Columnist Jon Ralston: Placid style masks Reid’s fire

Saturday, Nov. 13, 2004 | 12:15 p.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program Face to Face on Las Vegas ONE and publishes the Ralston Report. He can be reached at (702) 870-7997 or at ralston@vegas.com.

WEEKEND EDITION

November 13 - 14, 2004

So who is this guy named Harry Reid, who this week will become the most powerful Democrat on Capitol Hill?

Is he, as an editorial in The New York Times put it, "a conservative with a reputation for steeliness and attention to detail and a knack for floor skirmishing"? Is he, as a political scientist in The Los Angeles Times painted him, "a kind of Dickensian figure" who "haunts the floor (as) the hovering spirit of Democrats"? Or is he, as well-known political observer Larry Sabato told the National Journal, a product of the state from which he hails:

"Look, he's from Nevada," Sabato said. "You don't get in the Senate and stay there by being totally on the up-and-up all the time. That's what you need in a Senate leader."

Can this be our Pinky, the Searchlight-born son of a hard rock miner who overcame adversity (losses in the '70s for the U.S. Senate and then Las Vegas mayor) to become one of the most powerful politicians this state has seen, rivaling the likes of Pat McCarran and Howard Cannon?

Those of us who have followed Reid closely for decades know him to be the ruthless, skilled backroom player that he has become on Capitol Hill -- and he applies those talents equally well on the Senate floor or scaring prospective opponents out of races. (Where have you gone, Jim Gibbons?)

He can indeed reach out to the other side of the aisle, especially if they can help him. And Dickensian? How many times have special interests back home seen him heed their call for funds as he, in his own special way, approached his colleagues and innocently asked, "Please, sir, may I have some more?"

Reid is the unique political figure whose outer mask -- mild-mannered, almost introverted -- belies a Machiavellian master of maneuvering who can cultivate anyone's trust and earn chits, whether the person has an R or a D after his name. And it never ceases to amaze how national observers, seeing his anti-abortion stance, reflexively refer to him as a conservative when his voting record is decidedly left of center.

In a sense, he has been preparing his entire career for the job about to be handed to him by his Senate colleagues. Reid is a fully functioning schizophrenic -- the angry partisan who is at once asked to be the leader of the sometimes not-so-loyal opposition and the friendly negotiator who is called on to forge the compromises that seem out of reach to others, as many GOP senators have pointed out since the election.

The only glimpses so far of Reid's approach as leader came in an exclusive interview on "Face to Face" after the election. Here are some highlights:

"I said, 'Mr. President I am going to work with you every chance I can but I am also going to tell you when I think you are wrong and when I think you are doing the wrong thing.' ... The president knows that he is not going to get anything done unless he works with us. ... He knows that and that is why he reached out to call me. President Bush and the people around him are not a bunch of dopes."

"I think if someone wants to privatize Social Security they are going to have to look for somebody else to get in bed with other than me."

"I know this may not be politically correct, but I believe the people who are injured deserve some ability to be made whole," he said. "I want to keep the system. I think there are things we can tinker with to change it. ... Do you realize in hospitals, doctors killed 100,000 Americans last year? Should we just shovel that under the rug and say it is not right to compensate these people for this?"

"It is obvious we had, it appears, a referendum on Yucca Mountain and the people in the state of Nevada, by a slim margin, said we guess we will take Yucca Mountain. ... There are limited things that can be done, legislatively. That is why I was surprised in the paper some of the (Nevada) representatives said we are going to continue to fight. ... Our options are becoming more limited every day. ... The state of Nevada has to look to the courts for help. I can slow things down but I can't stop it."

Reid also said he recognizes what history has thrust upon him and scoffs at commentary about his lack of charisma or TV presence:

"I realize the tremendous responsibility I have. I have never had anything even close to this in my life but not many people do. But I am who I am. I am not Tom Daschle. I am not George Mitchell. I am not Robert Byrd. I am not Bob Dole. I am not Bill Frist. I am Harry Reid and I have this position, I have these responsibilities and I will do the very best I can for our country."

But can he possibly still have time to find pork for his home state? There is no more pork out there that he hasn't already obtained, is there?

"We'll see," Reid smiled broadly.

Another indefatigable character, Oliver Twist, would be proud.