Romney hires state campaign chief

The former Massachusetts governor’s campaign on Tuesday also announced that Ryan Erwin, a top Nevada political consultant, will serve as a senior adviser.

But more than anything, Romney’s hiring of Joe Brezny, a former executive director of the Nevada Republican Senate caucus, highlights how little the Republican campaigns have put into Nevada.

In stark contrast to Romney’s one full-time staffer, each of the major Democratic candidates has an office up and running and more than a dozen staff on the ground here.

Hillary Clinton has 26 full-time workers in Nevada. John Edwards has 20. Barack Obama’s campaign refused to give a number on Tuesday but said it will have more than 30 staffers in Nevada by July 1.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who is considered a second-tier candidate but is making a major push in Nevada, has 15 people full-time on the ground in Nevada. Even the less well-funded campaigns of Joe Biden and Chris Dodd have staffers here.

Erwin said his and Brezny’s hiring showed Romney plans a serious effort in Nevada, whose Republicans are holding presidential nominating caucuses on Jan. 19, in between the bellwether Iowa and New Hampshire contests.

“It’s clear that Governor Romney is very serious about putting together an organization in Nevada,” Erwin said. “The fact that we are out there ahead of the other campaigns is going to be an advantage.”

However, of the top Republican candidates, Romney has spent the least time in Nevada. He’s been here only once, for a Las Vegas fundraiser in March that was closed to the public.

“That will change,” Erwin promised. “I would expect to see him a number of times in the coming months. He will be here. He’s taking the state seriously.”

Sen. John McCain may not have Nevada staff, but “I don’t think it’s a lack of effort by any means,” spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said. “We’re focused on building a strong grass-roots organization.”

The Arizona Republican has a regional staffer responsible for multiple states, including California and Arizona, who is based in Las Vegas, and another regional political director in Salt Lake City, Buchanan said. And McCain has visited Las Vegas, Reno and Elko, making the latter a stop on his tour officially announcing his candidacy.

McCain also has Nevada Republican bigwig Sig Rogich on his side and Robert Uithoven, former campaign manager of Gov. Jim Gibbons, acting as an adviser.

Rudy Giuliani doesn’t have staff here either, but “we have high-profile surrogates in Nevada assisting us,” spokesman Jarrod Agen said.

The former New York City mayor has been endorsed by Rep. Jon Porter and state Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio.

“We’re very comfortable with where we stand in Nevada,” Agen said. He noted that Giuliani also dominated his rivals in fundraising in Nevada in the first quarter of the year. Giuliani raised $583,200 in the state, the most of any candidate on either side; Romney raised $429,175, McCain $95,900.

Giuliani’s public appearances in Nevada have consisted of quick impromptu tours of big-box retail stores in Reno and Las Vegas.

Representatives of Giuliani, McCain and Romney said the candidates had no further visits to Nevada scheduled.

The discrepancy in staff hires between the Republicans and Democrats can be attributed to the fact that the Republicans got started later and should not be seen as a competitive disadvantage, said Pete Ernaut, who chairs the Nevada Republican caucus effort.

The Democratic National Committee in August set Nevada’s contest for Jan. 19, while the idea didn’t gain steam among Nevada Republicans until February and was officially approved in April.

“Everybody has decided we’re way behind the 8-ball, but you really don’t need more than four or five months” to get the caucuses up and running, Ernaut said. “We’re rattling right along. We’ll be in full swing here in the next couple of weeks.”

He noted that the Republican caucuses will be structured differently than the Democrats’ effort, with about a tenth as many caucus locations, although he said they are aiming for the same level of turnout.

In a caucus, partisans gather in precinct groups, forming alliances to deliver delegates to their chosen candidates. That makes campaigns’ ability to organize supporters at the ground level crucial, said University of Nevada, Las Vegas, political scientist David Damore.

“It’ll be interesting to see if anybody follows Romney’s lead,” Damore said. “If he can come in here and put in minimal resources and nobody follows him, he could have a big advantage.”

Damore noted that the Democrats moved up their caucuses with the approval of their national committee and the urging of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., while the Republican move came from state party activists and has apparently gone unnoticed at the national level.

“Without (Republican National Committee) backing or a key player in D.C. who’s beating the drum for Nevada on the Republican side?” he said. “Nobody, it seems.”