Wednesday, November 17, 2004
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MINORITY POST: Reid elected Senate leader

Nevadan promoted on unanimous vote of Democratic caucus

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks Tuesday to reporters in the Capitol after winning election by his Democratic peers as the new Senate minority leader for the next session of Congress. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Click image for enlargement.

WASHINGTON -- Harry Reid of Nevada was elected Senate Democratic leader on Tuesday, achieving a new level of power he said he will use to cooperate with President Bush or fight him if necessary.

Reid, who had been the party's second-in-command in the Senate, was promoted by a unanimous vote of the Democratic caucus to head a new leadership team in the congressional term that begins in January.

With his election, Reid solidified his standing as the most influential Nevadan ever to serve in Congress, said Guy Rocha, Nevada state archivist.

"It's a slam dunk now," Rocha said. "Before, people may have argued for Patrick McCarran, but here all debate ends."

McCarran, a Democrat for whom the Las Vegas airport is named, served as senator from 1933 to 1954, wrote a series of significant bills and was regarded as one of the major anti-communist crusaders of the era.

In an interview, the 64-year-old Reid said Nevadans should see little difference in how he represents them as the top Democrat in the Senate.

"I have different responsibilities than I had a couple hours ago, but I still look to Nevada as my first line of responsibility," he said. "I have ongoing projects I am going to work on. I think people in Nevada will recognize I have ability to help more than I have in the past."

Reid inherits leadership of a Senate caucus that contains 44 Democrats, the fewest since 1931. Democrats' influence is boosted somewhat by Sen. Jim Jeffords, an independent from Vermont who usually votes with them.

Reid signalled a willingness to work with Bush, but said Democrats will not be pushed around by Republicans who may interpret Bush's re-election and GOP gains in Congress as a broad endorsement of their policies.

`He said four years ago he wanted to be a uniter," Reid said of Bush. "It didn't work well the first four years. We hope it works the second four years."

"I would rather dance than fight," the former boxer told reporters. "But I can fight."

While they lost 19 of 34 Senate elections on Nov. 2, Democratic Senate candidates won 3.5 million more votes than Republicans nationwide, Reid said. The party also made pick ups among state legislatures, he said.

"I think the majority should be careful about throwing words around like `mandate,' " Reid said. "President Bush won the election but it was certainly no mandate. If one state had turned around, Kerry would be president."

Reid had been a constant on the Senate floor for six years, managing legislation and floor proceedings as Democratic whip. He told reporters he is not an "untested vessel."

After he was elected minority leader, he reintroduced himself at a news conference that dwarfed most of those he had sponsored in the past. He described his hardscrabble upbringing in tiny Searchlight, and opportunities he was given to achieve an education and a career as an attorney.

"The reason I am telling this is if I can make it in America, anyone can," he said. Democrats, he said, "want people to have the same opportunities that Harry Reid had."

Democrats chose new leaders in the historic Old Senate Chamber, where senators met from 1810 until 1859 and debated slavery, western expansion and other issues confronting the young nation.

Reid was nominated by a mentor, 46-year Senate veteran Robert Byrd of West Virginia. In a move symbolizing outreach to party conservatives and the rural Midwest, Reid also asked Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska to speak on his behalf.

Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois was elected to Reid's old post of Democratic whip. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan was elected conference secretary, the No. 3 position. Both selections were unanimous.

While the Democrats met behind closed doors for two hours, voting was completed rather quickly. Senators said they spent the rest of the time discussing policy and the elections, with little handwringing over the party's net loss of four Senate seats following defeats in the South.

The Democrats' presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, was there and was given several standing ovations, Reid said. The elections were attended by senators of the incoming Congress, so Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the outgoing leader who was defeated, was not present.

While Reid will not take over officially until January, he is playing a major role in managing the lame duck session that convened on Tuesday, while planning his transition.

Reid will move his leadership staff into Daschle's suite on the second floor of the Capitol, steps from the Senate floor. The new offices are about a dozen rooms larger than Reid's current digs on the third floor of the Capitol. Reid will continue to maintain a separate office for Nevada aides.

As leader, Reid will control an $8 million budget that funds the Democratic apparatus, including experts who advise senators on legislation, policy and floor procedure, communications aides and certain officers who report to the Senate sergeant-at-arms.

As one of the few Democrats in Washington who is hiring, Reid has received dozens of resumes from staff members for departing senators, plus aides who worked on Kerry's campaign.

A Reid staff of roughly 50 people will expand, but aides said it was not yet known how many more will be hired to support his leadership duties.

Reid said he has hired two Daschle advisers, policy aide Randy DeValk and Nancy Erickson, who was the South Dakotan's deputy chief of staff. He also has hired Kevin Kayes, formerly Commerce Committee staff director for retiring Sen. Ernest Hollings of South Carolina.

Reid plans to strengthen the Democrats' communications by establishing a "rapid response" team to promote the party message and respond to critics, according to chief of staff Susan McCue.

Reid also is expected to control a number of patronage jobs within the Senate bureaucracy that figure to be offered to supporters in the state.

"Come January you probably will see more Nevadans around here," an aide remarked.

Stephens Washington Bureau reporter Samantha Young contributed to this story.