PRESS RELEASE from Nevada Democratic Party
May 17, 2008

Nevada Democrats elect 26 delegates to Democratic National Convention

RENO, NV — Today, Nevada Democratic delegates elected 26 delegates to the national convention in Denver, to be held in August.  The list includes:

Congressional District 1
Obama: Ray Pedraza, Gabrielle Keys and Manita Rawat
Clinton: Chris Giunchigliani, Robert Gomez and Jack Mallory

Congressional District 2 Washoe
Obama:  Xiomara Rodriguez and Matt Dickson
Clinton: Kate Marshall

Congressional District 2 Rurals
Obama:  Lance Whitney

Congressional District 2 Clark
Obama: Elliot Smalls
Clinton:  Edna Flores

Congressional District 3
Obama: Yvette Williams and Gibran Baydoun
Clinton: Randy Soltero and Adriana Martinez

Party Leaders and Elected Officials (2 Obama, 1 Clinton)
Obama: Barbara Buckley and Kelvin Atkinson
Clinton:  Rory Reid

At-Large Delegates:
Clinton:  Erica Norris, Arlan Melendez, Michael Ginsburg
Obama: Vertis Manuel, Maria Veronica Frenkel, Geoconda Arguello Kline

Unpledged add-on delegate:  Rusty McAllister

Alternates:  Tracey Harriford (Obama), JoEtta Brown (Obama) and Derek Washington (Clinton)
At large alternate: Marilyn Kirkpatrick

In all, Nevada will send 14 national delegates to Denver representing Barack Obama and 11 supporting Hillary Clinton, plus the unpledged add-on delegate and the state’s eight superdelegates.

Editor's note--the superdelegates are:
Teresa Benitez-Thompson NEVADA DNC MEMBER  ...announced support for Obama March 6, 2008
Yvonne A. Gates MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Steven Horsford NEVADA DNC MEMBER   ...announced support for Obama July 12, 2007
Sam Lieberman NEVADA DNC MEMBER
Catherine Cortez Masto DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEYS GENERAL ASSOCIATION
Harry Reid CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES
Dina Titus NEVADA DNC MEMBER   ...announced support for Clinton June 12, 2007
Shelley Berkley U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES   ...announced support for Clinton Jan. 9, 2008

Notes:
Sam Lieberman is chairman of the state party; he had been serving as first vice chairman until Jill Derby announced her resignation on Feb. 20, 2008 to run for Congress.
Unpledged add-on Rusty McAllister is president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Nevada; according to news reports he caucuses for Obama in January.
PRESS RELEASE from Nevada Democratic Party
mid-May 2008

Democrats prepare for historic state convention
State delegates will elect 26 people to go to National Convention in Denver

More than 3,000 Nevada Democrats will gather this weekend in Reno for a historic state convention that will elect 26 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, which will be held this August in Denver.

The state convention is the final step in becoming a national delegate to represent the Silver State.  Candidates for national delegate must have attended the Jan. 19th precinct caucuses, their county conventions and the state convention.

The state convention will be held May 17-18 at the Grand Sierra Resort, though all of the national delegates will be chosen on Saturday, May 17.

An unprecedented number of Nevadans have expressed interest in running for one of 25 state delegate slots elected at the Nevada Democratic State Convention.  In order to accommodate these large numbers, the Nevada Democratic Party has worked with the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns to create a two-tiered election process on May 17.

Every state convention delegate who expresses interest in running for national delegate will have an opportunity to campaign in a preliminary voting round, which will narrow the field to four finalists for each district-level national delegate position.

Then, the finalists for national delegate slots will give a short speech, and state delegates will vote on which of the finalists they prefer.

“Our supporters have worked hard — some for a year or longer — on this presidential campaign, and we wanted to create a process that would be as fair as possible to the large number of people interested in running for national delegate slots,” said Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid, Chair of Nevada’s Hillary Clinton campaign.

“The presidential caucus spurred more interest and more active Democrats than we’ve ever seen before,” said Sen. Steven Horsford, member of the Obama for America leadership team in Nevada. “Nevada Democrats are lucky to have so many committed state delegates interested in going to Denver, and we look forward to a competitive election this weekend.”

An explanation of the delegate election procedures that will be given to state convention delegates is below.

In all, Nevada will send 34 delegates to the national convention, including the 25 pledged delegates elected on May 17, one unpledged delegate to be ratified on May 17 and eight superdelegates.  The national convention will be held August 25-28 in Denver, and is part of the national Democratic party’s focus on winning Western states.

For more information
Kirsten Searer
Nevada Democratic Party
ELECTION PROCEDURES FOR DISTRICT-LEVEL NATIONAL DELEGATES

Due to the extraordinarily large number of state delegates who have declared their intent to run for national delegate, we have developed a two-tier system for electing district-level delegates. The first tier of this system will consist of all candidates for district-level delegate being narrowed to the top four (4) candidates for each district-level delegate position. The candidates for these positions shall meet the requirements of the Delegate Selection Plan (DSP) including district and regional requirements and gender parity.

The second tier of this process will have the four (4) candidates for any delegate position being elected by state delegates from within that preference group and district-level breakout.

Tier 1: District-Level Delegate Viability Round

All delegates to the state convention shall have aligned with a preference group by 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 17.  Any delegates in a non-viable preference group (any group which fails to meet 15% of all delegates in size) shall have 30 minutes to realign. Final alignment should be completed by approximately 11:30 a.m.

Following final alignment, the delegates shall gather in their five (5) district-level breakout groups:  Congressional District 1, Congressional District 3, and Congressional District 2 Rural, Washoe and Clark.

Delegates in those breakout groups will then gather into their preference groups -- Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.  They will be informed how many delegates they can elect, and whether those delegate slots must be filed by a female or male delegate.

The names of every eligible candidate for national delegate will be posted in large font on the convention wall, as well as available in several printed lists.  Delegates will write the name of one candidate for each available delegate slot within their preference group on a blank ballot, with unique ballots for each preference group.  The top four (4) vote getters for each delegate slot will advance to the final round.

Tier 2: District-Level Delegate Election

After the conclusion of the first tier of national delegate balloting, the four (4) viable finalists for each delegate position will be determined. These candidates will be placed on one ballot by gender, to ensure gender equity within Nevada's delegation.

Each viable candidate for national delegate would be given an opportunity to address the delegates in their breakout for up to two (2) minutes.

Following the conclusion of viable delegate candidate remarks, the delegates in that preference group would move to the designated voting area and cast their ballots. These ballots must also have their name printed and signed to satisfy the DNC public ballot requirement.

The candidate(s) with the most votes would be elected as a district-level national delegate for that preference group and breakout. In the case of a tie, the winner will be determined by a draw of cards as consistent with the DSP and the caucus process.

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