The ground game: The difference between winning and losing the Nevada caucus

With Iowa done and New Hampshire next, the political world's attention will soon turn, briefly, in our direction as the Nevada caucus approaches. We'll see even more of the candidates in the remaining weeks, but the campaigns have been here for months working on one thing which will make the difference--the ground game.
"It's a grind," says Chris McMillan, a field representative for the Jeb Bush campaign. "It's phone calls. It's door-to-door. It's constant communication with undecided voters."
And that, simply put, is the work and the aim of the ground game. It's important throughout the campaign process, but never so more than in the lead up to the caucus. This is one-on-one contact with the voter.
"Trying to reach out to all Hillary supporters, all Democratic voters," says Shervin Ghaffari, a field organizer for Hillary Clinton, "making sure they know when the caucus is, where it is and answer any questions they may have."
When we caught up with them, McMillan was walking a north Sparks neighborhood knocking on doors in search of Jeb Bush supporters. The same day found Ghaffari and a volunteer prepared to do the same in south Reno for Hillary Clinton.
Others remain behind at both campaign's headquarters and manning the phones, in traditional settings and in gatherings like one we saw at the home of a local Bernie Sanders supporter.
The Sanders campaign calls it Women and Wine. What starts as a wine and cheese party evolves into a phone bank. Sanders volunteers, mostly women, calling other women, looking for Sanders supporters willing to show for the caucus.
"I think it's not really known that women support Bernie Sanders," Sanders staffer Kelly McCurdy tells everyone, "and we're here to make sure that thought dies."
The women applaud and pick up their phones. When these conversations take place, by phone or at the front door, much of it won't be about the candidates themselves.
"Forty to maybe 50 percent, a lot of the time I'm educating people about the caucus," says Ghaffari.
The caucus is new to most and confusing.
"It's a lot different than just going in a punching your vote," says McMillan.
Curt Hoge, a local business owner, Sanders volunteer and precinct captain, says he didn't know much about it until he consulted a Democratic party website explaining the caucus.
"It's not that complicated. It's simply a neighborhood meeting where people get to stand and support the candidate who they think best represents the needs and interests of their neighborhood."
Someone asking questions of a Ben Carson canvasser might be treated to a powerpoint presentation.
"What we do like to do in that situation is bring them in, sit down with them and do a power point training on what a caucus is and tell them what to expect," says Carson's Nevada Political Director Marc Newman.
Most like Newman that were authorized to talk with us are paid staffers, people often from elsewhere, who've put their lives on hold to take this temporary job.
But it's likely if you get a call or a knock on the door, it will be from a local volunteer, the committed foot soldiers in this contest.
"I've got one gentleman in Las Vegas who is in our phone bank every night Monday through Friday for four hours every evening," says Newman. "He gets done with work and shows up and makes somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 to 200 phone calls to voters."
"It's a lot of work," says Hoge. "I mean these guys are amazing," he says, gesturing to Sanders volunteers working the phones. "If I drop by at 10 o'clock on a Sunday night, every employee is working."
"But," notes McMillan, "it's what turns the tide and makes a big difference."









