Ralston Reports: In Nevada, Clinton's “…campaign is filled with dread and fear; you can feel it…”

From Jon Ralston, the virtual dean of Nevada’s political press corps, over the past few hours...  

Jon Ralston

Reno Gazette-Journal

9:07 a.m. PST February 15, 2016  

It seems like yesterday.

The Hillary Clinton juggernaut arrived in Nevada last spring, making all the right moves… … …Nevada was Clinton Country, mostly because of her organizational strength designed to construct a firewall should Bernie Sanders do well in New Hampshire. Indeed, Sanders apparently couldn’t place Nevada on a map – he had no offices, no staff, no footprint at all.

Ralston pushes the Hillary hubris button: “Race? What race?”

…Now, one week before Nevada Democrats break the tie between Iowa and New Hampshire and decide if the Sanders Surge is real, yesterday has vanished and Hillary Clinton can’t stop thinking about tomorrow.

No, not the way the Clintons meant it in 1992, with optimism and hope. This campaign is filled with dread and fear; you can feel it…

Ralston notes: “In a poker game, they are what is known as “tells,” some giveaway to what cards a player holds, some sign of whether he has the flush or has a busted hand. As Team Clinton focuses on the state where gambling dominates, their tells are showing.”

…After spending so much time touting the minority outreach, especially to Latinos, Team Clinton is now repeating the ridiculous and false mantra that Nevada is not so different than Iowa and New Hampshire, two of the whitest states in the union. It’s as if history doesn’t exist…

Ralston references the latest words from Robby Mook: “…a fairy tale if you will, spun by a campaign that gave away its panic as the New Hampshire results became clear. From the top (campaign manager Robby Mook) on down (spokesman Brian Fallon) they pushed the false narrative that Nevada had an 80 percent white voter population. This is so far from true, and they know it (especially Mook, who – wait for it – ran Hillary’s campaign here in 2008)…”

...They know that electorate was at least 30 percent minority, and they know it is projected to be closer to 40 percent this cycle. Nevada’s Hispanic population is about 27 percent, and it is barely a majority white state anymore…

I’ll take Ralston’s well-earned knowledge regarding the political state-of-play in the Nevada Democratic Caucuses over any poll there.

Firewall? Berning down!

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