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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Anna Mulrine
President Obama
Democratic party vows to keep fighting after Brown's win in Massachusetts
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has never been one
for finely crafted turns of phrase. News this month that the
Nevada Democrat said in 2008 that then
candidate Barack Obama had a good chance of winning the
presidency because of his "light-skinned" appearance and because he
spoke "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one" set off a
firestorm. Reid had made statements before that prompted colleagues to
shake their heads. He noted during a December, 2008 speech dedicating
the
But the use of the word Negro by a 70-year-old white man smacked of
racism, Republican leaders, with no small amount of schadenfreude,
pointed out. Senator John McCain complained of a
"stunning" double standard, noting that Trent
Lott was forced out of his
Even more problematic for the man in charge of corralling
Brown's victory signals considerable mid-term worries for Democrats, including Reid, who face tough reelection bids. "If there's anybody in this building that doesn't tell you they are more worried about elections today, you should absolutely slap them," Sen. Claire McCaskill, the Missouri Democrat, told reporters. "Of course everybody is more worried about elections. Are you kidding?"
This is true for Reid particularly. Tourism in Nevada is down by as much as 30 percent in a state that is currently number one in home foreclosures. In December, Reid faced a 49 percent unfavorable rating in his home state. The latest polls find that Republican challenger Sue Lowden now leads Reid among voters, 50 to 40 percent.
Of equal concern to Reid are the Latino voters in his state. They
make up 13 percent of Nevada's population, and last
year they were 15 percent of the voters there. Reid is expected to
pursue immigration reform legislation in the months to come, regardless
of whether it has a realistic chance of passing. But he angered the
But Reid makes up for his dearth of smoothness, supporters say, with a well-honed ability to put together coalitions and, more important, keep them together. What's more, even if he does decide to bow out of the race (which Reid insists won't happen), there is no viable Democratic candidate to replace him. It helped that Reid began working the phones immediately after news of his comments broke, reaching out to party colleagues, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, all of whom came to his defense. They pointed to his long record of protecting minority rights--in contrast, they added, to Lott at the time of his ouster. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to step into the fray, noting simply that "I think that's an issue for the Democratic conference." The two are said to have a close working relationship.For these reasons, most expect the scrappy Reid, a former amateur boxer, to keep fighting.
And his fellow Democrats plan to do the same.
Available at Amazon.com:
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
AMERICAN POLITICS
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Trouble Keeps Coming for Reid & Democrats | Anna Mulrine
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