Nevada Dems outpace GOP by 90,000 voters

Final Nevada voter registration numbers released Friday show that Democrats have a hefty advantage over Republicans heading into the Election Day sprint, a factor that could bode well for President Barack Obama in this presidential battleground state.Democrats outnumber Republicans by 90,187 active voters, according to the secretary of state’s office. Percentage-wise, Democrats account for 42 percent of active voters statewide, compared with 35 percent who are registered Republican. About 17 percent, or 219,299, are nonpartisan, and the rest are affiliated with other minor political parties.The tallies are similar to those from 2008, when Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 100,000 statewide and helped propel Obama to a 12-point victory in Nevada and residency in the White House. Early voting in Nevada begins today and ends Nov. 2. Election Day is Nov. 6.With a clear command in registration totals, Democrats hope their edge will win Obama a second term and score victories for other candidates down the ballot.The U.S. Senate Race between Republican Sen. Dean Heller and Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley has been a political dogfight for months. Both candidates are painting the other as the enemy of the middle class, in a state struggling to climb out of the Great Recession. Polls have shown a tight contest. While Berkley has the baggage of a House Ethics Committee probe, the seven-term congresswoman from Las Vegas could benefit from a huge Democratic surge in Clark County, Nevada’s population hub.Democrats there outnumber Republicans by 127,471 active registered voters. Heller is popular in conservative rural Nevada, where voters elected him three times to the U.S. House before Gov. Brian Sandoval appointed him to the Senate last year. He’s also well known in northern Nevada’s Washoe County, but Republicans there have only a slight, 1,169 registration margin.Between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16 when registration closed, the number of active registered voters jumped by 70,383, Secretary of State Ross Miller said. More than 1.2 million voters are active in Nevada, up by 138,045 from 2010 and 49,860 from the 2008 presidential election.