Nevada Newspapers Beefing Up Coverage For Suddenly Hot Caucus Vote

By: Joe Strupp Four years ago, the Nevada caucuses carried almost no weight and received barely any media attention, even among local newspapers, because of their later date.

But this year, having been moved up to third place after the Iowa and New Hampshire contests, which did little to proclaim a front-runner in either party, Nevada editors are beefing up coverage and devoting more resources than for any previous caucus season.

"It is far and away the most important one, the rest were forgettable," Thomas Mitchell, editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and a 20-year veteran of the paper, said of the Jan. 19 event. "It doesn?t strike me as having been significant for us at all in the past."

Beryl Love, editor of the Reno Gazette-Journal, agreed. "It sets up who is going to move out ahead," he said of the caucuses' impact on the top candidates.

The caucuses have become such a hot news story that the Las Vegas Sun chose this week to unveil its new Web site redesign, launched on Thursday, and the Review-Journal is considering a rare primary season endorsement.

"We generally do not endorse in the primary, but we have not ruled it out," said Mitchell, who sits on the paper's editorial board. "It would be unusual and we are just kind of looking at it. We might change our minds if we get a couple more [candidates] in here to persuade us."

Mitchell said the paper's editorial board has already interviewed Mitt Romney, Bill Richardson(now out of the race) and Duncan Hunter, with a request out for Barack Obama.

The increased attention on Nevada follows the Iowa caucuses, in which Obama won the Democratic race and Mike Huckabee took the Republican contest. But after two other contenders, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain, won the New Hampshire primaries on Tuesday, the race became even less clear.

Enter Nevada, which chose last year to move up its caucuses to January after holding them almost a month later in 2004. Although South Carolina's primaries are also upcoming, on Jan. 19 and Jan. 26, their date change is not as significant.

"This year, we have a lead role we never had before," said Tom Gorman, assistant managing editor of the Sun, which operates in an unusual JOA with the Review-Journal in which both papers are delivered together, but operate separate Web sites. "It is our lead story from now until the caucus date."

Gorman said he has boosted his political reporting corps from one to four in the past months, along with putting up to eight other reporters on the story on any given day. He has 22 news reporters. The new Web design will include more pages for political coverage, along with increased blogging and plans for caucus night updates.

"We will be updating with the latest numbers, hoping to get precinct-by-precinct results," said Dave Toplikar, Sun new media managing editor. "We hope to break it down by polling place."

Across town, Mitchell of the Review-Journal is putting all of his 21 news reporters on the coverage, with plans to add others from business and feature on caucus night. "We will have to buck up and do some overtime," Mitchell said about the Saturday night event.

The Review-Journal, which published a four-page guide to the caucuses in November, is also planning to add another two pages each day for coverage during the coming week. Along with increased Web coverage are more "push e-mails" about the caucuses for those who sign up.

In Reno, meanwhile, a 10 to 12-page caucus primer is being prepared for Sunday's paper, according to Love. He adds that at least eight of his 85 news staffers will be on the story caucus night. "We knew already it was going to be a big deal," he said.