Nevada - 2008 General Election Details

NEVADA

5 Electoral Votes

Obama/Allies | McCain/Allies | Nader | Baldwin

Although the McCain-Palin ticket had strong Western roots, Obama ended up winning by a comfortable 12.50 percentage point margin in the Silver State.

Democrats benefited from intense interest generated by their early January 19 presidential caucus, and, building on that, made significant gains in registration in the months between the caucuses and the general election. Between January and November, Democratic registration increased by 123,897 compared to 34,652 for Republicans. Some controversy arose over ACORN's registration efforts. >

Republicans had difficulty settling on their delegation to the Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul as supporters of Ron Paul showed considerable strength. > Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons' unpopularity also created an unfavorable climate for McCain.

According to TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG with analysis by the Wisconsin Advertising Project for the period from Oct. 21-28, the Las Vegas market was number two in the country (after Tampa, FL) in total airings of candidate, party, group, and coordinated ads. Both major campaigns ran Spanish language advertising. > The proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository was an issue, and the Obama campaign ran a couple of TV spots in August attacking McCain for his position ("Backyard" and "Dangerous").

Nevada might have seemed promising terrain for Libertarian Bob Barr, who had Las Vegas-area entrepreneur Wayne Allyn Root as his running mate, but the Libertarians failed to achieve more than an anemic total.

In terms of independent efforts, Nevada was one of three states where TruthandHopePAC.org ran its "Local Voices" ads (Sandy, a woman on the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Reservation, Keith Howell, a businessman in Fallon, and Walt, a financial consultant from Washoe County voiced their support for Obama).

Early voting was very significant in Nevada; slightly more than two-thirds of voters cast early or absentee ballots.

Travel compare...
Five Months (June 1-Nov. 4, 2008)

OBAMA-BIDEN	McCAIN-PALIN
Barack Obama - 6 visits (6 days) Joe Biden - 1 visit (1 day) Michelle Obama (solo) - 1 visit (1 day) Jill Biden (solo) - no visits	John McCain - 4 visits (4 days) Sarah Palin - 3 visits (3 days) Cindy McCain (solo) - no visits Todd Palin (solo) - no visits

Newspaper Endorsements

OBAMA
Las Vegas Sun (Oct. 19)
Reno Gazette Journal (Oct. 26) >
El Mundo (Oct. 11)

McCAIN
Las Vegas Review-Journal (Oct. 19) 174,341 (59)
Elko Daily Free Press (Oct. 24)