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Lady Gaga! Gwen Stefani! Beto O’Rourke! White House hopeful joins Vegas celebrity parade

Beto O'Rourke speaks from the roof of his car to an overflow crowd at a campaign stop at a coffee shop Sunday in Las Vegas.
Beto O’Rourke speaks from the roof of his car to an overflow crowd at a campaign stop at a coffee shop Sunday in Las Vegas.
(John Locher / Associated Press)
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Las Vegas residencies are splashy affairs with big name artists settling into the city — often for a dozen or more shows a year. Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani and Aerosmith are among high-wattage fixtures this year.

But there’s also another unofficial residency taking root in the state: candidates trying to secure the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination for 2020.

Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren have all made several stops in Nevada already as they try to woo voters in anticipation of the state’s Feb. 22 caucus. So have Jay Inslee, Tulsi Gabbard and Julian Castro. Castro has set the pace with five visits, according to the Nevada Democratic Party.

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This weekend, however, Nevada saw one of the party’s biggest stars make his debut: Beto O’Rourke.

The 46-year-old Texan garnered national attention for a spirited run against Sen. Ted Cruz last year — coming up just short in what amounted to a moral victory for Democrats in a state that hasn’t elected one of their own to a Senate seat since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.

After O’Rourke’s loss — and a somewhat protracted decision process that included a plea from Oprah Winfrey to run for president — he jumped into the wide-open fray this month. He hit Iowa because, as Iowans are quick to point out, it is the first caucus state. He went to New Hampshire and South Carolina, both of which hold early primaries.

In Iowa, Beto O’Rourke proves he can still wow a crowd. Can he win votes? »

Nevada was the next logical step, and he landed Saturday afternoon and headed to a house in west Las Vegas for a meet-and-greet party hosted by Artie Blanco.

Blanco, who bills herself as a political operative and data person, said she wasn’t used to hosting parties for candidates. “I’m a behind-the-scenes person,” she said. She also hasn’t thrown support to any particular candidate.

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But O’Rourke is from Texas and so is Blanco. He’s from El Paso while she is from Houston, and moved to Las Vegas more than a decade ago. So he got a Texas welcome.

“We are proud people no matter where we’re from — no matter what part of Texas we’re from,” she said. “And at the end of the day, I know this is an opportunity for us. It is the time for us to get the power back to the people.”

O’Rourke walked into the crowded living room and stood on a folding chair — his tall frame getting close enough to the ceiling fan that he asked that it not be turned on. As he began speaking, the cell phones went up as people recorded, photographed and livestreamed his ideas on immigration reform, a better educational system and a living wage for teachers so that they don’t have to work a second job.

He took questions and posed for photos afterward.

Ed Cantillo said no presidential candidate had ever dropped by his neighborhood before. The 69-year-old remembered traveling to see Democrats Jimmy Carter and Jerry Brown when they ran for president in 1976. He said he shook both of their hands.

As Cantillo watched people sidle up to O’Rourke to talk about their hopes for the future and pose for pictures, he waited patiently. A woman looked as though she was about to wrap up with him and Cantillo held his hand out to approach the candidate. But a young girl got there sooner, and he stepped back.

He listened as she told O’Rourke she’d like to be president one day. The candidate said if he were around that long, he’d vote for her. More pictures were taken. Television camera crews were packing up. Blanco urged people to take food with them as they left.

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Suddenly, there was a split second of space. The 69-year-old seized the moment. O’Rourke saw him with his hand outstretched and the two shook. Cantillo beamed.

O’Rourke was back at it on Sunday, this time in North Las Vegas at Arandas Taqueria.

“He’s driving himself!” someone in the crowd shouted as O’Rourke pulled up. He shook more hands and stood in the patio with a wireless microphone. He spoke in Spanish. Then English. And more Spanish.

When he walked inside the taqueria, faces outside pressed against the window to get a better look. He stood up on a chair again, while the crowd of more than 100 sat at tables and stood in aisles. A man shouted he had driven all night from Long Beach to see O’Rourke.

Anita Allen, 73, said she had been a Sanders supporter in 2016, and O’Rourke was the first candidate she’d seen this election cycle. She said she was enjoying Nevada’s power to draw candidates and planned to see several more before deciding on one.

Beto O’Rourke joins the presidential race: Can excitement carry him to the White House? »

Outside, leaning on a crutch, Tracy Trolle, 45, had already decided on O’Rourke. She said she liked O’Rourke’s message of treating people with dignity — a word that peppered his speech at the taqueria and later at the packed Pour Coffee Shop. A few supporters of President Trump heckled and yelled at him to go home and used epithets to describe immigrants living in the country illegally.

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“There is an intolerance and a racism...by one of the most racist, uncivil presidents we have ever had,” O’Rourke said, standing atop a car several yards from the Trump fans, as he spoke to the spillover crowd. “The way to meet that challenge is to not succumb to the pettiness, to the smallness, to the intolerance.”

The crowd chanted his name as he went inside to speak, rebuking Trump, telling a teenager he was open to the idea of lowering the voting age to 16, and calling for tougher gun laws. Then he was gone.

Angela Shimel, 44, stood in the back of a pickup truck with her family and said he reminded her of Robert Kennedy. She was all-in for O’Rourke.

“I think Beto can bring back the Camelot,” she said.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke stops for a photo in a crowd at a campaign stop at a coffee shop in Las Vegas.
(John Locher / AP)
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