Reid’s investment in Landrieu may pay off

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, Dec. 12, 2002 | 9:51 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- After the Nov. 5 general election turned over control of the Senate to Republicans, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., spent $56,000 in the Louisiana Senate race.

Reid's investment in Democratic ally Sen. Mary Landrieu paid off when she won a close runoff Saturday, the year's final showdown between Democrats and Republicans.

"It was obviously a very important race," Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said. "She's his friend and he wanted to make sure she stayed in the Senate."

The race -- one month after the GOP won historic victories in the November election -- was closely watched because the Senate is so narrowly divided, now with 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and 1 Independent. Those numbers affect votes as well as committee structures.

But the race was also largely symbolic, with egos in both parties on the line. The Republicans had regained Senate control on election night and gained House seats, leaving the GOP celebrating and Democrats demoralized.

"Everything is about bragging rights, everything is about prestige," said political science professor Ronald King of Tulane University in New Orleans. "Given the Democratic defeats and the attention on this race, Democrats wanted to win and Republicans wanted to put the nail in."

Reid, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, had watched his title slip from Majority Whip to Minority Whip on election night, and was deeply disappointed when his party lost control of the chamber. He donated $1,000 from his own re-election campaign fund to Landrieu, plus $5,000 from his Searchlight Leadership political action committee. He also funneled $50,000 to the Louisiana Democratic Party to use for the Landrieu race.

Reid's donation was among the largest Landrieu received from a Senate colleague, her campaign spokesman, Rich Masters, said.

"Sen. Reid knows about close races," Masters said. "He knows that at the end of the day a few dollars here and there can make all the difference."

Because of Louisiana's election system, Landrieu had not won outright on Election Day because she did not garner 50 percent of the vote. That forced her into a Dec. 7 runoff with upstart GOP competitor Suzanne Haik Terrell.

Landrieu won with 52 percent of the vote to Terrell's 48 percent, after both political parties pumped millions of dollars into the race. President Bush, his father former President George Bush and Vice President Cheney, all stumped for Terrell in the state.

Landrieu spent about $10 million and Terrell at least $15 million, Landrieu spokesman Masters estimated. More accurate final figures have not yet been tallied and released.

"To the extent that politics is always about winning and losing, there is always ego involved," said Steven Weiss, spokesman for Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign money. "The Democrats were demoralized and they knew that if they lost another one that it would be that much more painful."