Today's News

Even before Michelle Obama campaigned for her husband in Las Vegas on Tuesday, a mock election among elementary and middle school students racked up a big win for the Democratic candidate.

Gloria Ortega-Romero, who is organizing the elections, said every presidential election she, along with the secretary of state’s office, are involved in includes educating kids on the election process in the United States. County Clerk Paul Maez delivers the voting machines to the schools.

On Saturday, Republican presidential candidate John McCain attracted an estimated 1,500 people to his rally in Albuquerque.

It looks as if Michelle Obama did better in heavily Democratic Las Vegas, a much smaller community.

Authorities estimate that 2,500 attended Obama’s rally in Plaza Park on Tuesday afternoon, with the sun shining and the temperatures in the 60s. Some put the number as high as 3,200.

Las Vegan Carla O’Neil attended the political rally on Tuesday starring Michelle Obama, wife of the Democratic presidential candidate.

But O’Neil didn’t see Obama as some distant celebrity. She said Obama connected with the crowd in a way that it seemed as if one were sitting across from the would-be first lady at a kitchen table.

O’Neil was one of thousands cheering as they greeted Obama as she walked to the podium at Plaza Park, waving and smiling to the crowd under a warm October sun.

The city is urging a state district judge to throw out a lawsuit by a former employee who alleges breach of contract and wrongful retaliatory discharge.

In a pleading last week, the city’s attorney, Tony Ortiz, asks that the court dismiss the lawsuit because Pearl Maes, a former secretary in the city manager’s office, doesn’t make the case that the city “constructively” discharged her.

Maes, who worked for the city from 2000 to 2006, filed a lawsuit in June naming the city of Las Vegas as a defendant.