ANDREA SEABROOK, host:
We're bringing you the results of the American presidential contests today as they come in.
With most districts reporting, Hillary Clinton has defeated Barack Obama in the Nevada caucuses by six percentage points. Mitt Romney trounced his opponents in the Republican caucuses. The polls have now closed in South Carolina, where John McCain and Mike Huckabee appear to be in a close race. NPR will bring you the results as we have them.
You can follow along with our interactive election map at npr.org/elections.
Now, we wanted to take a moment to talk to you about another political story in South Carolina this week. His name is Joseph P. Riley Jr.
On Monday, he was sworn in as mayor of Charleston for the ninth time. Mayor Riley has served the city since 1975, and he is on the line from his office.
Thank you for joining us, sir.
Mayor JOSEPH P. RILEY JR. (Charleston, South Carolina): Thank you. It's my pleasure.
SEABROOK: First of all, congratulations, sir, on your win. You seem to have this election thing down pat.
Mayor RILEY: Well, the citizens are very patient in Charleston. They've given me time to figure out how to do this job, and I love working with them. It's the best job in public service in America.
SEABROOK: Tell me what Charleston was like when you first were sworn in on December 15th, 1975.
Mayor RILEY: Well, it was very different. The downtown was almost dead, old historic commercial downtown. There was racial division. It's really why I ran for mayor. I was urged by African-American leaders and white business leaders to be a bridge-builder. You know, the future of the city was questionable as was the case of American cities. What - you know, will this work any longer? There was a fear of crime. You know, it was, you know, a real turning point time in this city, and I think the American city in the '70s, many were in that same kind of situation.
SEABROOK: And of course, now it's changed a lot. Charleston is now considered one of the most pretty, sort of picture-postcard and livable cities in the country. How much do you take credit for?
Mayor RILEY: Well, the credit goes to my citizens. I work for them. We've worked very hard. Our goal is to be able to pass the answer to the question: is this the best that can be done? Is anyone doing it better? So whether it was restoring our historic commercial downtown - or when we built public housing, we built it beautifully.
We've won an award from the president of the United States for showing the country that you could build housing for very poor people beautifully and nourish neighborhoods rather than have them take away from neighborhoods. And we built a gorgeous waterfront park on a ugly eyesore, and we said no to the idea of privatizing it and gating it, and high-rising it, and said, no, let's make it a wonderful, beautiful public park first. And that's - was up to make this a great American city, and we've done that.
SEABROOK: From reading about your work, I understand that you have a monthly mayor's night in, where you sit in your office and anyone, any citizen can come talk to you. What kind of things do you hear from your citizens then?
Mayor RILEY: Oh, everything. I hear from unusual personal problems to, you know, to a drainage edge needs to be worked out, but it's wonderful. I love it, because what I know is that I'm never more than a month away from any citizen who needs to talk to me talking to me.
SEABROOK: And, of course, it's manageable to do that since your city is, you know, a pretty small sized, 100,000 people.
Mayor RILEY: Well, we have 121,000 citizens in the city now. And it's - it is manageable, but mayors of largest cities do it as well.
SEABROOK: And, of course, there have been challenges in your 32 years. I think of the fire last year that killed nine firefighters, the biggest death of firefighters since 9/11. You've been criticized personally over how you handled this. What are your thoughts now about that time?
Mayor RILEY: Well, certainly, personally that was the biggest challenge, a terrible tragedy. And we resolved to make Charleston the place of best practices and most professional firefighting. And so that's what we're doing and that's the way that we will honor these nine fallen people. So heaven forbid, when another community has a serious and tragic fire like this, that they will know the day after, the word will be, well, you need to go to Charleston, South Carolina, and see what they did, and how they responded, and how they recovered, and look at their wonderful fire department.
SEABROOK: Mayor Riley, are you going to run again?
Mayor RILEY: Oh, gosh. I haven't decided. That's a few years up. I love my work. I get to work early, but it's not a job that you will ever want to do in some other time. And so I'll know when the time is and hopefully I will know the time to stop before my citizens know the time for me to stop. But I'm so grateful for their support and encouragement through these years.
SEABROOK: Well, today is, in fact, your birthday. Happy birthday.
Mayor RILEY: Well, thank you very much.
SEABROOK: 65 years old. Seems like you spent half your life in city hall.
Mayor RILEY: Well, it's been a great time. It's a very special type of public service in our country and the fact that you're working for every citizen, be it picking up their garbage and attending to their personal neighborhood needs each and every day.
SEABROOK: Joseph P. Riley was sworn in this week for his ninth term as the mayor of Charleston, South Carolina.
Congratulations, sir, and happy birthday.
Mayor RILEY: Thank you very much.