A day after former President Bill Clinton angrily defended a lawsuit brought by the Nevada Teachers Association to try and block casino shift workers from caucusing in special locations set up in nine major hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, US District Judge James Mahan ruled:

    "State Democrats have a First Amendment right to association, to assemble and to set their own rules."

A visible theme at a rally for John Edwards on Wednesday was "I'm voting for kids"

    When KGO-TV's political reporter Mark Matthews asked Mr. Clinton about the lawsuit filed by the Nevada teachers' union and several Las Vegas residents supporting his wife Sen. Hillary Clinton, the former president bristled.

    "You have asked the question in an accusatory way, so I will ask you back, do you really believe that all the Democrats understood that they had agreed to give everybody that voted at the casino a vote worth five times as much as people who voted in their own precinct?" Mr. Clinton said after an event on Wednesday in Oakland, California. "Did you know that? Their votes will be counted five times more powerfully, in terms of delegates to the state convention, compared to delegates to the national convention."

    Nevada assemblyman, and former state party chair, Tick Segerblom, disagreed with Clinton's assertion and told Truthout that all of the campaigns were aware of the rules and gave input. Segerblom, who supports John Edwards, but was not speaking on behalf of the campaign, said he didn't believe the suit would have been brought if the Culinary Union had endorsed Clinton.

    Clinton's math, while possible, is unlikely, and it's more likely for someone in a rural area to have their vote count more if turnout is low. I could spend this whole article explaining the math, but I won't.

    John Edwards, when asked for his position on the lawsuit, told Truthout that while he has stayed out of the lawsuit, he believes "everyone should be able to vote."

    Gloves Come Off

    Just two days after the "lovefest" debate, the campaigns accused each other of going negative. The Culinary Union ran the following Spanish language ad (translation by UNITE HERE):

    "Hillary Clinton does not respect our people. Hillary Clinton's supporters went to court to stop working people from being able to vote on Saturday. That is disgraceful. Unforgivable. Hillary Clinton does not respect our people who work hard. Hillary Clinton's supporters want to stop people who are working on Saturday so they can't vote. Disgraceful. Unforgivable. Shame on Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton should not let her friends attack the right of our people to vote on Saturday. Disgraceful. Unforgivable. No respect. Senator Barack Obama is defending our right to vote. Senator Obama wants our votes. He respects our votes. He respects our community, our people. Barack Obama's campaign theme is 'Si Se Puede.' Yes we can. Vote for a President who respects us and our right to vote. Obama for President. Yes we can."

Barack Obama sharpened his attacks on Hillary Clinton on Thursday night in Las Vegas.

    Earlier in the week, D. Taylor, the secretary-treasurer of Culinary Local 226, criticized the lawsuit as "despicable" and "disgusting."

    "I never thought we'd have people in the Democratic Party try to disenfranchise women, people of color and large numbers of working people in this state," Mr. Taylor said. "I am sure every single elected official in Nevada will renounce it, and so will the Clinton campaign.

    "If there's not a renouncing of it," he added, "then there's an agreement with it."

    The Obama campaign has also accused the Clinton Campaign of distorting his record on nuclear energy.

    Clinton is running a radio ad in the state telling listeners Barack Obama, who has also pledged to close Yucca Mountain, is less committed to closing the site than she is.

    Bob Fulkerson, of Public Leadership Alliance of Nevada, an environmental group that is backing Obama. defended him in a conference call with reporters: it is "completely ludicrous and disingenuous to suggest that Barack Obama has somehow been soft on Yucca Mountain."

    Obama also picked up an apology yesterday from the founder of Black Entertainment Television, Robert Johnson, over comments he made which seemed to allude to Mr. Obama's admission of drug use in his younger days. "In my zeal to support Senator Clinton, I made some very inappropriate remarks for which I am truly sorry," Mr. Johnson wrote in a letter to Mr. Obama. "I hope that you will accept this apology. Good luck on the campaign trail."

    Obama Sharpens His Attacks

    In a town hall meeting, Obama used humor to attack his main rival, Hillary Clinton. He didn't mention John Edwards by name, a sign that he now sees a two-person race.

    Obama ridiculed Clinton while accusing her of distorting his positions on issues like social security, taxes and Yucca Mountain.

    He also poked fun at a remark Clinton made during a debate this week, in which she acknowledged voting for a bankruptcy bill even though she said she was glad it did not pass. "What does that mean?" he asked. "If you didn't want to see it pass, then you vote against it."

John Edwards addresses supporters at the Carpenters Union Hall in Las Vegas on Wednesday. He was critical of Obama comparing his candidacy to that of Ronald Reagan.

    Fighting for airtime since the debate, former Sen. John Edwards stepped-up his criticism of Obama:

    "I would never use Ronald Reagan as an example of change ...

    "He was openly - openly - intolerant of unions and the right to organize. He openly fought against the union and the organized labor movement in this country. He openly did extraordinary damage to the middle class and working people, created a tax structure that favored the very wealthiest Americans and caused the middle class and working people to struggle every single day. The destruction of the environment, you know, eliminating regulation of companies that were polluting and doing extraordinary damage to the environment ...

    "I can promise you this: This president will never use Ronald Reagan as an example for change."

    Edwards was responding to the following quote from Obama:

    "But I think, when I think about great presidents, I think about those who transform how we think about ourselves as a country in fundamental ways ... And, you know, there are circumstances in which, I would argue, Ronald Reagan was a very successful president, even though I did not agree with him on many issues, partly because at the end of his presidency, people, I think, said, 'You know what? We can regain our greatness. Individual responsibility and personal responsibility are important.' And they transformed the culture and not simply promoted one or two particular issues."

    Neck and Neck

    While Obama seems to be piling up strategic victories here. It's anybody's guess as to who will actually win. Remember though, Saturday will be another media showcase that will only provide momentum to campaigns, or cast doubt on them; as with Iowa, no delegates to the national convention will be decided tomorrow.

    It all comes down to turnout. And, remember, you read it here: John Edwards might just steal this thing.

www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011808A.shtml