this country has died in vain. Even the guy who dies in a helo crash right here in Nevada, maybe around Fallon, died serving his country and protecting our freedom to write on this blog. I repeat, not one soldier has died in vain serving this country. Ever. Period.
Other than that I think you give a pretty accurate portrayal of Reno and Washoe County. Good post. R.W.

[Mildmannered]

"not one soldier has died in vain serving this country. Ever. Period." Excellent point. Didn't Obama make the same point a couple of debates ago?

[ILikeH00ters]

Is University of Nevada a religious school? Because students in the institution of higher learnings such as MIT heavily tilt towards group that believes in science, technology and pragmatism. That group is known as Liberals.

[kellygrrrl]

working the phone banks last Sunday from CA - we called CA Independents and got a resoundingly loud and clear message!
The support for 0bama in Nevada is very strong!

I hope the young voters show up in record numbers!

[kellygrrrl]

oops! we called Nevada voters ... not CA

[BGDiNLV]

i Live in Vegas,and you can not believe the turnout for Obama,it just crosses all the COLOR lines It is going to be a whole new beautiful world.on Jan 20 2009.

[Mildmannered]

thank you for your hard work on Obama's behalf

[dzymzlzy]

I've been on the ground in Washoe County. It's a tough crowd! I ran into a house decorated with a rather large swastika flag. Needless to say I didn't ring their bell.

[PaulL2]

Was this a relative of Todd Palin?

[vidivici]

I'm so glad my guy is the one with the well organized, well financed, and on the move campaign. Obama didn't throw the first punch but he will throw the last. I love that about him.

[laylahb]

We're working hard on it here in L.A. and throughout CA. Thousands of Southern Californias have already done our "Weekend in Vegas" programme, some multiple times. All our phone banks are geared towards Nevaaada (we have big signs--"Nevaaada" not "Nevawda.")

It's about 98 degrees, but we're still going. A lot of cars have broken down because of the heat, but we're still trekking out there.

California big blue in 2008. Nevada blue in 2008. Doesn't have to be big, just a few percent.

[Mildmannered]

The under 30 voters will decide this election, not only in Nevada but nationwide. If they turn out and vote in low numbers, McCain wins a squeaker. If they turn out in high numbers, Obama wins a landslide.

They have more to win/lose than we baby boomers do.

[AlaskanWannaB]

I would love a a blue Nevada.

Obama/Biden '08