RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
You can do just about anything you can think of on the Las Vegas strip. This Saturday, Democrats may even be able to choose or help choose a president there. The Nevada Democratic Party has established what are known as at-large caucus sites at hotel casinos, which would allow workers to participate during their shift. The campaigns were all for it until last week when the culinary workers endorsed Barack Obama. Now the casino caucuses are the subject of a lawsuit.
NPR's Ina Jaffe has more.
INA JAFFE: The Culinary Workers Union is the largest in Nevada. Its 60,000 members and its strong get-out-the-vote machine make its endorsement a coveted prize.
(Soundbite of crowd)
JAFFE: So when the union endorsed Barack Obama last week, he came to Las Vegas to say thank you in person.
Senator BARACK OBNAMA (Democrat, Illinois; Presidential Candidate): Every time I come here, I feel good because I know, not only am I among friends, but I'm also among the best of the labor movement in this country. Thank you.
(Soundbite of crowd)
JAFFE: But there is more to the labor movement in Nevada than the Culinary Workers. Some other unions have endorsed former Senator John Edwards or New York Senator Hillary Clinton. As she noted on Meet the Press this Sunday, those unions also have members who will be working this Saturday.
Senator HILLARY CLINTON (Democrat, New York; Presidential Candidate): Some people are saying, well, wait a minute, what about us? Those are not our workplaces. We have to be at work. How are we going to participate?
JAFFE: And some of those workers belong to the Nevada State Education Association, which has not endorsed any candidate, but joined with some Democratic Party activists who do support Hillary Clinton to file the lawsuit to stop the caucuses on the strip.
Mr. TERRY HICKMAN (Executive Director, Nevada State Education Association): The overriding issue about any caucus is the fairness.
JAFFE: Terry Hickman, the association's executive director, says many of his members will be working on Saturday that the many caucuses held in schools.
Mr. HICKMAN: They are not going to be given special treatment. They are going to be asked to work, and they're not going to be excused to go attend their caucus in their home precinct. So while they are there working and helping others vote in their caucus, they are not going to be able to.
JAFFE: This is the first time that the Nevada caucuses will be held in January. The National Democratic Party agreed to the date in order to have a state with a large Latino population and a strong union presence in the early going right after Iowa and New Hampshire.
D. Taylor, the head of the Culinary Workers, says that means that his members, at least 40 percent of them Latino, are exactly what the national party had in mind. He rejects the whole notion that the lawsuit against the casino caucuses is about fairness. He says it's about politics.
Mr. D. TAYLOR (Culinary Workers Union): I never thought in my wildest dream, on the weekend they were honoring Dr. King, that people on the Democratic Party would try to disenfranchise a largely people of color and union membership, but I guess that shows the Clinton campaign will put politics over principle, and they reinforces why we endorsed Senator Barack Obama.
JAFFE: The Clinton campaign is not a party to the lawsuit, and the Culinary Workers Union is a helpless bystander in a courtroom drama. The defendant is the state Democratic Party. Spokeswoman Kirsten Searer says the party will vigorously defend the caucuses on the strip because they're opened to more than just the culinary workers.
Ms. KIRSTEN SEARER (Spokeswoman, Nevada State Democratic Party): As long as you work within 2.5 miles of the at-large caucuses, you can participate. So, that means if you work in one of the many retail shops on the strip, if you work at a gas station on the strip, if you work at a sandwich shop on the strip, you can still participate in these at-large caucuses.
JAFFE: And having the biggest possible turnout on Saturday will make the Nevada Democratic Party a winner and show the state deserves to keep its place near the front of the line four years from now.
Ina Jaffe, NPR News.