It takes a lot to shock us Nevadan’s. We live in a state where gambling is open and legal. Prostitution is legal in some counties. Taxi cabs are wrapped with pictures of strippers and ads promoting Las Vegas take great pride in telling visitors that they can come here, do what they want, go home and pretend like it never happened (What happens here, Stays here!). You can’t tell me a little ol’ statement by Pinky from Searchlight (as Harry Reid called himself in a 2004 campaign ad) would set off a firestorm bloodier than a Mike Tyson ear bite. It has. It also sets up a bunch of spy vs. spy scenarios that would make Bugsy Segal proud.
In 2008, during the Barack Obama campaign for President, Reid said privately that it would help Obama that he was a “light-skinned” African-American, and that Obama speaks “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one”. The quote is in the new book titled, “Game Change”. Reid has given all the apologies and I’m sure he hopes this all goes away quickly, there is that election coming up Nov. 2
Let’s get this out of the way. Harry Reid is not a racist. I’ve known him for 26 years and that is not a problem here. Of course, words have meaning. Republicans George Allen and Trent Lott had their political careers virtually destroyed for much less and Democrats worked overtime to create the impression that the words were enough to send then packing. In 2006, Allen was hammered non-stop for calling an opposition campaign worker, “macaca”. It took days for the media to figure out what a “macaca” was, but they would make sure it was enough to run Allen out of his Virginia Senate seat, destroy any chances he had at the White House, and give the Democrats a majority in the Senate.
Reid is set up for a tough….make that, very tough, re-election campaign here in the Silver State. Danny Tarkanian, Sue Lowden, Sharon Angle, and if he wanted to run, the guy who parks your car at the Mirage, all lead Reid in the polls.
Nevadan’s don’t like Reid for a number of reasons, the biggest of which, Reid is not a Nevada Democrat. Oh, it says, D-NV after his name, but Nevada Democrats are pretty conservative. Those who win public office in Nevada are socially, personally and fiscally conservative, regardless of party affiliation. Reid is seen here as an east coast liberal Democrat. He chose to make that move to gain the power he has as Senate Majority Leader. Reid is a big boy, he knows how this move to the far left would play back home, and he made the decision to go there anyway. In his 2004 Senate campaign Reid posted billboards all over town with him standing, arms folded with the word INDEPENDENT underneath. Those billboards today would be laughed out of town faster than a rebirth of Nudes on Ice (yes that was a real show here in the late 80’s).
Reid has other problems. His son, Rory is a Clark County (Las Vegas) Commissioner and is running for Governor in what is expected to be a very tough race. Democrats in Nevada are not excited about a Reid/Reid ticket. This is not Massachusetts with the Kennedy’s. Monarchies don’t play well here. Too much power is seen as government intrusion in this Wild, Wild West state. We like guns, open space, and government to stay out of our lives. The latest polls say we hate Reid’s health care plan as much as we hate tourists who don’t tip. Also, Rory was Hillary Clinton’s Nevada Campaign Chairman. Now read that quote from Harry over again in the context of the family wanting a Clinton back in the White House. Perhaps papa was making the point that Obama was vacant and vacuous and would change his accent if it got him a few more votes.
Reid also has a serious problem in the LDS community in Nevada. Reid is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and there are a lot of Mormons in Nevada. They also vote in large numbers. The LDS Church will not tell its member HOW to vote, but strongly encourages its members to get involved in the political process.
As a Democrat, Reid is an aberration in the LDS community. Most are Republican conservatives. They could vote for Reid as a conservative Democrat (and did), but as an east coast liberal Democrat, that will be tough for most to swallow. Also, Reid ran awry of Mormons in Nevada when he voted against the Protection of Marriage bill before the Senate in 2008. LDS leaders in Salt Lake City encouraged members of the church to actively petition their Senators to vote for the bill. You could easily argue Reid went against church leaders in Salt Lake. Dissention is allowed, but the LDS community will remember this in the polling booth.
Reid also criticized LDS church leaders for supporting Proposition 8 in California, which was similar to the Senate bill. Also, this is not just an LDS issue, Nevada passed its own Protection of Marriage amendment to the state Constitution by a nearly 70% margin.
Oh there’s more, Nevadan’s remember that Reid did not challenge President Obama when he stated that he did not want companies who took government money to hold conventions in Las Vegas. Forget the fact that conventions could be cheaper here, it was an image thing. Reid sat silent and added insult to injury by hosting a fundraiser/party for his campaign with Obama in May 2009. Reid raised $2 million and I understand Bette Midler was phenomenal at Caesars Palace that night. Do government officials consider themselves as people who take government money? I’m just askin’. Also, the” Vegas Boycott 2009″ has still not been retracted and has cost this city hundreds of millions of dollars and perhaps thousands of jobs.
Could all of these factors be leading to a scenario where Democrats want Reid to do what Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd have already done, and that’s just give up and calls it a career? Let another Democrat who has a chance of actually winning step in and give it a shot. There are plenty of them out there and while Reid claims he’s still in it to win it, the names have already started popping up.
Republicans in Nevada have been chomping at the bit to go after Pinky from Searchlight. But there is another very real possibility here, Reid had a mild stroke in 2005. The political battles in DC have taken very a real toll on him since then. He is 70 years old and the years have worn on him. A “doctor’s note” would not surprise me at this point as everybody tries to save face. Recently Reid declared the war in Iraq “lost” and called President George W Bush a “loser” to a group of high school kids in Las Vegas. If Reid stays in the race, “lost and loser” will be the new unofficial slogan for his 2010 campaign for Senate, and you know what Las Vegas thinks of losers. The city needs them, but they also need them to leave.