Harry Reid is up for re-election next year—Will he make it?

Nevada Senator Harry Reid is up for re-election in 2010. If successful it will be his fifth term in the Senate. He has been the Democratic senate leader the past four years. He was Assistant Democratic Leader for six years.

Senator Reid makes occasional visits to Pahrump mingling and speaking with his constituents primarily at the Bob Ruud Community Center. The Republican Party would dearly love to unseat him. They view Reid as a “vulnerable” incumbent. Reid says he intends to continue leading the Senate until 2015 and beyond.

Looking ahead Reid says that Senate Democrats won’t be “rubber stamps” for the new Democratic president. “I like Barack Obama very much. He won a classic election, never have we had a better one,” Reid said. “But I don’t work for him, I work with him.”

Concerning the Roland Burris fiasco Reid criticized Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California for suggesting that Democratic leaders would be undercutting gubernatorial appointments everywhere if they barred Roland Burris from the chamber. “That’s not valid, her statement,” he said. “I told her that. OK?”

Reid also declared the Minnesota Senate race absolutely, positively done. “Al Franken has won the election,” he said. “Norm Coleman will never be a senator unless he beats [Sen. Amy] Klobuchar,” who isn’t up for reelection until 2012.

He said he has spent the last eight years as “a point on a spear going against George Bush. That’s what I had to do to protect the United States Senate and the country.”

Jack Gordon, who operated massage parlors in Los Angeles and arcades at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, once tried to bribe Reid. Reid allowed the FBI to tape Gordon's attempt to bribe him with $12,000, at which point Reid, a former boxer, attempted to strangle Gordon, saying "You son of a bitch, you tried to bribe me!”

Reid opposes Yucca Mountain saying the concept "is dead. It'll never happen." He doesn’t like Rush Limbaugh either, calling him “unpatriotic.” He referred to Vice-President Dick Cheney as the Bush “administration’s chief attack dog.”

The Nevada Senator maintains sturdy control of the Nevada State Democratic Party. He can be expected to exert every effort to use the state Democratic machinery in his re-election bid. Nevada may have turned blue following the November 2008 Presidential election, but that blue hue only exists in Carson City, Washoe and Clark Counties. The remaining rural counties continue to glow with a deep red color.

Having watched the Clinton and Obama campaigns operate here in Nye County I doubt that Senator Reid can or will mount a campaign matching the strength of those two Presidential campaigns. I doubt the Nevada State Democratic Party can carry on such a well organized grassroots effort as Clinton and Obama did. Senator Reid won’t be able, I don’t think, inspire the kind of grassroots organizations as built by Clinton and Obama. But we’ll see.

It was clear from the Presidential campaign that Democrats of Nye County flowed out of the woodwork to work for the Obama and Clinton campaigns and jointly for the Obama campaign. The Republican establishment of Nye County still outnumber the Democrats, but Democrats gained some ground in registration of voters. Grassroots Democrats continue to remain active and are growing through such organizations as The Pahrump Valley Democratic Meetup. Howard Dean’s 50 state strategy had an effect. Obama’s rallying cry of “Yes, we can!” still lives.

Senator Reid would be wise to tap into the grassroots of Nye County Democrats. He is going to need the Rurals to retain his office.

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