Deal or no deal for Reid, Heller ‘nonaggression pact’?

Sen. Harry Reid invited his new colleague Dean Heller over to his office last Thursday for a chat on how the Senate works and how they might cooperate on Nevada issues.

While both agreed on that point, it is less clear whether the get-together ended with any sort of further "understanding" on a relationship between the senators from competing parties.

Roll Call reports this morning that Heller disputed assertions from Democrats that the two senators agreed to a "nonaggression pact," similar to one that Reid had with Heller's predecessor, Sen. John Ensign.

“That’s news to me. We did not have that particular discussion,” Heller, a Republican, told Roll Call. “If you’re asking if there’s a (pact), that is not happening.”

The so-called pact between Reid and Ensign was probably the most intriguing and widely reported aspect of their relationship, and it frustrated partisans in both of their camps who would have preferred them to be more combative.

Their agreement generally was to not criticize each other in public, and to instruct their staffs to get along as well.

It was an agreement that stretched at times, and the term "nonaggression" may have meant different things at different times. For instance when Ensign campaigned for Reid challenger Sharron Angle last fall, including playing the role of Reid in Angle's debate preparation, he insisted he was still in bounds although there were signals that Reid felt otherwise.

Reid has said the agreement grew from a friendship he and Ensign developed, oddly enough, after bashing each other relentlessly in their 1998 race for Senate, which Reid won by only 428 votes.

Reid and Heller, who was secretary of state before entering Congress in 2007, generally have had a friendly relationship, according to people who know them. They are both members of the Mormon Church, and have some connections through their children.

On the other hand, business is business. Analysts say Reid and Heller may end up developing a closer post-partisan relationship but it is not likely to happen until after the 2012 elections -- if Heller prevails over a Democratic challenger.

In remarks two weeks ago on KNPR, Las Vegas public radio, that were widely noticed, Reid appeared to send a warning to Heller that Politico characterized as "a masterpiece of subtle condescension."

In interviews since then, Heller has said he assumed there would be no Ensign-style relationship from Reid, but he expected they would be getting along.

"If Reid doesn't publicly go after Heller and in a sense publicly try to bring him down, that might be the best that Heller can hope for," said Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Aides to both Reid and Heller this morning sought to tamp down any apparent rifts between the senators.

Reid, his aides said, has had non-criticism relationships with other Nevada Republicans in Congress beyond Ensign over the years, and considers the same with Heller to be nothing out of the ordinary.

Heller aides pointed to comments by the new senator that he expected to have a good working relationship with Reid.