Warren, Buttigieg make final push through Northern Nevada ahead of closely watched caucus

Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg made closing arguments to more than a thousand Northern Nevadans on Sunday night, rallying Democratic supporters to the polls on the second day of early caucusing in the state’s critical presidential nominating contest.

Warren — who is looking to rebound from a pair of sluggish performances in Iowa and New Hampshire — fought through illness during a short, hoarse appearance in front of several hundred supporters at Reno High School.

“The bad news is, after 100,000 selfies, I finally caught a cold,” the progressive U.S. senator from Massachusetts joked. “The good news is, nevertheless, I persist.”

More: RGJ Analysis: What the Iowa voting debacle tells us about Nevada's closely watched caucus

Related: Analysis: With no clear caucus front runner, who will Nevadans choose to oppose Trump?

Warren later offered typically detailed descriptions of some of her most popular policy proposals, among them plans to provide universal child care, beefed-up health care for seniors and a 2-cent tax on top income earners.

She also made time for a few not-so-subtle jabs at her campaign foes.

“I’m not running a campaign crafted by a bunch of consultants,” Warren concluded. “I’m not running a campaign with proposals carefully designed not to offend big donors.

“I’m running a campaign based on a lifetime of fighting for working families. … Because I believe in you and I believe in the America we can build together.”

Buttigieg — a frequent punching bag for progressives critical of his “big money” campaign donors — took a slightly different tack during a get-out-to-caucus event held a few hours later in Sparks.

The 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana offered few new critiques of his Democratic opponents, instead focusing on his plan to beat President Donald Trump.

"I'm ready to go toe-to-toe with this president," Buttigieg told more than 1,200 supporters at Sparks High School. "If we draw as many people as possible into this effort, we always win.

"At a time like this, with the country so polarized and divided, let’s build a future everyone believes in."

Buttigieg, fresh off better-than-expected performances in Iowa and New Hampshire, looked to sharpen that point with a well-received series of pledges to bring a fresh perspective to Washington D.C.

"When you’re a mayor you have to get things done," he added. "You don’t have the luxury of alternative facts, you just have to get the job done.

"It’s time to start getting Washington working too."

Pollsters predict Warren is running out of time to jumpstart her once-promising bid for the White House.

She's fallen behind fellow progressive presidential contender Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden in most recent polls of likely Nevada caucusgoers. Surveys suggest she’s the fourth most popular candidate among Democrats nationwide.

Buttigieg holds the fifth spot in Nevada and most national polls.

Warren’s final pre-caucus swing through the Silver State is scheduled to move to Las Vegas on Monday, where she has no fewer than four additional campaign events planned through the end of the week.

Buttigieg, too, plans to stay busy with a trio of events planned over the the next two days in Reno, Carson City and Elko.

More than 18,000 people turned out on the first day of Nevada’s newly extended early caucusing period, putting the state on pace to easily meet or exceed voter participation during 2016's presidential nominating contests.

Early caucusing continues through Feb. 18 at any one of 80 locations around the state. In-person caucusing is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. on Feb. 22. Nevada’s closed caucus system is open to registered Democrats who will be over the age of 18 by Nov. 3.

For more information, and a full list of voting locations, visit caucus.nvdems.com.

James DeHaven is the politics reporter for the Reno Gazette Journal. He covers campaigns, the Nevada Legislature and everything in between. Support his work by subscribing to RGJ.com right here.