Nevada Caucus Day Tidbits

While at this hour we all know Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney won Saturday in Nevada, we'll look at some of the other stories surrounding the Silver State's first meaningful presidential caucus.

• Harry Reid was right. Laughed at as being hopelessly optimistic with his 100,000 voter estimate last year, the Senator was vindicated with a huge Democratic turnout. An estimated 120,000 Democrats voted.
• Either Bill Clinton was wrong or the Culinary isn't the political powerhouse it is cracked up to be. After all the controversy over the Culinary Union's special at-large precincts, and the prediction they would all go to Culinary-endorsed Barack Obama, Hillary takes seven of the nine. At the Paris, she won by 37 points.
• Maybe it was the white t-shirts?
• Maybe it was the black/brown rift?
• Or maybe they just didn't care? Party officials thought 5,000 would attend the nine at-large casino precincts. The actual numbers were far, far short of that on a day when other precincts were overwhelmed with voters.
• For Republicans the big Nevada news isn't necessarily who won, but who has just captured second. After filling Nevada GOP mailboxes and hitting the airwaves, Ron Paul's payoff is the silver medal with his 200-vote margin over John McCain.
• GOP turnout was also higher than expected with more than 43,000 voters. While this set a Republican record, those numbers pale in comparison to the Democrats and should be a cause for worries come November.
• Another problem was execution. Reno Republicans complain of disorganization and the ease of which fraud could have taken place. The funny thing is, they don't know the half of it. We'll have more on that tomorrow or Monday (Chaos at the Caucus).