'It was an unmitigated success'

The Carson City Democratic Central Committee caucus had a record-setting turnout Saturday, drawing almost 10 percent of the city's registered democrats. No more than 5 percent attended any other Nevada caucus, according to party officials.

The 652 democrats at Bordewich-Bray Elementary School overwhelmingly selected Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts as their preferred democratic presidential candidate.

"It was an unmitigated success," said committee chairman Jim Wallace.

"Four years ago we had 35 or 40 people," said Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell.

Attendance was up in neighboring counties as well. Nearly three times as many Douglas County democrats attended the county's two precinct caucuses Saturday, said Central Committee Chairwoman Janet Jones. In Minden there were 166 while 58 attended at Zeyphr Cove. In 2000 about 60 attended overall.

After attending the last 10 caucuses in Carson City, Stacie Wilke was surprised to see so many people.

"I walked in and I thought, 'Is this the right place?'" said the former Assembly candidate.

Democrats filed in off King Street - where the silver Capitol dome loomed in the East - and crammed into the gym.

"I think this is phenomenal," former state senator Ernie Adler said over the din. He said he saw people who were active in the Republican Party four years ago who have since registered as democrats.

"These people are fired up about replacing the current administration with one that is more responsive to the needs of the American people. There's a fair degree of anger about some of the things this administration has done and we're seeing the reaction to that."

He said Nevada democrats are angry with the Bush administration for supporting the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump.

Caucus participants cast votes for a democratic presidential nominee in a non-binding straw poll. By 1 p.m. the votes were tallied.

"It's a Kerry landslide," Wallace said. The final votes were 77 percent for Kerry, 12 percent for John Edwards, 6 percent for Howard Dean and 2 percent for Dennis Kucinich. The rest earned fewer than 1 percent, Wallace said.

The Kerry campaign sent national staffer Tad Wootton to the capital city. Wearing a blue Kerry pin, he described the turnout as "extremely impressive." About 2,000 saw Kerry speak Friday in Las Vegas.

Carson High School student Ben Adler is 17 now, but he'll be old enough to vote by election day.

"I think it's necessary to get some real support behind somebody who can beat Bush," he said. "A lot of people my age don't like Bush at all."

Adler, an advanced placement government student, listed the Patriot Act, Bush's financial policies and the No Child Left Behind Act as major faults. He described Kerry as having a strong stance on a lot of issues.

"He's definitely electable," he said. "With the initials J.F.K. you can't go wrong."

Adler will be leaving for an exchange program to Japan in August but he's planning to vote by absentee ballot. "I'm set to vote against Bush."

Tommy Hughes, a substitute teacher and retired child welfare social worker, was impressed by the increased turnout compared to four years ago. Back then people felt voting didn't matter, he said.

"Now they see what's happening to this country and they think, 'We better get out there and vote before this country is destroyed before our very eyes.'"

Carson City elected 141 delegates to the county convention March 13. From there, the party will elect delegates to send to the state convention in Las Vegas in April.

Nevada Speaker Emeritus Joe Dini was among the 67 democrats attending in Lyon County at Silverstage High School in Silver Springs.

Nevada's longest serving legislator told Democrats organization is the key to wresting control of county, state and national government from the Republicans.

Party officials in Silver Springs did not release results of the vote.

Bouncing back from a recent history of pitiful democratic caucus turnouts, 62 politically energized Churchill County residents crammed into a small conference room on the outskirts of Fallon on Saturday spouting a mantra of change.

"Bush may be the best thing that's happened to the Democratic party in a long time," said Glen McAdoo.

While the 57 Churchill County votes mirrored a national trend in supporting Kerry, who nabbed 57 percent of the county's nominations, many caucus attendees privately supported Edwards. Tallying 18 percent of the vote, Edwards came in a distant second, with voters saying Kerry has the best shot at winning a term in the White House.

"There is no democrat on the face of the earth I won't vote for over George Bush ... but Edwards doesn't have the baggage that Kerry brings," said Churchill County resident Jeff Bown.

The Douglas County Library at Zephyr Cover saw 58 party faithfuls show late Saturday afternoon for the last-known caucus of the day for the state.

Kerry won overwhelmingly garnering 29 votes, followed by Edwards a distant second with 14 votes and Dean at eight votes.

"The Democratic Party here has packed the room today united by one thing: beating George Bush," said Ann Harmon of Stateline.

Harmon, who made no bones about who she wants for president, Gen. Wesley Clark, conceded she will vote for Kerry if he gets the party's nomination.

The 47 Democrats who gathered in the Delta Saloon on Saturday cast more than three-quarters of their votes for Kerry - and said any campaign dirt circulating about him shouldn't matter given the importance of ousting Bush. The 77 percent that Kerry got from the Storey County Democrats was higher than any other in the state.

When caucus-goers Paul Kvam and Peter Kraemer warned Kerry might become the target of smear tactics and support for John Edwards might be a wiser course, other democrats said the key was to have a candidate with the best chance of beating Bush - and Kerry filled the bill.

Even if the campaign dirt turns includes allegations that Kerry might have "slept around," Karen Wright said that shouldn't be a deciding factor in a presidential race. "Who hasn't?" she said.

Editor's Note: Nevada Appeal News Service writers Kurt Hildebrand, Cory McConnel and Jeff Munson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.