If somebody knows somebody in the Nevada Democratic Party, please tear him or her away from gazing admiringly at Sen. Harry Reid on national television and explain that: a) Nevada has another U.S. senator; b) he's a Republican; and c) he's up for re-election next year.
Because there is no apparent Democratic challenger to GOP Sen. John Ensign, and right now it looks like he's going to get a free ride to a second term.
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But, you might say, the election's not for another 16 months. There's plenty of time for a challenger to emerge.
Not a credible one, which is to say one who can raise, oh, at least a $1 million by, oh, yesterday. Ensign spent $5.6 million on his last run for Senate in 2000, more than twice as much as his Democratic opponent. Ensign's already sitting on at least $1.3 million. If any Democrat wants to run against Ensign, now would not be the time to start raising money. Last year would have been that time. Barring unlikely entry from a jillionaire willing and able to self-fund a campaign, Ensign's already won.
But wait. Reid, the Senate minority leader, would love to be the Senate majority leader. Almost nobody thinks the Democrats can win back the Senate next year, but just about everybody thinks the Democrats can make some gains, and every seat counts toward winning the Senate back in 2008 or 2010. Surely the Great and Powerful Reid could wield some of his power and greatness, get on the phone, and kick-start a few million dollars to a Democratic Senate candidate in Nevada, right?
Well, that'd be the problem then, wouldn't it?
Reid has all but announced that he will not lift a finger, including, presumably, his dialing finger, to unseat his fine and good friend John Ensign. Reid's non-aggression pact with Ensign not only cuts off any Democratic challenger from serious financial support that Reid might be able to tap, but also makes it incredibly difficult for any potential candidates to convince donors that their campaign has a chance, and thus merits a contribution.
What's up with Reid? Sure, Ensign seems like a nice enough guy, a handsome senator who has lettered in nearly all of the congressional sports and seems to be popular with the other kids. When Ensign and Reid speak of their friendship, senatorial eyeballs twinkle, and there's no reason to doubt that Reid's oft-stated fondness for his Republican apprentice is anything but sincere.
But ask Reid and he'll rip off a litany of Republican legislation or initiatives designed to reward powerful corporations, the exceedingly rich and ultraconservative ideologues at the expense of working Americans, from tax cuts that overwhelmingly favor the wealthy to Social Security privatization to the installation of right-wing judicial nominees via the nuclear option. Ensign supports all that stuff, and is reliably in lockstep with the vast majority of the Bush-Frist-DeLay agenda.
If Reid means it when he says Republican policies are taking the nation in the wrong direction, threatening the health, safety, security and well-being of Americans, etc, you would think the last thing he wants to see is Ensign getting a free ride to re-election, friend or no.
As it happens, Reid knows something about free rides. After winning his 1998 Senate race -- over Ensign -- by a mere 428 votes, coupled with the fact that Reid has presided over the general demise of the Nevada Democratic Party in recent years, he was unquestionably ripe for picking in 2004. Yet no credible Republican ran against him last year, and Reid was essentially unopposed, the same glowing prospect awaiting Ensign next year. Is that a happy coincidence or what?
It's bound to make a couple senators happy. The other 2.3 million Nevadans, however, are being deprived of the opportunity to hold our most powerful elected officials accountable.
In addition to televised mutually assured destruction of character and conduct, competitive campaigns can spark public dialogue on issues that matter, such as health care, Social Security, taxes and war. Conversely, when campaigns are not competitive, the media pay scant attention. Last year, Reid was never pressed in a meaningful way to account for his record, nor was he challenged to defend and support his positions. Next year, the campaign for Nevada's other U.S. Senate seat will be equally vacuous.
Due to Reid's rise to minority leader, Republicans and their surrogates have mounted a national assault against him. He's attacked in an ad for calling Bush a loser and a liar. Talking heads on "fair and balanced" cable news shows charge that Reid is a liberal out to obstruct the Senate's agenda, and they don't mean it in a nice way. In Nevada, too, thanks to his higher profile, Reid is receiving more scrutiny now than he got during his re-election campaign.
He deserves even more. Nevada's Democrats should be pressing for Harry Reid to explain why he is harboring a known Republican senator in his own state, and why that's good for the party, Nevada or the nation.
