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this is "nevada newsmakers." with host sam shad. a no holds barred political forum. now from the "nevada newsmakers" broadcast headquarters here is sam shad. >> and back on "nevada newsmakers" we're delighted to welcome to the program for the first time the brand new political reporter seth richardson. nice to have you on the program sir. >> thanks for having me. >> we were saying before we went on air that you came from illinois. and you covered president obama from the beginning of his career -- >> i did not cover president obama. >> i take that back. that you covered -- >> i did have the pleasure meeting him as a state senator, u.s. senator. and as a president. now i did cover him as president when i was in dc for a little while. but kind of got to see his story unfold from the beginning all the way up until now. >> and what are the differences if any, in barack obama since day one. >> he's always had that ability to rally people. it's kind of been ongoing.

would say as well and you see that in his policy proposals. any time he speaks it is similar to when he was on the state senate stage or the senate stage. >> could you see the potential back then he could be the presidential candidate. >> interestingly enough after he gave his dnc address was in 2004 i turned to my mom and said he's going to be the next president of the united states. she brushed it off. well, you know, that's just a speech and there's still four years to go. and four years later he was the president. i like taking credit for that. >> i won't say i was responsible but i had the crystal ball then. >> executive orders, that's what seems to be the order of the day for president obama at this point. what else do you think he's going to try and get passed. >> it is hard to say because of the gridlock in washington. you know, this republican controlled congress and democratic president they don't

we seen lame duck presidents not final year. it is hard to say. i think one of the big things he's going to want to try do is the gun issue. what he's going to do about that i could not say but that's probably going to be one of his big issues moving forward. >> it is interesting because, you know, itches born and raised in england. not a gun culture. in the united states i'm certainly not anti-gun at all. but i think it is so difficult when you have over 300 million guns in this country, the horse has already left the barn. >> yeah, i mean, it is definitely two different cultures. i can't -- i'm not a huge gun person myself so i can't speak to all of that. but you just, if you step back you can see where the country is on all that. and it is interesting. and like i said it is hard to say where it is going to go because there's, you know, a group of people who are so adamant about their guns and a group of people who want more gun control and seems to be a

>> it was interesting to watch the daily show they had a piece what happens if you go, it was a training exercise what happens if you have a gun as a citizen, and you are in a situation where something goes down. and you try to use that weapon. and the reporter for the daily show found himself shooting at people who were innocent, not having the gun out at the right time. missing. you know, so much pressure on people. i think that's a very difficult issue to look at as to what any person would do if they had a gun. even if they knew how to use that gun under that kind of pressure. >> yeah, i mean it is a variable essentially is what it is. nobody knows how that variable is going to react in any situation. so i don't think there's a blanket answer for it. >> all right. let's turn to the campaign. you are a busy man. nevada is coming up fourth in this process. far. i'm not saying necessarily politically but who has dwrim pressed you so far.

i i step back and look at it as a character analysis. i don't want to say anyone has really impressed me but there are people who have interested me. both the democratic candidates have been incredibly interesting campaigns in the state and nationwide for that matter. on the republican side, i think the race between, you know, cruz and trump obviously is looking very interesting. but in nevada, you have got a few candidates who could do very well who might not be at the national stage right now. jeb bush, rampaul. markco rubio will do well. that's interesting factor how they rally their support and how they are going to do. >> it was interesting the jeb bush campaign. there are a lot of big supporters of jeb bush in the state. very powerful people. yet they have had an inability to get him either to be in nevada or to even be able to do interviews with nevada journalists. >> but he's been in nevada. he hasn't been here in a while, i'll concede that.

think he's been here three times since i've been here. he's been focusing more on new hampshire, that's obvious. because once he started to take a tumble in the polls, it seems like he's running in new hampshire a bus campaign right now. he'll probably still get through nevada. i think he could do well here. it remains to be seen. we don't have a lot of polling numbers to indicate how well he's going to do. >> do you trust polling numbers at this point in time. >> it is harder in caucus state. because caucus voters are different than primary voters. primary you can go if in and you go in and vote quick animal you leave. i don't want to call it low effort buff it is fairly easy process. caucus requires more time. they have a different kind of voter. those voters have to be more dedicated and you have to give up an hour of your time to go in and vote. so it is really hard for, you know, polsters to find out who is going to vote. you know, you can ask people all day are you going to caucus. they can say yes. but when the caucus day comes who knows if they will go to the

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program calls >> and now back to "nevada newsmakers." with sam shad. >> and back on "nevada newsmakers." we continue our conversation with seth richardson. he's political reporter for the reno gazette journal. so jeb bush going to elko. my question is, why? >> the rules are going to be crucial for the republican race this year. at least i feel that way. with so many candidates and the vote is split every single vote. i don't want to say they don't ever actually count. a couple votes. a couple precincts could get you a delegate. could, you know, vault you into

those rules are going to be very crucial which is why you see, you know, jeb bush paying attention. you have marco rubio going to yarrington and rampaul hitting those rules. >> going back to the caucus, you know, everyone has an opinion about the candidates certainly. and the highest rated candidates obviously. but you know, like you said, going to a primary is pretty easy to walk in, make your vote and go home. and the turnout is traditionally very, very low in the silver state. caucus, a lot of people have no clue even at this point in time what a caucus is. how many people do you think are going to sign up and be, or going to show up for these caucuses. >> you know, it is difficult to say really. you know, in the democratic side you had about, i think it was 120,000 people show up in 2008. we can see more numbers to that this year especially since they have same day registration. it is easier for people to go and regina sterk on the spot. and you know cast their vote and all that.

know, i talked to several people who think it will be pretty much split between the 2008 and 2012 numbers. and, you know, it remains to be seen with so many more candidates maybe more people will come out because they want to show support for their candidate. >> let's talk about the main contestants. ted cruz built a lot of support in nevada. with a great deal of help from the attorney general. how do you think he's going to do in nevada. >> i think he could do pretty well. he's got a -- that's donald trump calling in right now. >> i think he could do well. he's got a solid ground game. and, you know, he's built a large network. he has very good people working on his campaign. i think he could do quite well. >> donald trump. organizations. >> you know, the organizations is really hard to pin down. he has offices in las vegas and reno.

supporters are first-time voters. you know, they have never been to a caucus. they are not traditional voters i guess so to speak. it is really hard to say if he'll be able it to rally those people and get out. i think iowa is a good indicator. if he has good showing there it is a good showing in nevada. it is a matter getting people to the poll. >> what do you think of trump. >> what do you think of trump. >> yes, you have michael bloomberg going if i don't see somebody viable i'm going to jump in. >> you know, i've talked to several political scientists who liken the so-called trump phenomenon to, you know, the george wallace campaign of, you know, yesteryear. he's tapped into that anger people are feeling. people are still hurting from the 2008 financial crisis. they feel that every day. he's tapped into that and found a way to keep it going. when he came out everybody thought it was, you know, a joke or a publicity stunt.

and you know, he's going a weekend to iowa. the new poll released yesterday by abc in "washington post" him in, you know, ahead of ted cruz after ted cruz climbed to the top. it is the strange phenomenon to see, you know -- never been a politician in his life and he's doing so well. it is interesting because as a businessman it is almost like a politician already because you are playing the game. you know, the amount of money he's put into various campaigns. and it is interesting to hear him talking about with hillary clinton, you know, how much campaign contributions that he's made and he's made them on both sides of the aisle. that's what successful business people do. on -- looking at bernie saunders he's tapped into this vein. and he was here yesterday, the state director for hillary for america. and she exudes great deal of confidence in her candidate. just saying, you know, the number of times that hillary clinton has been to the state over the many years. but bernie saunders has tapped

>> you know, it's a matter of -- bernie has people that are, you know, kind of fed up with the financial and economic systems of the united states. it is those people who are still kind of feeling downtrodden and really want to sort of change. it is similar to the occupy wall street movement. the 1% and all that. but the hillary campaign has an organization that is probably unparalleled as far as the ground game is concerned hoar. so again, it is a matter of -- like trump it is a matter can bernie get those people to the polls. >> you know t on another note, the joe heck catherine cortez mosca campaign seemed to be after the money rather than actually running campaigns. >> it seems that way. i think they are kind of waiting until the caucus dies down. the caucus is front beige news. once the caucus dies down you will see them more, more functions so to speak. and really kind to trying to

>> have you looked at red line registrations. is either party increasing democratically. >> it didn't seem there were huge swaths going one way or another but it is increasing. >> doesn't that tell the tale of bernie saurnldz and donald trump that most people are not registering. >> most people are not registering. >> yes, you have a little bump. ifs not a hugebump. >> what's to say that donald trump has tied into the republican candidate that's tired of the establishment candidate. who is to say bernie saunders hasn't tapped into the democratic base with the, you know, the so-called establishment candidate in hillary clinton. >> it will be interesting times. >> yeah. >> you are not going to get a lot of sleep. another month to go, my friend. >> yeah. >> thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> be back soon. >> all right. >> we'll be back on "nevada newsmakers" after this timeout. >> announcer: "nevada newsmakers" brought to you in

>> this is "nevada newsmakers." >> and back on "nevada newsmakers." power pundit panel as always. chris wicker is here spokesman to the washoe dems and mylan hawkins and dan mason is news talk for kkoh. pleased to have you here. your thoughts. we heard mr. richardson's thoughts on the caucus. your thoughts on the caucus. and if bernie saunders is making so much movement why is red line illustration -- registration not higher. >> that was an interesting comment. we saw with president obama the registration went up dramatically in washoe county where it switched from red to blue. and statewide got the democratic registration over a thousand, over 1100,000 in excess of republicans.

caucus is not like a primary. and that's the presidential campaigns are very important in driving people to attend the caucuses. you know, in non-contested years like 2012, you have really a very low turnout. at least on the democratic side. because there was not a contest. and so i think both campaigns understand they have a large responsibility in getting people to the caucus. >> and do you think, mylan that same day registration is going to help. you will see dramatic numbers there. >> you know, sam, i ran a caucus the first time the president ran. and it will seemed that it was very, very active. that year. there were a lot of people that came in, not only to register for the first time in our precinct but also people who were switching their party. which i found very interesting. >> do you think there's going to

had not talked about that. >> yeah. >> you know, would it be beneficial for example for democrats to register and vote for donald trump. >> i'm having a hard time picturing democrats voting for donald trump. being that he's been a democratic in his past. >> i'm being an maca vail yan here. >> don't use words i don't understand. >> i think what's going on here the registration issue aside is saunders and trump tapped into the apathetic voter. the one who normally at this point isn't paying attention. they are registered to vote but they may be the people that typically wouldn't show up. they are the ones paying more takes now. that's the uniqueness of this phenomena. >> animalthe paper has a key role. in 2008 news media did extensive stories on the calkucuses and that helped remind people today's the day.

help this time or do you think the apathy goes beyond? >> i think it always helps for people to read in the paper, hear in the news, that oh, today's the day, or tomorrow's the day. so i think that's an unsung hero of getting people to caucuses. it is good reporting. >> and i also think the use of social media is coming into play, which would benefit. it might benefit bernie saunders in terms of the fact that people between the ages of 18 and 35 are more tuned into social media and will more likely to get out to their caucus. >> do you think so, or do you think they are more likely to be active on social media? >> i think that that's a good question, sam, because of -- a lot of people do not understand the caucus process. particularly on the democratic side. because it is a little bit more

republicans run their caucus. and they are a little leery of what do i do here. do i have to open up my mouth mere. and it is actually a pretty simple deal where you gist get with the group, and then your heads are counted and then that's the way it gets tallied up. but, you know, i don't know if young people will find that -- when i ran a caucus, we had a whole bunch of young people. some who couldn't even vote. but sat there and watched the whole thing very intently. what i'm curious about is if now they can vote, if they will be out to do it. >> politico does an interview with president obama and basically without endorsing hillary clinton, endorses her. your thoughts on that. >> i don't know why anyone would be surprised at that. i mean, more and more she's leaning into the we need to keep going with the president obama's policies. i mean, in recent weeks she's

so i'm not surprised. >> chris? >> you know, one of the post mortems on the 2014 election is that the democratic national candidates leaned away from president obama and didn't celebrate the successes that had been obtained under the obama administration. and in the post mortems that was a huge factor in the lack of democratic turnout is that they were discouraged and disappointed. and didn't come out. and so you see, i think, certainly senator clinton has learned that lesson, that if you are going to get democratic voters, they like president obama. and you can't run away from it. >> and they like president clinton as well. >> yeah. >> absolutely true. one of the worst mistakes that i ever saw a candidate make who was running, against a very, very renowned senator on the "r"

if she voted for president barack obama wouldn't answer and she lost handily. you don't do that. you know. you don't do that. >> very good my friends. and wbtv.

>> to contact "neva >> as always you can watch "nevada newsmakers" 24 hours a day at nevadanewsmakers.com. we have a 10-year online for you. plus downcast free of charge from itunes. shawn from the las vegas journal and he'll be talking about what's going on the puc.