State profile: Nevada

In presidential elections Nevada has an uncanny knack of backing the eventual winner.

It chose Kennedy in 1960, Nixon in 1968, was heavily Republican in the 1980s, opted for Clinton in the 1990s and backed Bush in 2000. But the party balance here remains very even.

Nuclear technology - both civil and military - is a major issue for Nevada's voters. The state has long been the government's main nuclear test site for years, and there has been a running row since 1978 about the construction of the nation's nuclear waste depository at Yucca Mountain.

KEY FACTS Population: 1,998,257 (ranked 35 among states) Governor: Kenny Guinn (R) Electoral college votes: 5

Yucca Mountain was formally adopted after a bill passed Congress in 2002 but Nevadans, anxious about the plant's affect on the environment and their health, continue to fight the decision.

When it was granted statehood in 1864 Nevada was a barren, isolated and unappealing place. Much of its population had come looking for silver from the Comstock mine and once they had drained $500m by the 1880s, many of them left again.

2003 CONGRESS House of Representatives: 1 Democrat, 2 Republican Senate: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican

By the 1930s Nevada's population was just 91,000. Then Nevada hit the jackpot when it legalised gambling.

For the second time in its history Nevada became a centre for those seeking a fortune and since the 1960s it has been the fastest growing state in the nation with Hispanics among those moving in large numbers.

VOTING RECORDS 2000: Bush 50%, Gore 46% 1996: Clinton 44%, Dole 43% 1992: Clinton 37%, Bush 35%, Perot 26%

Las Vegas has grown to more than one million people and it now earns $12.3bn from gambling each year, an industry that in some way employs half the state's population.

Reno is the second largest city in the state and is famous for its quick divorces, while Las Vegas is a mix of glitzy casinos, lurid hotels and museums devoted to the likes of Liberace, although it is not as seedy or dominated by the mob as it once was.