Ten People Who Will Decide the Presidency- (2 of 10) Casino Dealer in Nevada

Today, we continue our series of looking at how individual decisions can greatly affect the outcome of the American presidential election. So far, this year, there have been elections in  some 70 countries, including Egypt, Greece, France and Russia, but the American presidential election receives the most attention and it is conversely the most expensive.Dave Gilson of the liberal publication "Mother Jones" stated in a February column that President Barack Obama spent $730 million to become president in 2008.

Here is a look at today's fictional person who represents a real person who could decide the presidency; please see our disclaimer at the end of the blog_

Name: Linda Garcia

Age: 43

Residency: Las Vegas, Nevada

Will Likely Vote For: Barack Obama

Obama made significant gains over John Kerry to win the Silver State in 2008. Though Nevada has only five electoral votes, it is one of the main swing states. Nevada has chosen the president in every election cycle since 1912 with the exception of 1976 when the state picked Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter.

In the '08 election, Obama garnered 55 percent of the vote in Nevada. Regionally, his biggest win came in the Las Vegas-metro area. In 2004, George W. Bush won over Kerry by a mere 2.6 percent margin. The city of Elko was considered to be the one zip code responsible for the narrow re-election of Bush as the former president won a whopping 78 percent of the vote there. But, Obama trimmed the margins in Nevada's most conservative area by winning 32 percent of the vote in Elko.

Obama also won in the Nevada capital of Carson City and Reno, two areas that just barely went to Bush four years earlier. Many insiders expect the Hispanic vote to decide many western states. In addition to Nevada, the Hispanic vote will be crucial in New Mexico, Colorado and even Arizona, a state that went to John McCain (he is one of the state's two Republican U.S. Senators) in 2008.

According to the Pew Research Center, Hispanics voted for Obama by a 67-31 percent margin in 2008. Obama also became the first Democrat to win Florida's Hispanic vote by a 57-42 percent margin. And, he even made strides with the traditionally Republican Cuban-American vote by gaining 35 percent of the vote in that demographic. Cuban-Americans started becoming partisan Republicans after the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba.

EDITORIAL NOTE: Linda Garcia is a fictional character. There are many people with that name including a Georgetown professor. There is also a Linda Garcia Cubaro, who is a former Air Force officer. But, this fictional Linda Garcia is not based on them in any way. Nor does this character necessarily reflect the politics of any individuals with her name.

While this has consisted of many political satires from a center-left perspective, this series is meant to be informative and non-partisan.

http://www.pewhispanic.org

http://www.capitolhillcubans.com

http://www.miamicubandems.org

http://www.nvdems.com

http://www.nevadagop.org

http://www.visitlasvegas.com