How Sanders and Nevada went crazy for each other

SAN DIEGO -- Things went loco in Nevada. Nothing that happened in the recent Democratic caucuses in the Silver State makes sense.

Starting with this: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders beat the house and got 46.8% of caucus delegates, far outdistancing former Vice President Joe Biden, who came in second with just 20.2%.

The closer you follow politics -- and the more inclined you are to hold elected officials accountable for their records -- the more likely it is that your head is spinning right about now.

Oh, I get that Nevada is a maverick state whose residents stubbornly do their own thing and couldn't care less what talking heads in the Beltway say or think. When analyzing anything that goes on in the state, that's baked in.

That being the case, the fact that the liberal media and the Democratic Party are panicked about the possibility that Sanders could become the nominee was never likely to factor into the calculus of most Nevada voters.

Still, even by the state's wacky standards, things got weird.

A recent visit to Las Vegas reminded me that -- in addition to being friendly to both business and labor -- Nevada also has a deep libertarian streak; a lot of people there describe themselves as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. They don't think in terms of party labels, or blue states and red states. They just look for people who can get things done.

Fine. So why would any fiscal conservative in Nevada who wants to get things done show love to a self-described "democratic socialist" who has accomplished nothing in Washington and now wants to give the government control of the nation's health care system?

Sanders owes much of his victory to Latinos, who make up 30% of the population and about a fifth of eligible voters. According to entrance polls, the Vermont senator raked in 51% of the Latino vote and won over a whopping 72% of Latinos under 30.

The vast majority of Latinos in the state -- almost 70% -- are Mexican or Mexican American, who generally favor less restrictive immigration policies and support giving the undocumented a pathway to earned legal status. That population is also famous for worshiping at the altar of youth when deciding for whom to vote. They have shown a preference for presidential candidates in their 40s, including John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Got it. Who would have predicted that a group like this would have anointed as their champion a 78-year-old with a history of neglecting Latino concerns while serving in both the House and the Senate? Someone who also opposed -- in voting against a 2007 immigration compromise bill -- what immigration restrictionists deride as "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants.

In fact, over the last couple decades, whenever Sanders opened his mouth to make a comment about immigration, you could be assured that a whole lot of nonsense was about to fly out. In a 2007 interview with CNN's Lou Dobbs, Sanders bragged about opposing the comprehensive immigration reform bill proposed by Sens. John McCain and Edward Kennedy, and insisted that immigrants took jobs from Americans. In a 2015 interview with Vox, Sanders claimed that "open borders" was a plot hatched by right-wing billionaires.

He has constantly defended U.S. workers who don't want to compete with foreign labor and made excuses for blue-collar workers who think they're entitled to be paid white-collar wages. Always, in the narratives he spins, immigrants are the bad guys. Their sin? Doing crummy jobs that American workers won't do.

Sanders has also consistently defended white males who feel marginalized and victimized by so-called "identity politics" and suddenly find themselves losing opportunities to women, Hispanics and other people of color.

Now Sanders is singing a different tune, and it's a mariachi song. "Tio Bernie" -- as he was nicknamed by one of his most vocal Hispanic supporters, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. -- is kinder and gentler.

In Las Vegas, the Sanders campaign started organizing supporters in Hispanic neighborhoods as early as last summer. His campaign hired staff, set up offices, sent volunteers to visit homes, advertised in Spanish, and created an enviable grassroots operation to build support in the Hispanic community.

Sanders guessed that Latinos in Nevada would have short memories about his past negative views and respond favorably to some positive attention.

It was a gamble. And it paid off.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.