Support hinges on healing

By Brian Eckhouse

Thursday, June 5, 2008 | 2 a.m.

With Sen. Hillary Clinton expected to concede this week, her campaign advisers in Nevada predict that most of her supporters will ultimately help Barack Obama carry the state.

That runs counter to sentiment expressed by many Clinton supporters at last month’s Democratic convention, however. They told pollsters and Sun reporters they were uncertain whether they would support Obama.

Nevada was a microcosm of the sharp fissures revealed during the protracted nomination battle: She won the popular vote here, but he won more delegates, as was the case nationally.

The Democratic electorate fractured along demographic lines — blue-collar workers, women and Hispanics favored Clinton, while Obama won over the youth, the college-educated and blacks.

In Nevada, the divide was even deeper.

“There were some burned bridges,” acknowledged Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen, one of Clinton’s most vocal supporters in the Silver State.

Thus far, this divide has yet to be mended.

“It all depends on how much he is willing to reach out to these (Clinton) constituencies,” said Kihuen, who noted Hispanics overwhelmingly favored the New York senator.

Winning over these voters in Nevada and other suddenly moderate states in the West probably will be critical to Obama if the race with presumptive Republican nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain is tight. That means Clinton’s leadership in Nevada will have to play a big role in selling Obama to her constituencies.

The surefire solution would be Clinton as Obama’s running mate, her local advisers said.

“It would be an invincible ticket,” Kihuen said.

“A dream ticket,” opined congressional candidate and state Sen. Dina Titus, who also supports Clinton.

Others in Nevada, however, argue that selecting Clinton as a vice presidential nominee would run counter to the best interest of Obama and his theme of change. Many in Obama’s camp also take exception to the notion that the Illinois senator “needs” Clinton on the ticket for the Democrats to win Nevada and the White House.

“The only time during a campaign that anyone really focuses on the vice president is before they’re named,” said Billy Vassiliadis, chief executive of R&R Partners, an advertising and public affairs firm. “The campaign is going to be about Barack Obama.”

Indeed, historians often note that few voters actually cast their votes based on a nominee’s running mate or spouse. But this race has rarely followed form, and some Clinton backers are suggesting they may support McCain if Obama is the Democratic Party’s nominee.

Among those Democrats are some of Clark County’s more than 70,000 Jews, who suspect Obama is not staunchly pro-Israel. Clinton, on the other hand, was considered a very strong supporter of Israel.

“It’s certainly true that there are people concerned,” said Rabbi Jeremy Wiederhorn of Midbar Kodesh Temple in Henderson, who believes that suspicion is driven by propaganda.

But Wiederhorn, who attended this week’s American Israel Political Action Committee conference in Northern Virginia, thinks Obama can overcome that belief on his own, noting that most of the 7,000 in attendance Wednesday gave Obama a standing ovation.

“The stance that AIPAC has taken is that all three candidates are pro-Israel,” Wiederhorn said.