by John McCormick
RENO, Nev. – On the day before the Nevada caucuses, Sen. Barack Obama is appearing here with his wife, Michelle, at the University of Nevada-Reno, where hundreds are packed into a gymnasium.
The appearance comes as the Washington Post reports that the Illinois Democrat is about to get some help on television from a union group that has been running a controversial radio that criticized his leading nomination rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.
The Post says UNITE HERE, the parent union of the Culinary Workers Union of Nevada, a powerful union backing Obama, has bought $13,645 in ad time on a Univision station in Las Vegas.
The group’s Spanish-language radio ad suggests Clinton does not respect Hispanics because another union with ties to her unsuccessfully tried to close caucus locations at casinos and hotels on or close to the Strip where many culinary workers will attend the meetings.
Clinton’s campaign criticized Obama on Thursday for not denouncing the negative radio ad, especially after himself being so critical of spending by outside groups during the final days before the Iowa caucuses.
Obama awoke to a new poll in the Las Vegas Review-Journal that shows Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York with a lead in Nevada, 41 percent to Obama’s 32 percent. The poll shows former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards with the backing of 14 percent.
Although it is notoriously difficult to poll in a caucus state – especially one with no history of a high-profile presidential nominating contest – the demographic breakdown underlying the poll looks bad for Obama.
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Conducted Monday through Wednesday by Mason-Dixon and with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, the poll shows the gender gap that hurt Obama in New Hampshire could play out in Nevada as well.
Among women, Clinton has the support of 49 percent, compared to 28 percent for Obama. Amomg men, Obama has a slight advantage, 37 percent to Clinton’s 30 percent.
Clinton also dominates among the state’s sizable Hispanic population, where the poll suggests she leads Obama 50 percent to 29 percent.
Among African-Americans, Obama leads 65 percent to 18 percent, but the newspaper notes that blacks are expected to represent just 10 percent of Democratic caucus participants.
Obama also leads among union households, but by just 7 percentage points over Clinton.
His campaign announced this morning that he has won the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez of California.
After his stop in Reno, Obama is scheduled to hold a town-hall-style event in Elko, Nev., before flying back south to Las Vegas for an evening rally and a banquet in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.