Editorial: Reid takes on top job

Friday, Nov. 5, 2004 | 9:01 a.m.

When Senate Democrats return to Washington they are expected to make Nevada's Sen. Harry Reid their new leader, a situation made possible when Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle lost his re-election bid in South Dakota. Reid, who isn't that well known outside of Nevada or beyond the nation's capital, will have his hands full. The Democrats lost four seats in the Senate, so they've been knocked off stride. Within the ranks of Senate Democrats there will be a reassessment to determine whether they and their party should take a more centrist course, as was charted by former President Bill Clinton, or take a more liberal path. Making matters more difficult, Democrats will have to face an emboldened Bush, who, unlike four years ago, actually won the popular vote this time.

Nevada's senior senator has an unassuming, low-key image, and he has shown that he can work with Republicans. But Reid also has demonstrated that he can be tough as nails when it comes to politics. U.S. senators and Nevada politicians -- from both parties -- can attest to how big a mistake it is to underestimate Reid's tenacity.

Reid will be more visible nationally, especially when he clashes with the Bush administration over policy differences in Washington, but this heightened profile also can create a perilous situation for him back home. While Reid won re-election this November in a landslide, we're certain that national Republicans already have painted a large bull's-eye on him and six years from now will try repeating the same tactics against Reid that helped lead to Daschle's defeat. Even though it was an unfair portrayal, Daschle's opponent was able to effectively make it seem as if Daschle was more interested in doing the bidding of liberal interest groups than he was in serving the needs of South Dakotans.

Nevada already has seen the benefits of having Reid as the assistant minority leader -- getting more federal funding for Nevada, for starters -- and that influence won't wane once he becomes the top Democrat in the Senate. Reid's leadership role also has helped Nevada in slowing down the federal government's efforts to build a nuclear waste dump in Nevada, but it's important to remember that one man in Congress can't do it all. Reid's influence couldn't stop Bush's single-minded determination in 2002 to get Congress to move forward with the Yucca Mountain project.

Bush phoned Reid on Wednesday, a measure of the Nevada senator's increasing stature. We hope that Bush will work with Democratic leaders as he pushes his agenda, and that his call for unity isn't a hollow refrain of what we heard from him four years ago. If Bush tries to steamroll a right-wing agenda through Congress, a course that would only further deepen the divisions in this country, it will be up to Reid and other Democrats to put a stop to it. Based on our many years of watching Reid at work, we're confident that he is more than ready to be the Senate's Democratic leader.