Reid’s toughness, political clout paying dividends for Nevada Democrats

Tales of Searchlight Sen. Harry Reid's intestinal fortitude and visceral toughness run through his personal and political life story.

From his poor-boy upbringing as the son of a hard-rock miner to his relentless rhetorical brawling as the majority leader in the U.S. Senate, Reid doesn't back down from a fight. Now that he's put Nevada on the political map as a swing state in the presidential election, some folks wonder what made Reid so damn tough.

I found the answer in his memoir, "The Good Fight: Hard lessons From Searchlight to Washington."

It's jackrabbit stew.

No, really.

As a boy in Searchlight, Reid was dispatched to hunt up a rabbit for supper. Armed with a bolt-action .22 rifle and just two cartridges, he marched into the sun-baked desert outside Searchlight. After spotting a jackrabbit, he raised his rifle and took aim, fired and missed.

His next shot was true. After running the wounded animal to ground, he returned home with his lop-eared trophy. His grandmother, who must have possessed a culinary mastery beyond anything ever witnessed on "Iron Chef America," used a wood stove to transform that jackrabbit into a delicious stew.

"I can remember that as if it were an hour ago ..." Reid recalled in a recent interview. "I chased that sucker and finally got him. Because my grandmother said, 'If you get a rabbit, I'll cook it for you.'

"I remember it as being really good."

Now, I'll admit I know little about Washington politics. The ways of the Senate and House are exotic and mysterious to me.

But I know something about rabbit stew. As a native Nevadan born into a hunting family, I've killed and cleaned my share of cottontail. When I was a kid in Henderson, the Smiths often ate rabbit pan-fried and stewed in a Dutch oven.

But that was cottontail. Never jackrabbit, which are known to be gamy, stringy, wormy, and as tender as a steel-toe boot. Cottontail is to jackrabbit what filet mignon is to a catcher's mitt.

Obviously, anyone who can digest jackrabbit stew and smile can stomach the worst of Washington politics without flinching.

Reid's toughness and political clout are paying dividends these days for Nevada Democrats, who have a chance to see their party's presidential standard-bearer carry the state for one of the few times in the last century. If that happens, Reid will be the man most responsible.

He used his considerable influence to move up Nevada's presidential primary to Jan. 19, a decision that not only thrust the state into the national spotlight and compelled presidential contenders to parachute in, but also ensured that an unprecedented voter registration drive would be possible. The lively competition between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton wasn't just good for political reporters; it brought in hundreds of Democratic ground troops.

Now that the Democratic National Convention is over, the race for the White House is in its final leg. As usual, Reid isn't shy about sharing his opinion on the race and Obama's importance to the nation and on the international stage.

"Our standing in the world community is gone, basically," Reid said. "And it would be a great shot in the arm for the American people to have Barack Obama as president. It would raise our standing in the world community in a matter of seconds."

And Nevada will likely hold a pivotal place in the election. The planning that took place before the caucus should pay dividends, Reid said.

"I think that the ground game that Obama has here in Nevada is tremendous," he said. "I think that you're going to find that the work that was done here early in the caucus we had Jan. 19 has spilled over. He's got really good people working, and McCain's ground game at this stage is nonexistent. He basically doesn't have anything. As we learned in the caucuses, a lot of things can happen when people are knocking on doors. At this stage hundreds of thousands of people have been contacted by the Obama campaign in one way or another."

And what if the majority leader's elaborate plan to turn the Silver State blue doesn't pan out?

Harry Reid can always learn to eat crow.

Hey, man, it can't taste worse than jackrabbit stew.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295.