LAS VEGAS -- When the Democratic National Committee gave Nevada voters a chance to hold early caucuses, few thought the state's voters would have a big influence on the 2008 nominating contests. Even a few weeks ago, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he expected 100,000 people to turn out, no one took him seriously.

Yesterday, aside from Hillary Clinton, Reid was the big winner. More than 117,000 turned out to caucus, a number that approaches one quarter of the registered Democrats in the state. Reid, the first to succeed in a long line of those who have tried to shake up the primary calendar, now has a powerful argument for 2012 and beyond: Nevadans, he can argue, get it.

Reid and his wife, caucusing in their hometown of Searchlight, joined 67 neighbors at a community center next to Harry Reid Elementary School, the Las Vegas Sun reported today. The couple were the only two in their precinct to caucus for uncommitted delegates.

Yesterday's events had their share of losers as well. Chief among them: The Culinary Workers' Union, which waited until the closing days of the contest to back Barack Obama. After convincing state Democrats to open nine at-large caucus sites on the Las Vegas Strip where many of their members could make their voices heard, Culinary officials watched as seven of those nine precincts voted for Clinton.

The union had spent the better part of a year promoting itself as Nevada's king-making organization. But the heavily Hispanic membership bucked leaders' calls for solidarity and split, as Hispanics around the state favored Clinton by a two-to-one margin.

Culinary's top official, Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor, who does not use a first name, was gracious in defeat. "You have to give credit to the Clinton campaign. She won," he told the Sun. Still, after promoting themselves so heavily only to wind up on the losing side, Culinary has some soul-searching to do. The loss has ramifications beyond national convention delegates; it could effect the union's position in the state's political hierarchy, as well as it's position at the bargaining table.