Nevada caucuses: A viewer's guide

CBS/AP

Nevada Republicans are the first western voice in the presidential nominating process. All political eyes now turn to Saturday's event in the Silver State, which has been hit hard by the recession with high unemployment and record foreclosures.

Here's a primer on how today's caucuses will work.

The state is large in geography but is relatively small in population, and it will feature a far smaller electorate than we saw last Tuesday in Florida (perhaps 50,000 participants compared to Florida's 1.6 million), but like Florida, only registered Republicans can participate. Also similar to Florida, it is considered a battleground state in the general election, and it was a center of tea party activity during the 2010 elections.

In terms of timing, Nevada's caucuses are unlike Iowa's of a month ago in that the caucus gatherings will take place at different times throughout the state, with people casting ballots throughout a large part of the day.

For instance, precincts in Reno's Washoe County, located in Northern Nevada, start caucusing in the morning, while precincts in Las Vegas' Clark County hold caucuses in the afternoon and into the evening; the last of these is scheduled to convene at 7:00 pm PT (10:00 pm ET). Watchers can expect to start seeing complete results sometime around 7:00 pm PT.

In all, caucus-goers head to 125 locations to accommodate nearly 2,000 precincts.

Not much polling has been done heading into the contest, but the few polls show former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney with a big advantage. Rep. Ron Paul, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, and former Senator Rick Santorum will look to challenge Romney's organizational strength, which is always critical in a caucus.

The biggest county to watch is Clark County, which holds Las Vegas and by far the lion's share of the state's population. Reno's Washoe is another county to keep an eye on.

In 2008, Romney won the Nevada caucuses handily. He did well everywhere but especially well in vote-rich Clark County. He won the Reno/Washoe area too, but slightly less convincingly. It is important to note that one-quarter of the participants in 2008 were Mormon - and nearly all of them voted for Romney. Similar turnout and support would give Romney an enormous advantage.

But the Mormon vote was not Romney's only strength in 2008. He also did well with all age groups, and especially with the older voters who are a prominent share of Nevada's Republicans. Romney got more than half their votes in a multi-candidate race - and they made up nearly half of the participants.

Based on what we've seen so far in earlier states, Paul will look to turn out a relatively larger group of younger and first time voters.

[bsvitamins1]

People seem to forget that it took 8 or more years of bad policies to put us where we are at . You can't expect it to be fixed in just four years in office. I see things turning around now so why change in mid stream lets keep thing going instead of letting the Republicans back in office lets keep them out of both house and senate and give the us a chance to fix the two BUSH's mess.

[Hutterite]

Mormons, of whom there are lots in nevada, are going to vote for one of their own. It's a smart, sensible thing to do. And if you vote any other way it's religious bigotry. At least, that's how it is here in utah.

[RonPaulLibertyForAll]

Ron Paul 2012 or kiss your liberties goodbye. We have been sold out, and while we still have a voice, if not used we will sell out our children and grandchildren.

[calrepublican]

Ron Paul has already sold out to Mitt Romney. See 02/01/2012 Washington Post article by Amy Gardner, or Mark Levin's Friday, Feb 03, podcast. With Congress' low approval rating, it doesn't make sense to vote for a candidate, ie Mitt Romney, who is supported by the so-called moderate Republicans who are now in control of the House of Representatives and the Republican Party. Newt Gingrich has the knowledge, conviction, and proven ability to pull the party to the right, and has the endorsement of Tea Party notables, such as Sarah Palin and Congressman West from Florida.

Also, I don't trust Mitt Romney. His political leanings have been all over the map. He has basically run a smear campaign against Newt Gingrich in order to win votes, starting with the Iowa primary. And the only political campaign that he has won was in the deep blue state of Massachusetts.

[Craigthebutterflyman]

Republicans won't nominate a mormon or isolationist. The south's gonna do it again

[joseimora]

The so-called Bush disaster was the work of statists. The so-called left-right spectrum is 100% statist.

If you want the same disaster, more wars, more layoffs, more bailouts, just pick any statist for an encore:

- Mitt Romney
- Newt Gingrich
- Rick Santorum
- Barack Obama

If you want a return to sound money, sound economics, peace, and prosperity, here are your choices:
- Ron Paul
- Gary Johnson

[dutchman57-2009]

Do you think the pictures present a biasness of CBS? Notice the smiles on Mittens and Slick Rick, but the scowl on Ron Paul. The Pillsbury doughboy has a pleasant look while his mouth is drawing flies. This is intentional and designed to create an impression. People who do not drink the koolaid of the media understand that Ron Paul is the ONLY sane choice for president.

[mikethep]

The only problem is that Ron Paul is senile and shows irritability characteristic of Alzheimers.

[thomasmc1957]

It doesn't matter who wins the nomination.
The only ad Obama will have to run is:

Remember the Bush disaster?
Now the Republicans want to do it all again.

[dutchman57-2009]

You are right about Bush, but Obama continued and accelerated the same disaster.

[MsEBL]

http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2012/02/separated-at-birth-mitt-romney-and.html

Separated at Birth: Mitt Romney and...?