Hillary, Obama dispute Nevada win

LAS VEGAS — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won the most votes during the Democratic caucuses here yesterday, but Sen. Barack Obama claimed a narrow national convention delegate victory.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Mrs. Clinton had captured 51 percent of the vote, while Mr. Obama had won 45 percent. But Mr. Obama claimed he won 13 delegates — one more than Mrs. Clinton — because of the proportional way Nevada awards delegates.

The state party cautioned the national delegates are not actually awarded until the state and county conventions in April, and the Clinton campaign put out a statement calling the Obama team “wrong.”

The close contest was marred by accusations of voter intimidation from both campaigns.

That back-and-forth over delegates and the nasty tone of the race provides a preview of what South Carolina Democrats may see Saturday when they vote in their primary. The campaigns will battle it out for the most convention delegates, perhaps for months.

Mrs. Clinton claimed victory in the Nevada caucuses yesterday, saying, “I guess this is how the West was won,” but she acknowledged the race is far from over.

“This is one step on a long journey throughout the country as we put our cases forward and take that case to the people,” the New York senator said.

Casino workers, maids and line cooks — many who had never previously participated in politics — gathered at nine at-large sites along the Las Vegas Strip for the first-in-the-West contest.

Mrs. Clinton won among Hispanic voters, who make up nearly 15 percent of the state’s electorate.

Mr. Obama told supporters he was “proud” to come back from a 25-point poll deficit, and his campaign said his strength in more conservative areas of the state, which helped him win more delegates than Mrs. Clinton, would translate to the general election.

“We ran an honest, uplifting campaign in Nevada that focused on the real problems Americans are facing, a campaign that appealed to people’s hopes instead of their fears,” the Illinois senator said.

“Increasingly, this is going to turn to a contest of delegates,” Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said.

Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who finished a distant third with 4 percent of the vote, put out a statement, declaring: “The race to the nomination is a marathon and not a sprint. … We’re ready to fight for every delegate.”

It appeared Mrs. Clinton benefited from the very process her campaign deplored, with nearly all of the at-large precinct sites along the Strip favoring her. Her campaign had reported they were receiving a “flood” of calls about members of the Culinary Workers Union, which backed Mr. Obama, intimidating workers into voting for him.

But yesterday, there were several accounts of the reverse happening. At the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, Clinton supporters were reprimanded several times for breaking the rules and campaigning outside of their designated area. A busload of Clinton supporters from the Palms casino, which is nonunion, nearly unanimously caucused on her behalf.

A male Palms staffer working with the Clinton campaign was loudly instructing workers as they signed up and made sure everyone had “Hillary” signs.

“He’s walking around like he owns the place,” an Obama organizer complained.

A man who is part of the “Clinton caucus-day legal team” broke up an argument between Clinton and Obama volunteers after noticing cameras were rolling. A party official running the site warned the observers from all the campaigns they needed to follow the rules or risk being booted.

The Obama campaign said it would investigate more than 200 potential incidents of mischief at caucus sites, including reports of closing doors early, “nonuniform” ID checks and registration forms running out.

Mr. Plouffe also said the Clinton campaign’s “efforts to confuse voters and call into question the at-large caucus sites” affected turnout and were intended “to mislead caucusgoers and discredit the caucus itself.”

The Clinton supporters at the Rio cheered a surprise visitor — former President Bill Clinton, who posed for photos and signed autographs before the caucus began. Mr. Clinton did not mention to the people there that he had called the at-large sites unfair all week, but the former president was a deciding factor for many caucusgoers at the Rio yesterday.

“Whatever her husband didn’t finish, I know she will,” said Ramona, 30, a housekeeper for the Palms who did not give her last name.

But Sabrina Smith, a Palms housekeeping supervisor, supported Mr. Obama because “he’s fresh, he has new ideas and he’s not just saying the same old thing.”