Las Vegas One of the bigger stories here is a lawsuit that’s been filed against the caucus which seeks to shut down the caucus locations in nine Nevada casinos. The back-story is classic: Harry Reid was the leading force in moving Nevada’s caucus up on the calendar to give it meaning for the first time in the state’s history. Reid also helped shape the rules that would put nine “at large” caucus locations in casinos. The idea behind the “at large” casino sites at the time was that Hillary Clinton wanted to make it easier for members of the Culinary Workers Union to participate when the caucus is held at noon this Saturday. It was assumed that the union would eventually endorse Clinton. Reid himself is “neutral” in the presidential contest, but his eldest son Rory is Clinton’s Nevada campaign chairman. Things didn’t quite turn out as expected. The Culinary Workers Union endorsed Obama. And then the Nevada State Education Association and five party activists filed a lawsuit against the state Democratic party last Friday in an attempt to close down the at-large casino caucus sites on the pretense that they give preferential treatment to Culinary Workers Union members. As the Las Vegas Sun notes, the plaintiffs have some indirect ties to the Clinton campaign:
In a state of outrage, the Culinary Workers Union demanded that the Clinton and Obama campaigns denounce the lawsuit. Obama’s campaign did. The Clinton campaign did not. Rory Reid told reporters, “It’s not for us to decide.” Even more interestingly, Harry Reid refused to defend his own party’s caucus system – which he helped create – against the suit. His spokesman told the Sun, “We haven’t seen the lawsuit yet but, given the politics at play, Sen. Reid is going to stay out of the middle of it and leave it to the courts.” The lawsuit is expected to fail, but it’s not a slam-dunk. District court judge James C. Mahan is expected to rule on it later today.
