By: Las Vegas Now Staff
What happens in Nevada could be the deciding factor in the presidential election and both campaigns have pulled out all of the stops to get votes. The campaigns have even targeted a niche group of voters.
Las Vegas is known as the 9th island to people from Hawaii. It's a popular tourist spot for Hawaiians and thousands of Hawaiians call Nevada home.
The latest Reuters/Zobgy poll shows Obama leading McCain by 4-percentage points which is close to the margin of error for the poll. Still, in Nevada, almost 8-percent of voters were undecided.
The feeling is that it's so close even a small group Hawaiians voting one way or the other could make the difference.
“Hi. My name is Susan Serrano. I am a volunteer with the Obama campaign.” Volunteers made tens of thousands of these phone calls to voters across Nevada. Only, this call center sits in Hawaii.
Andy Winer runs the Hawaii for Obama Campaign. “We believe that we are having a real significant impact because of the connections that there are between Hawaii and Nevada,” said Andy Winer, Hawaii For Obama.
Winer says they have already made more than 25,000 phone calls to Hawaiians in Nevada. Las Vegas resident Rozita Lee received one of those calls.
“By connecting with friends and people from Hawaii, we feel a lot closer to one another and we feel better,” Lee said. She moved to Las Vegas 29 years ago from her hometown on Maui. She still has friends and family there.
The campaigns hope to use that connection to foster a feeling Hawaiians call Ohana, which means family. ”You don't have to be blood relatives or blood sister of brother. We call each other cousins or brother or sister,” Lee said.
Both Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama have volunteers in Hawaii making the phone calls. McCain's started from Hawaii at the end of August. Senator Barack Obama was born in Hawaii and it's hope that connection will help.
David Hudson, an Obama volunteer in Hawaii, has already made hundreds of calls to Nevada.”There's a list of names and you call people and you ask them if it's a convenient time to talk to them and then you ask them if they voted,” he said.
“We've become familiar now with the voting laws in Nevada. We understand the early votes. So if voters have any questions we are able to respond a lot easier,” Winer said.
Plus, Lee says it's nice to hear a friendly voice from the islands she once called home.
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