LAS VEGAS -- When registered Nevada Republicans hold their statewide presidential caucuses Saturday they'll be doing more than deciding the fate of 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention.
They may be giving 2008 caucus winner Mitt Romney the added momentum the former Massachusetts governor needs to have a fruitful February that will help him lock up the Republican nomination.
But don't be surprised if former House Speaker Newt Gingrich sticks around, with national political pundits suggesting he could still do well in March in delegate-rich Southern states such as home state Georgia, Virginia and Alabama. And there are two other Republicans still in the mix, Texas Congressman Ron Paul -- who reportedly is concentrating on caucus states -- and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
Nevada's caucuses could have considerable weight because they represent the first Republican presidential battle in the West following the Iowa caucus and primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.
Nevada's delegates will be divided proportionally according to caucus results. Of the 2,286 voting delegates expected to attend the party's national convention Aug. 27 through Aug. 30 in Tampa, Fla., it will take 1,144 to win the nomination.
Clark County Republicans are expected to caucus from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., but there will be a special at-large session beginning 7 p.m. at the Adelson Educational Campus in Summerlin for individuals who couldn't attend the earlier caucuses due to religious observations. The special session has created controversy because it was requested by Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson, a Gingrich supporter who has poured millions of dollars into a super political action committee that advertised heavily on behalf of Gingrich in South Carolina and Florida.
Consequently, the final Clark County caucus results won't be released until sometime Saturday night, long after the state party plans to publicize the results from Nevada's other 16 counties with help from Internet powers Google and Twitter.
Caucus attendees will gather by precinct at meeting sites throughout Southern Nevada. After choosing a chair and secretary to run their respective meetings, the precinct will discuss issues for inclusion in the party's platform, and then cast votes in a presidential preference poll using paper ballots.
The precincts will also elect delegates and alternate delegates for the March 10 Clark County Republican Convention at the Orleans resort. Those delegates, in turn, will elect representatives to the state party convention in May. Delegates will be chosen from the state convention to attend the national convention, where they will be instructed to vote in the first round of balloting for the presidential candidates based on the percentages of votes they won at the caucuses.
Nevada voters know how to back winners in presidential elections, choosing the loser only once since 1912. That was in 1976, when the state went to Republican Gerald Ford over eventual winner Jimmy Carter, a Democrat.
By comparison the track record of Nevada Republicans in selecting presidential nominees has been somewhat more erratic.
When the party held its first caucuses in February 1988, eventual presidential winner George H.W. Bush won with 27 percent of what was then a non-binding vote, followed by Bob Dole with 23 percent, "undecided" with 22 percent, Jack Kemp with 14 percent and Pat Robertson with 13 percent. But when the Nevada Republican Convention convened two months later, most of the voting delegates to the Republican National Convention were won by evangelist Robertson.
In 1996, state Republicans switched back to a presidential primary and gave eventual party nominee Dole 52 percent of the vote, followed by 19 percent for Steve Forbes and 15 percent for Pat Buchanan. Four years later, Nevada Republicans were a non-factor as John McCain dropped out of the race early in 2000, allowing eventual winner George W. Bush to coast to the nomination.
Nevada Republicans didn't enjoy any relevance again until the 2008 caucuses, where they selected Mitt Romney with 51.1 percent of the vote, followed by Ron Paul with 13.7 percent and McCain with 12.7 percent. But McCain, an Arizona senator, won the nomination and eventually lost to Democrat Barack Obama.
