Turnout disrupts Nev. Democrats

The scramble for delegates between presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton played out at Nevada Democrats’ county conventions Saturday, where turnout overwhelmed southern Nevada party leaders and forced them to shut down their convention before completing the vote.

An estimated 10,000 people -- about 2,000 more than party officials expected -- showed up at Bally’s Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas for the Clark County convention, the largest of the 17 county meetings held Saturday, according to casino staff.

County conventions are the second step toward divvying up Nevada’s 25 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention between Clinton and Obama.

In past years, the county convention meetings have been little more than rallies for the party’s likely nominee. But with the race so closely divided, campaigns encouraged large numbers of supporters to attend as part of a strategy to defend the delegates won at Jan. 19 precinct caucuses.

Rowdy crowds quickly filled the Las Vegas ballroom to capacity and forced casino staff to close the doors early, leaving hundreds of delegates outside, party leaders said.

“Unfortunately, all those who are eligible . . . there is no physical way in this room to allow those delegates in,” convention chairman Bill Stanley told the crowd as he asked them to agree to close the convention and hold the presidential vote at a later date.

The crowd greeted the notion with a chorus of boos, but was persuaded after entreaties from both campaigns.

No date for the new vote has been set. Clark County delegates account for 72% of the state convention delegation. State delegates will meet in May in Reno.

The confusion left the results of any Saturday voting vulnerable to a court challenge. Both campaigns told the state party they likely would raise the issue in court if the vote wasn’t redone, according to a state party official who was not authorized to discuss the negotiations.

Saturday’s cries of disenfranchisement echoed those heard after the January precinct caucuses, in which Clinton won more precinct delegates but left Obama poised to pick up one more national delegate.

The Obama campaign said that many of its supporters were shut out of those precinct meetings last month after the Clinton campaign distributed bad information about the caucus process.

The Nevada Democratic Party has appointed a committee to review the entire caucus process.

Both candidates had hoped to use the meetings to court new support. Under party rules, delegates can switch alliances at each stage in the process. Nearly 440 delegates assigned to former candidates John Edwards and Dennis J. Kucinich were up for grabs statewide.

Early results from rural counties that were able to vote Saturday showed no major shifts in support for Clinton or Obama. In Washoe County, home to the Reno-Sparks area, Obama nearly doubled his share of the delegates heading to the state convention.