RENO, NV - In January, Nevada held its first ever early caucus and the turnout exceeded expectations. That success was reflected this past weekend as Nevada Democrats held their county conventions.

In fact, in at least one instance the high level of interest led to some real headaches. Before this year the largest crowd at a county convention was 300. Nearly 2,000 showed up Saturday even in bad weather. Party leaders are learning to set their sights higher, a lesson learned during the January 19th caucus when turnout exceeded expectations and the capacity of some of the venues.

Saturday's convention had originally been booked for the Peppermill, but party leaders wisely decided to move it to the Events Center. The big crowd brought problems. Checking credentials took time as did coming up with a formula to divide alternates. And it wasn't just the size of the crowd Saturday it was who was in that crowd.

Senator Clinton won the Nevada caucus, though Barack Obama carried more counties and potentially garnered more delegates. He may have padded that lead Saturday. The dynamic of the Democratic race has changed a good deal since January 19th. Obama has racked up a series of victories in other states. His people were energized and more of them showed up.

The Clinton campaign came up short on alternates needed to fill all of the seats she won in January. Edwards delegates were free to line up with a 2nd choice and most seemed to drift to Obama.

The bottom line: Obama got 51 percent of the vote at the January caucus in Washoe County. Saturday his campaign took away 59 percent of the Washoe delegates to the state convention.

We won't know what effect if any this will have on the final delegate count from Nevada. The state convention won't be held until May. A lot could change by then and at the moment we're still missing the biggest piece of this puzzle. Clark County had to cancel it's convention Saturday. The problem was not only turnout, but planning. They elected 7,000 delegates during the January caucus. Expected maybe 6,000 to show up Saturday and yet booked a room that could only hold 5,000. The fire marshal blew the whistle. It was finally decided to call the whole thing off and schedule a do-over if and when they can find a hall that's big enough and that they can afford.

Washoe County Republicans have booked a room at the Peppermill for their county convention March 15th. Big difference here, The GOP National race is pretty much over. They've sent out just over 3,000 letters. They're expecting 1,500 to show up. They've booked a room for 2,000.