Jonathan V. Last has just filed a report from the Bellagio where he saw a casino caucus in action. He writes:
During the initial sort, Clinton supporters massed in the center of the room; the Obama supporters off to the left. Their numbers close to even, both groups chanted loudly. Eight lonely Edward supporters stood forlornly on the right-side of the room.
Only the Clinton and Obama camps were viable after the first sort. Clinton had 271 votes; Obama 191. It's a huge victory for her here.
This result appears to be repeating itself across the state. And in the sense that the Culinary Union had endorsed Obama, the result is stunning.
Typically, a union will endorse a candidate and no one will have any real idea as to how much influence that endorsement had on the union's membership. But in this case, union members have publicly bucked their leadership's directive. I'd say that's a pretty good thing for democracy, whatever peculiar version of it we've witnesses in Las Vegas today, but it sure does look bad for the unions. If they can't even affect the votes of their members when those members must vote in public, in front of their colleagues, and under the watchful eye of management, what kind of premium are candidates likely to put on union endorsements in the future?
Update: It's official. Hillary wins:
Twenty-nine percent of Democratic voters said they were members of a union household. Fourty-three percent of union voters said they favored Clinton, while 42 percent favored Obama and 11 percent favored Edwards.
Not quite as lopsided as the tally at the Bellagio, but the union clearly did not have the effect many expected.
Update II: Hillary won six seven of nine casino caucuses--after trying to shut them down!
