Las Vegas Sun: As Reid's power grows in D.C., his support slides in NV

[DeepModem Mom]

April 24, 2006
Home not so sweet
As Reid's power grows in D.C., his support slides in NV
By J. Patrick Coolican
Las Vegas Sun

Sen. Harry Reid, once a fairly obscure conservative Democrat from the small state of Nevada, is all the buzz inside the Beltway lately - unfortunately for him, it's the Washington and not the Las Vegas Beltway.

Reid is praised by his party's national grass-roots activists for his forceful opposition to the Republican agenda and ability to keep Senate Democrats unified. His opponents concede - occasionally with close-fisted frustration - that he consistently bests his counterpart, Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

"No minority leader has so dominated the Senate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1953-54," conservative columnist Robert Novak, who has covered the Beltway for decades, wrote last week, citing Reid's ability to hold up immigration reform and a bill to bail out companies with asbestos liabilities.

But Reid's national stature among activist Democrats, concentrated on the blue-state coasts, carries risks for him at home, analysts say. His consistent opposition to President Bush and his need to mollify the liberals in his party is costing him in Nevada, where polls show he has lost support since becoming minority leader.

Although Reid, who won re-election in 2004 and still has four years in his term, said in an interview that he pays no attention to polls, his actions in Nevada during the two-week Easter recess suggested that he is keenly aware of his vulnerabilities. He spoke to groups that carry at least a patina of conservatism - chambers of commerce, police and firefighters, religious groups, military men and women, district attorneys....

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2006/apr/24/566677791.html

[enlightenment]

1. Perhaps if he tried spending a little time with his base when he

back to the state we might feel a little better about him. Coming back here and spending all of his time pandering to his opposition is a little odd.

Harry has his good points -- treating his supporters with a measure of gratitude isn't one of them.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks for an in-state view, enlightenment. nt