Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is walking a political tightrope in his home state as he tries to convince his conservative-minded constituents that he best represents their needs while at the same time promoting government-run health care and other Democratic priorities that many Nevada voters oppose.
But Reid also faces pressure within his own party as his ambitious conference chairman, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pushes for the Senate to jam the Democratic health care bill through without Republican, input in a move that could further hurt Reid politically.
The weekend brought bad news for Reid as he faces a potentially tough fight for a fifth term in 2010. A Mason-Dixon poll showed Reid would trail two prospective Republican opponents, former University of Las Vegas basketball player Danny Tarkanian and state GOP chairwoman Sue Lowden by 11 points and 5 points, respectively.
While some political observers say the Mason-Dixon survey was skewed toward more conservative respondents, Reid has historically suffered from lackluster poll numbers in his state, and he may have hurt them further in the past few months by promoting a Democratic agenda that runs counter to the libertarian mindset of many Nevadans, say experts.
“He is conservative on gun control and conservative on abortion, but he has been out in front on things like the [$787 billion] stimulus and on health care,” said Ted G. Jelen, a political science professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. “The idea of an activist government doesn’t go over very well here and that is going to hurt him.”
Heath care reform may be the biggest political challenge of Reid’s career.
The bill is stuck in the Congressional doldrums as Democrats fight over what should be included in the proposal and the public lashes out against it at town hall meetings. When the Senate reconvenes in less than two weeks, Reid’s leadership will be key in deciding what kind of bill the Senate will pursue. Reid may also have to decide whether to go along with Schumer’s suggestion to use a parliamentary maneuver called reconciliation that would allow Democrats to pass legislation with just 51 votes, rather than the standard 60. Such a move would likely shut out any participation from Republicans as well as many moderate Democrats.
A Reid aide told The Examiner that no decision has been made about reconciliation but that patience “is not unlimited, and we are determined to get something done this year by any legislative means necessary.”
If Reid pushes for reconciliation, Nevada Republicans plan to pounce.
“It will further drive home the fact that he is leading the charge in the U.S. Senate to pass a health care plan people don’t trust and don’t like,” said Republican political consultant Robert Uithoven, who backs Lowden. “People don’t really grasp what reconciliation is, but the first impression is that they are changing the rules on an already unpopular policy issue and that must mean it is unfair.”
