What kind of people line up on the different [political] sides that may be unique to Nevada. You have Hispanic voters and you have union employees ... who makes up the Democrat's side and the Republican side?

First of all it's the first time we've done this caucus so we don't know who's going to vote, so that's a huge question. The reason we got this caucus in the first place was because of concentration of labor participation and presumably Hispanic participation. The first is guaranteed, the second is very, very iffy though. The Democrats say that Hispanic participation has increased significantly in the last few cycles, but I think there's still some question about whether they can really play a role or not.

Nevada went to George Bush in 2000 and 2004, do you think how Nevada voters see his presidency will impact the 2008 election?

I think it will impact them in pretty much the same way it'll have an effect on voters everywhere else. Republican nominees for president almost always win in Nevada. I'm not sure if you know the history or not. The only time since Lyndon Johnson that a Democratic nominee for president has won was Bill Clinton, and he only did it because Ross Perot was on the ballot, otherwise he surely would've lost the state too in both '92 and '96. Otherwise, Republicans always do well here because you essentially have one Democratic county and all the rest are Republican and very conservative Republican. So, listen, George Bush's numbers here aren't good; they aren't good anywhere, and Nevadans are not some alien race, they feel the same way about these kinds of things as they do in New Hampshire and Iowa and I think those trends will be borne out here too.

The Hispanic vote you mentioned earlier, do you think there is a backlash against Republicans in the Hispanic vote for the illegal immigration issue? Do you have any insight into how they are going to respond, if at all?

It's a good question. I mean the illegal immigration issue, while the media to some extent and the candidates too, try to caricature…It's much more nuanced within the Hispanic community, some Hispanics are full cracking down on illegal immigration, other see it as pure racism by those who would crack down on it. Of course the Hispanic population is very diverse, there are Cubans, Filipinos, Mexicans, a lot of different kinds of Hispanics here, so it's tough to say how they are going to vote.

Just recently, a group has formed a chapter of a national group, the Hispanic Republican Assembly Caucus has formed here, and they are trying to get some members to try to put together a Republican Hispanic outreach program. How successful that is, its just hard to tell. It's in is embryonic stages, they only have about 500 members now but that'll be interesting to watch.

How are Nevada voters responding to their new and more influential role earlier in the primary calendar?

Again, I don't think most Nevada voters have focused on it at all yet, you know, people who cover politics everyday such as myself are focused on it, party insiders are focused on it, organizers, candidates, etc., are focused on it. But the average voter I don't think really has picked up on this yet.

Its going to be interesting because the turnout for the caucus on January 19 is going to be very, very interesting because if they don't have a significant turnout I think we are going to be hard-pressed to keep this third-in-the-nation status that we've been granted.

Do you have insight as to what factors could influence the turnout?
Well there's a lot of things that could influence the turnout. Obviously we're not going to have to worry about weather too much here, probably, it hasn't snowed here in quite some time, and it'll probably be a sunny day so turnout will probably be good. But how much are people going to be engaged? How much will people pick up on what you're talking about, how much will that trickle out to the average voter, how important it could be? What will happen in Iowa and New Hampshire will have a huge impact on the turnout. The best-case scenario for Nevada is for New Hampshire to go as planned on the 8th, then you're gonna have 11 days from New Hampshire until Nevada because that will be the next meaningful contest, because Michigan is essentially a non-event for the Democrats because only Hillary Clinton is participating. And so, there'll be a lot of focus and I think that will really increase the turnout. But it'll depend, if Hillary Clinton sweeps Iowa an New Hampshire, the race may be seen as over, and maybe a lot of Democrats won't turn out, if it's spilt, or if Obama and Edwards are still close I think there will be a lot of focus on the state and I think that'll drive up turnout.

Now what about local or state issues -- do you see any of those influencing a swing voter's choice in the election?

You know, its interesting, most of the polls show when people are voting for president they aren't voting on things like, parochial issues like Yucca mountain, which is a big issue here, or growth, or whatever, or the budget situation or the economy here, they re voting on national issues. I think you're going to see people here voting on the same kinds of issues they are voting on in other places, Iraq, health care, jobs, those kinds of things, Iran, if more develops on that. I think that state issues are all subsumed by those big national and international issues here.

So if you could pick one of those issues for people in Las Vegas, or Nevada in general, as they evaluate presidential candidates, what's one issue that you think stands out the most in their minds, do you have any idea passed on polling or through interviews, what that issue could be?

Its hard to narrow it down to one issue, its probably different on the Republican and Democratic side, I meant he Democratic side I still think that the war and all of the outgrowths of issues from the war are still the biggest issue. And on the Republican side, you do see that Romney is appealing to the social conservatives here, on the other hand they are gonna respond too to Giuliani's pitch to Islamofascism and fighting that and the continuing war on terror, so, its harder to pinpoint on the Republican side I think and again Republicans haven't campaigned as much here either.

Can you explain how the voters have reacted to the fact that Republicans are not [campaigning] here as much as the Democratic presidential candidates?
Again, I don't think voters are reacting yet, I really don't think they are. The party folks are trying to put the best face on it and they did get Fred Thompson to come last week. But Giuliani is almost absent here, McCain is almost absent here, Romney has a bit of a presence, probably more than all the other candidates combined and Thompson, as I said, made his first visit last week. You know, the party wants to make this a success too but they have pretty much been copycatting the democrats. There are hurt, too, by the way, because the South Carolina republicans are going on the same day as Nevada and so it think there will be a lot more focus on South Carolina on the Republican side in the run up to January 19 while the Democrats will have the day to themselves because the South Carolina democrats are going on I think the date is the 26th.

And how do Nevadans feel about the new congress, especially with [Sen.] Harry Reid as the majority leader?

When you say how do they feel, they're split. Some people think Harry Reid is doing a great job and others are pretty negative about him. Harry Reid has always had at best decent numbers in the state. There's some anecdotal and some empirical evidence that he's slipping. There was a poll that came out that shows his numbers upside down here, I don't believe that poll. But I do believe that he's very vulnerable, as he always is.

You talked about union members earlier, are there any other interesting political voting blocs in the state that might surprise someone who's not familiar with the area?

The unions are very important, especially in the Democratic primary and the SEIU will have a voice, but the culinary union will have the largest voice. I still believe that whoever the culinary union endorses will win the primary, will win the caucus, excuse me.

Jon Ralston, thanks very much for speaking with us.
You bet.

-- Interviewed by Quinn Bowman, Online NewsHour