Reid reserving choice for Democratic nominee

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid still isn't tipping his hand on whether he would support Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Reid, who did not take a side last month in the Nevada caucus, was asked by reporters on Tuesday which candidate he would support if a Democratic nominee has not been chosen by the time the party's convention opens Aug. 25 in Denver.

"We have a number of contests coming up right away," said Reid, who is a superdelegate.

"We're going to wait and see what happens on those. We've got big states -- Ohio and Texas, and then Pennsylvania. And until then, I'm not weighing in on this at all," he said.

Reid then unloaded on two of his favorite targets -- President Bush and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

"There's a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and happiness (among Democratic senators) recognizing that in a year we're going to have a new president," Reid said. "The image of Bush will be gone by then."

Reid said he hoped McCain, who has missed numerous votes this year because of his presidential campaign, will persuade other Republicans to join him in passing legislation prohibiting torture of detainees in the war on terror.

"Let's see if he can pick up, out of his 49 (Republican senators), let's see if he can pick up nine. That would mean he would have to be here, too, you know," Reid said.

Meanwhile, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said he had a good conversation with McCain on Tuesday.

"He will be a great nominee for us, and I think he will actually be a terrific president," Ensign said. "I think Nevadans are much closer to his view on issues than they are to either Hillary's or Barack's."