What’s behind Harry Reid’s success

Fri, Aug 29, 2008 (2:01 a.m.)

Denver

I first encountered Harry Reid 22 years ago this month as a neophyte political scribe covering the then-congressman’s bid for a U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Paul Laxalt.

Even to my cub reporter’s untrained eye, Reid was an awkward candidate, painful to watch on the stump and seemingly drained of charisma. Laxalt had persuaded Jim Santini, a former Democratic congressman, to switch parties on the last day of eligibility, creating an issue that would suffuse the campaign. The Reid organization set the tone by planting questions with a reporter at Santini’s announcement about a hoary Federal Election Commission complaint, and the newly minted Republican, who had a sweating problem, soon had beads popping up on his forehead.

That image, of Santini wiping his brow, combined with a series of memorably brutal “Which Jim Santini do you believe?” ads, made Reid a U.S. senator, despite visits from President Reagan, and changed the course of Nevada history.

I bring this up as the Democratic National Convention concludes because it occurred to me that Reid, who was a similarly bland candidate 10 years later but eked out a win against a telegenic congressman named John Ensign, now exudes what the party-switching Santini never could in that 1986 race: He is completely comfortable in his own skin.

During the convention, Reid has moved effortlessly through the many roles he plays — the consummate D.C. insider who had hundreds of people, including some big names, kiss his ring at a fundraiser for his PAC; the attack dog who eviscerated John McCain for whoever would listen; and the most powerful force in Nevada politics of the past quarter-century who has revived the state Democratic Party as his own career was once resuscitated and basked in the adulation here from the local delegates.

In some ways, Reid is the same man I covered more than two decades ago, a complex politician with a mixed and sometimes contradictory set of traits — unassuming, wry, Machiavellian, meddling, partisan, bipartisan, careless, careful, focused, foggy.

Most of all, Reid is as unflappable as ever, even after he causes a sensation with his carefree utterances. Whenever he gives an interview, you can imagine his entourage with BlackBerrys at the ready, primed to send messages to each other that start with, “Can you believe he said that?”

But his aides also know this about Reid: He will not change. He never had much of a finely honed self-editing mechanism and it has atrophied over time, so that he continues to tell what he perceives as the truth even when it is quite impolitic or indecorous to do so. Hence, the president is a “liar” and a “loser,” and he “can’t stand” McCain, who also “does not have the temperament to be president.”

Reid also can be quite the chameleon, as he displayed here. He can talk about Barack Obama as “changing the country” and Bill Clinton as “having a conversation with the American people.” But he can also savage McCain, agreeing with an interlocutor’s hypothetical that the senator believes the Republican is “dangerous” for the country.

Reid doesn’t seem to care about Republicans’ frothing at his every word or that the local media didn’t give his speech rave reviews. He has never put much faith in polls, so I doubt he frets about his upside-down numbers.

He cares about what the scoreboard says, about winning, a quality perhaps strengthened by devastating losses in the 1970s for Senate and mayor (!) that almost ended his career.

Reid is simply basking this week in what he has accomplished for his party. Nevada is a battleground state because of Harry Reid. Imagine if Santini had won in 1986 or, more so, if Ensign had ascended in 1998 and erased Reid. Would there be that registration advantage caused by the Reid-procured early caucus, the demo organization, or would the GOP have dominated the state for decades?

Republicans are salivating at the chance to take out Reid in two years as they did his predecessor, Tom Daschle. If you think the focus is on Nevada this cycle, wait until 2010 if Reid, as is likely, is on the ballot. (Even if he weren’t going to run, he wouldn’t let anyone know until he had orchestrated a succession plan, no matter how much money he raises in the next two years.)

No matter what his poll numbers are, no matter how much the GOP comes after him, Reid will do whatever is necessary to win. He won’t do it with charisma and he won’t do it with great oratory. But no matter what the odds, he might survive.

Just ask Jim Santini.

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

By Future2012

8/29/08 at 8:04 a.m.

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It is sad that sick, sick, sick Harry Reid, who should be a consensus builder and leader, is the number one problem of the Democrats.

No doubt Democrats will change their leadership in January if Obama is elected, because Obama will not put up with it.

Obama will want his 16 months in Iraq, clean coal, oil drilling, and other programs, and Reid will be in the way.

Harry has a problem and it not John McCain, its Obama.

Nobody really believes or can trust Harry anymore.

Obama will rule over both a Democratic House and Senate, and need to have a consensus builder and a real leader to push Obama's agenda not Reid's agenda. The two year has shown the Congress to be unable to function. That is not because of a Bush veto threat. It is because of those attributes of Machiavellian, meddling, partisan, careless, and foggy apply to his treatment of members of his own party.
By MichaelGreen

8/29/08 at 8:30 a.m.

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Future2012, which senators did you consult on whether they believe Reid? You might want to check out the letter that every member of the Democratic caucus signed to The Washington Post when David Broder lied in his column about their view of Reid. It's interesting reading.
By Future2012

8/29/08 at 9:16 a.m.

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Do you actual think anyone would publicly call out Reid and get the full measure of Reid's temper.
By DavidMorgan

8/29/08 at 11:46 a.m.

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Those who soooooo deeply hate Harry Reid need counseling. And after they've had their head examined and been given their meds, they should stop by their local heart surgeon and have their sewage pump of a heart replaced with a real one.
By MichaelGreen

8/29/08 at 1:04 p.m.

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Future2012, Broder reported the Democratic caucus was unhappy with Reid. If they were unhappy with him, why didn't they get rid of him? They didn't because they were happy with him. Do you honestly think another senator is going to be afraid of someone who was supposed to be on the ropes? If you want to hate Reid, that's your right, but if you're going to make that kind of argument, you are just going to hurt your own useless, destructive cause.
By Johnathan_Abbinett

8/29/08 at 1:20 p.m.

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The truth of the matter is, the "Harry Haters" are a small, misinformed and very vocal bunch of nuts probably working for the Republican party!

The truth is Harry Reid has done more for Nevada than any other single politician since 1864!

Nevada wouldn't even merit national commentary if Harry hadn't finally seen the light and made the tough decision, and a political paradigm shift, to get Nevada into the national dialogue and on the national political stage - no small feat!

Is Harry a perfect politician? Absolutely not - I'm still very disappointed that he voted for the war in Iraq and didn't ensure we had a long public debate on the Senate floor before we went to war - and we still haven't fully funded the V.A. for our wounded warriors! But, hey, when you count the votes - let's be fair - Harry has barely been the Senate Majority Leader!

Watch and see what Harry gets done after we give him the Democratic Majority he deserves - I have high hopes Harry will handle the whores who have brought America to the brink of bankruptcy!
By jfnance32

8/29/08 at 3:16 p.m.

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I like Reid.

He got two very conservative judges appointment to the Supreme Court, he helped passes the Iraq funding bills, he got passed the Iraq War resolution and he got FISA passed, too.

Good job, Reid!!!!
By neiman1

8/30/08 at 1:01 p.m.

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To be a leader in the Democratic Party you just need strong union support that is willing to donate to whom you designate and withhold from the others. Soon you are a leader as you ask for campaign donations to your fellow democrats. The same unions are in Pelosi's pocket and Obama's. Or is it the other way around. After taking the millions for so long, they are bought and paid for just like Chicago's Mayor and the others that brought poor Barrack along. Why not just put the Union bosses in the public offices and cut out the middle men, and woman.
By JanK

8/31/08 at 5:46 p.m.

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As a non-Nevadan I have to say that Harry Reid comes across as an embarrassment for Nevada. I guess you like him because he's been around for such a long time. But the rest of the country gets somewhat outraged at the way he puts the party first. We like to think we send Senators and Congressmen to Washington to take care of THE PEOPLE'S BUSINESS. With Reid it's all about THE PARTY'S BUSINESS -- "Party First, American People last" - that's his motto.