Drive for Change to Nevada

Washoe County

Reno, in Washoe County, Nevada, is in the high desert.  The city is surrounded by appealing tan, beige, and brown mountains dotted with yellow sagebrush that rise to a wide, open sky of clouds and blue.  Unfortunately, downtown Reno is rather ugly with a dearth of green, charmless buildings, and huge casinos.  Unfortunately, for Nevada, gambling in the state is struggling from competition with casinos on Indian reservations in California.  

The exciting news for Democrats about Washoe County is that, after many years of being a Red area, it has just turned Blue with 1300 more registered Democrats than Republicans, thanks to a vigorous voter registration drive conducted by the Obama organization.

Grand Sierra Hotel

The Grand Sierra is huge, something like 2000 rooms.  I found the lobby/casino floor garish and depressing -- full of slot machines and gaming tables with neon lights, gaudy chandeliers, and recessed lighting.  Apparently casino owners keep their hotels in unnatural light so gamblers never know if it's day or night and never leave the hotel.

There were two good things about the Grand Sierra.  It had a spiffy health club with a hot jacuzzi, sauna, and steam room all in the ladies' locker room. I used the jacuzzi around 7 a.m. every morning and blissfully had it to myself.

Then, the Wine Bar is quite wonderful, especially because there are no slot machines inside it.  What it does have are two stands holding a wide variety of wine bottles attached to a mechanical spout.  You buy a credit card, insert it in the machine, choose your wine, price, and amount (1, 2 or 3 ounces), put your glass under a spigot and get your taste.  The system is a cross between an Automat and a coffee machine.  I loved the bar because I was able to taste 4 different wines, all in small amounts, for only 10 dollars.

Obama Campaign

Of course, the reason for being in Reno and staying at the Grand Sierra (where we got a discount from a friend) was to canvass voters for Obama.  The Obama organization was incredibly well organized and dealt efficiently with out-of-state volunteers in enormous numbers (I was asked not to say how many in order not to tip off the Republicans).  Volunteers from California came with babies in strollers, dogs on leashes, and tons of enthusiasm.  I would guess each volunteer got to 30-40 homes in a day, which was a lot of person power.

My two friends and I depended on others for transportation which enabled us to meet some terrific California volunteers. On Friday we were chauffered around by Lilla, the owner of Readers' Books in Sonoma, who took 3 weeks off from her business (which she left in the hands of her husband and staff) in order to help manage activities in one of the Obama centers around town.  I greatly admire someone willing to leave her small business to work on Obama's campaign.  Lilla was even willing to risk losing a customer or two by declaring herself for Obama.  She reported she had one offended customer to whom she wrote an explanation of her activities in "rather Obamaesque" terms.

Our chauffeurs the second day were two younger women (in the middle of the photo) from the South Bay, Desiree and Katja, who were mothers and business owners, who came to Reno for the weekend.  They were delightful company and extremely well organized with a GPS and bottled water in the car.

The other great Obama supporters I met were waiters and waitresses in the hotel restaurant, including a self-identified lesbian waitress who proudly showed us her diversity campaign button and a Latino waiter, Alex, who took great pride in his work on the election and spent a lot of time building enthusiasm for Obama in the Latino community.

My only problem during my visit was learning how to pronounce the name of the state.  It's Neva(as in apple)da, not Nevahda.  John Kerry maded the mistake of calling the state Nevahda in 2004 and paid for it.  I worked hard to correct my pronunciation so as not to seem too East Coast.  I think it worked, but I was glad to get home and revert to Nevahda.

I have a feeling we just might win Nevada for Obama.  The polls have the two candidates neck and neck, but we are definitely better organized.  On Election Night, I'll be keeping my eye on Washoe County.