SPARKS, Nev. - Low clouds hung over Washoe County on Friday, darkening the tawny Sierra foothills; the pink roses and yellow mums dotting the yards of the ranch-style houses here seemed to glow. Pausing to consider the presidential race as he walked his two daughters from their elementary school to his waiting SUV, Pete Saenz shook his head.

A sales representative for Wrangler, he wonders whether the small shop owners who buy his jeans will be able to hang on if the economy deteriorates. The flux in the stock market has not hurt him as much as it has some, but he can no longer bear to look at his 401(k). Saenz, originally from Texas and a lifelong Republican, said he is voting for Democrat Barack Obama this year.

"I think you see disaster going on financially," he said. "We need a change. That's it, plain and simple. He may not have the best experience, but this country needs a change."

Last week, as the economy slipped further toward recession, the momentum seemed to be shifting in places such as Nevada, a swing state that went for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 and has been seen as promising turf for Senator John McCain for months. With the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, a tourism industry damaged by rising food and energy prices, and an unemployment rate at a 23-year high, Nevada is, according to polls, edging Obama's way. The Real Clear Politics average of national polls showed the Illinois senator up by 1.8 percent.

In interviews around the Reno area last week, voters expressed a mix of disgust and relief about the $700 billion bailout package - and a good deal of bafflement about what it would do and whether it would work. They said they saw little daylight between the candidates' positions on the financial crisis, and many were not convinced that Obama is an ideal candidate. But voter after voter said that in this economy, they were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"He's younger, he's more in tune with what's going on in America, he's got young kids," said Darcie Arnold, a 53-year-old lifelong Republican who recently switched her party registration to Democrat.

The race in Nevada seems destined to be close. Thanks to exponential population growth, this land of desert, mountains, and blinking casino strips has become politically unpredictable in the last generation. Bill Clinton won here twice, before the two narrow Bush wins this decade. As a Westerner, veteran, and self-styled maverick, McCain fits the state's traditional sensibility, as does his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. Ed Rogers, a 65-year-old Republican from Reno who speaks casually about catching errant rattlesnakes on his property with a stick, depositing them in a small cooler, and setting them free in the hills, is especially fired up about her.