Will the GOP In Nevada Re-elect Harry Reid

Democrat Harry Reid’s Senate race enjoys little hope of victory without Republican “Club” members. His poll ratings are down; he is held in contempt by most of the country; there is little that is attractive about him; he does not speak well; and he comes across as a not very bright, acrimonious man with a big chip on his shoulder. While Harry may have the equivalent of a political insiders’ flush, he will need a full house that includes Las Vegas Republicans to win this election.

The long and sordid histories of Las Vegas, Harry Reid and the political machine that made him have inseparably intertwined. And, you would have to look back to the political machines of the early 20^th Century to find similar mediocre politicians of average intelligence with no great personal achievements, reaching the levels Reid has reached.

Nevada is a state of “deals”. The story is that the Nevada political machine evolved out of deal between the mob and God-fearing Mormons who wanted the economic opportunities the mob was making possible. While the State has since gone straight and goes to great lengths to be clean, it is the evolution of the “deal” that remains in control of Nevada politics.

Recently Sig Rogich, a longtime Republican operative publicly endorsed Reid, the first indication that the backroom-inside political machine is still alive and well. Sharron Angle, with the support of the tea party won the primary on the platform that she is an outsider. A strong independent who has suffered years of personal attacks (recently the most vicious coming from Reid, his surrogates and Union allies) she has been cautious, keeping insiders out of the game. In fact, many Republican leaders say it is easier to get a phone call returned from Reid than Angle. The battle against the insider worked well for the primary but now, with the candidates neck and neck in the polls, it is an insider game played by families around the dinner table that could determine the outsider’s outcome.

Reid’s allies have begun the attack while Reid and his staff are pushing a “sympathy strategy” which works for him. It goes something like this: you should have sympathy for me, my childhood poverty, and my stroke — anyway, Nevadans know I am not as bad as they portray, and I have brought pork to the State; feel sorry for me and vote for me.

Because Angle does not have a single Party insider on her team, she needs to return some calls, act like the Party’s leader and allow fellow Republicans opportunities to share in her declaration of independence.

To address the “sympathy strategy”, Angle must direct her campaigns focus on the dynamic duo of Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi. The theme should be “It Takes Two to Tango” and their dance has destroyed Nevada jobs.

The Nevada election is not just about Reid, it also about his tangos with Pelosi that are destroying the Nevada and U.S. economies.

As a team, they work against Nevada’s traditional independence and force people towards dependence. The Nevada election is really about this “deadly duo” that is creating a “dependence dance” addicting Nevadans to Federal subservience while rejecting local and personal autonomy. A re-election of Reid will mean a Nevada endorsement of the Reid-Pelosi “tango” into dependency, thus destroying the battle-born state’s independent traditions.

The “Reid-Pelosi re-election” will be a tipping point either accelerating dependence or creating an opportunity for Nevadans to emulate their and America’s history of independence of both life and mind.