LAS VEGAS — Vanessa DiStefano knocked on an apartment door on the city's east side Saturday morning, and a small, frail woman answered. She was 98 years old, the daughter of a slave and, most importantly, an undecided voter.
DiStefano and her boyfriend, Josh Olson, Los Angeles residents who traveled to Nevada to canvass for Barack Obama, spent the next 15 minutes asking her what she thought about the election and telling her why they liked the Democratic candidate. When they left, they were confident they had won Obama another convert.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, October 17, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 48 words Type of Material: Correction
Nevada vote effort: An article in Tuesday's Section A about a Democratic get-out-the-vote effort in Nevada said Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti and Barack Obama first met in 2006 when Obama was running for the U.S. Senate. The two met when Obama was running in 2004.
"She told us she had asked God for a sign," DiStefano, 31, said. "After talking to her for a while, it was clear that she had found it."
As election day nears, thousands of Californians are trekking to Nevada to try to swing the Silver State blue. It may happen. Obama has led all the state polls this month even though Nevada hasn't sided with a Democratic presidential candidate since 1996.
Obama aides won't say how many Californians have headed east, but staffers acknowledged they are putting extra emphasis on their "Drive for Change" campaign to get Californians to Nevada. John McCain's campaign has no equivalent effort, although there are Californians heading to Nevada to stump for the Republican, according to Rick Gorka, McCain's western regional communications director.
DiStefano and Olson traveled to Las Vegas with a group organized by Eric Garcetti, the Los Angeles City Council president who is Obama's Southern California chairman. At the group's orientation at the Tropicana Hotel, college students sat alongside grandparents, and first-time volunteers were next to veteran campaigners.
Sam Lieberman, chairman of the Nevada State Democratic Party, began with a presentation about the state's political landscape.
Republicans have typically outnumbered Democrats, but this year Democrats have a 94,000-voter advantage. The shift stems from interest in the Democratic caucus in January, but also from the state's lagging economy. Nevada's unemployment rate is at a 23-year high, and it has the worst foreclosure rate in the country -- and many Nevadans blame the Republican governor, Jim Gibbons.
Though Obama's chances look good, Lieberman said the next three weeks would be crucial. "There is so much to do and so little time to do it," he said. A few minutes later, a field director with the Obama campaign gave volunteers some tips. Las Vegas is "no Berkeley," he warned, so volunteers should be prepared for encounters with McCain supporters. Whatever they do, volunteers should not pick political fights, he said. "Nevada is a battleground state, but you're not actually here to battle."
