Nevada's At-Large Precincts Ruled Legal

Sorry to be late with this, although you Twitter subscribers of mine would have seen it earlier... a Nevada judge has upheld the at-large precincts drawn for the benefit of the Obama-choosing Culinary Workers -- nine out of 520 -- and it's not clear whether the plaintiffs -- four of whom voted for the caucus plan in the first place -- will appeal. (The at-large precincts account for a bit over 6% of the total delegate counts.) Per Obama spokesman Bill Burton:

"We're glad that the Nevada court upheld the Nevada Democratic Party's caucus plan which encourages voter participation. While the Clinton campaign clearly believed that the voices of workers should be silenced in service of their perceived political interest, they enjoyed a twenty five point lead two months ago and have much of the party establishment in their camp."

Hillary Clinton's campaign just released a disapproving statement:

"Make no mistake --the current system that prohibits some shift workers from being able to participate, while allowing others to do so, would seem to benefit other campaigns. More importantly it is unfair. The Obama campaign has been clear in its belief that whoever wins the culinary union endorsement will win Nevada. We will leave it up to the people of Nevada to make that decision."

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2008/01/nevadas-at-large-precincts-ruled-legal/51635/