LAS VEGAS - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman will make a stop in Las Vegas on Sunday in a last-minute push for votes before Tuesday's general election.
It will be Lieberman's second visit in nine days as Republicans and Democrats maneuver to capture Nevada's four electoral votes that could be critical to winning the White House.
Lieberman's Las Vegas stop is part of a four-state campaign swing that will start in New Mexico and stop in Nevada and Oregon before ending up in Washington state, said Mary Perren, spokeswoman for the Gore-Lieberman campaign in Nevada.
''Those states all went with Clinton-Gore twice and they are now all in a statistical dead heat,'' said Ryan Irwin, executive director of the Nevada Republican Party.
''I think they are running scared. I think it means they are making one last big ditch effort to win a state they are not going to win.''
The latest statewide poll of likely voters shows Texas Gov. George W. Bush with 47 percent and Gore with 43 percent. Four percent of those surveyed plan to vote for others - including 2.4 percent for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader - and 6 percent are undecided. The survey published Tuesday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal has a 4 percentage-point margin of error, which suggests the presidential race in Nevada is a statistical dead heat.
The Connecticut senator is scheduled to arrive about 10 a.m. for a two-hour visit, Perren said Friday.
Lieberman will visit two Baptist churches in West Las Vegas to encourage the community's black voters to go to the polls Tuesday, Perren said.
''He really feels it's important to energize the vote in the African-American community,'' he said. ''He wants to let them know how important their vote is on Election Day.''
The church visits are open to the public.
Lieberman's decision was made at the last minute, Perren said.
''From everything we've seen the state is close between Bush and Gore; we think we can win this state,'' she said.
Irwin agrees that Nevada is a state in play.
''It's a state that both Bush and Gore need,'' he said.
''Even with only four electoral votes, an eight electoral vote swing could make all the difference in the race.''
Lieberman's visit highlights a busy weekend in southern Nevada during which local politicians and celebrities will try to rally the valley's residents to go to the polls.
Actors Jimmy Smits and Esai Morales are scheduled to appear at a 9:30 a.m. ''Soar with Gore'' rally Saturday that will be held outside Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates' campaign headquarters.
Local Democrats will then walk neighborhoods urging residents to vote.
They might cross paths with a similar Republican effort.
Gov. Kenny Guinn, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and U.S. Senate candidate John Ensign are among the state Republicans who will walk precincts.
After meeting at party headquarters, the group will seek GOP votes on behalf of state Sen. Jon Porter who is trying to unseat Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.
On Sunday, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros and former Energy Secretary Federico Pena will appear at the El Rey Restaurant and Night Club at 6:30 p.m. on the city's east side during their ''Your Vote Counts, Coast to Coast'' tour that targets Hispanic Americans.
