Democratic presidential frontrunner and former First Lady, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), will make a campaign appearance in Pahrump late Monday morning.

Clinton follows Sen. Christopher Dodd, (D.-Conn.), the first U.S. presidential candidate ever to visit Pahrump, who spoke at the Fire Station on April 13.

Clinton will hold a "Conversation with Rural Nevadans" at the Skate Zone, 1261 E. Calvada Blvd., a venue that isn't typically used for political events. Doors open at 11:30 a.m.

Clinton campaign spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said the Skate Zone has a large room with some flexibility for seating arrangements and is a locally owned business.

"We're very excited about Pahrump. There are a lot of Democrats excited about Sen. Clinton, so we're delighted to get them engaged in the process," Grey said.

A Mason-Dixon poll published in the Review-Journal June 24 showed Clinton leading the Democratic presidential candidates in Nevada with 39 percent of the vote, Sen. Barack Obama (D.-Ill.) carrying 17 percent and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards at 12 percent.

"We know that we have to have an entire state strategy to win Nevada," Grey said. She said there were a number of phone calls from Pahrump during a conference call with Nevada rural voters July 28.

The presidential candidates have turned their attention to Nevada after the Silver State caucuses were bumped up to next Jan. 19, second only to Iowa but before even the New Hampshire primary. During the caucus, party members will gather into groups to select delegates for their preferred candidate.

"This is the nice thing about Nevada being an early caucus state. The candidates aren't just going to go to Reno and Las Vegas, where they think they can pick up the whole state," said Kirstin Searer, deputy executive director of the state Democratic Party.

Rural counties will receive more delegates in the caucus system than Clark and Washoe counties, Searer said, to prevent those two counties from dominating the delegate system. Pahrump will have 133 delegates, Nye County will have 165 out of a statewide total of 10,407.

Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats 9,017 to 7,793 in Nye County; the gap is a little narrower in Pahrump precincts, where there are 7,252 registered Republicans and 6,393 Democrats.

The visit reflects a trend of Democratic presidential candidates visiting Republican rural counties. Last Sunday Obama toured Elko, a Republican stronghold where President Bush captured 78 percent of the vote in the 2004 election. Last month New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson became the first Democratic presidential candidate to visit Elko in 50 years (see related article).

Residents of rural areas tend to vote in higher numbers. In the 2006 primary, only 27 percent of Clark County registered voters turned out, but in Nye County 38.4 percent voted, while in the November general election 57.6 percent of Nye County registered voters cast ballots.

"Rural turnout is better and I think people appreciate a visit by presidential candidates because they're not used to it," Searer said. "I think these presidential visits will go a long way in engaging voters to understand the importance of the Democratic caucus."

Tonopah and Goldfield voters were even invited to participate in a "mock caucus" yesterday, in a Democratic Party effort to educate them on the caucus system. The "mockuses" featured participants voting for their favorite type of pizza, instead of their favorite presidential candidate.

Tickets for Clinton's visit are free, but are available on a first-come, first-served basis. They can be picked up at Nye Democratic Headquarters, 1201 S. Highway 160 Suite 105; Cactus Realty, 1591 E. Highway 372; Ultimate Discount Health, Suite C-7 in the Albertson's shopping center; Skate Zone and Gigi's Boutique, 2050 N. Highway 160 Unit 600.