NRSC

Harry Reid: Not An Independent Voice

In Nevada, the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial board takes Harry Reid to task for his campaign slogan, “I'm independent, just like Nevada,” writing that Reid hopes that if he repeats a campaign slogan enough, it will become true.  There's no political independence in standing next to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at every photo opportunity, nor in championing the far-left agenda of President Barack Obama. There's no political independence in buying the votes of colleagues with Nevadans' tax dollars, nor in carrying water for the unions that are bankrupting corporations, states and local governments.  The people of Nevada do indeed know Sen. Reid, and he is not the same person he used to be. He is a national figure who works on a national stage. His home is a Ritz-Carlton condo in the nation's capital, not his native Searchlight.  According to a survey conducted for the Review-Journal last month by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, 51 percent of the state's voters have an unfavorable opinion of Sen. Reid, a dreadful figure he hasn't reversed despite spending millions of dollars on ads that tout his Nevada roots and his power in Washington.  But instead of using that power to promote policies that nurture economic growth, Sen. Reid has pushed economy-crushing, debt-building, government-growing, recession-stretching boondoggles that will burden future generations with higher costs, higher taxes and fewer opportunities….Independent like Nevada? Good luck, Sen. Reid. You'll need it.

• And with Reid’s poll numbers in the tank, Time’s Jay Newton-Small has a must read piece today looking at the behind-the-scenes wrangling between Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin over who will succeed him as Democrat leader.  [A]s Harry Reid's November re-election has looked increasingly imperiled, his two top deputies in the Senate have become more overt in their quests for his job. And in a Senate that is already near paralyzed by partisan rancor, the two Democrats' maneuverings are threatening to further gum up the works…. Says a senior Democratic aide: "To watch them dance on his grave is awful and unseemly and uncomfortable."