Survivor Reid offers fresh start with GOP

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, the most high-profile Democratic survivor of an election where Republicans made big gains in Congress, offered a fresh start in relations with the GOP on Wednesday morning.

Speaking to reporters during a weary morning-after news conference at the Vdara, the Senate majority leader said it would be shortsighted not to acknowledge the message that Tea Partyers and other disaffected voters sought to deliver in the wave of setbacks for Democrats.

"The message is that people are dissatisfied with the economy," he said. "People are struggling and it is difficult and there is no place more difficult than Nevada."

Late returns suggested Republicans would pick up at least 59 House seats, more than enough to capture control of that body. Among the turnovers was the suburban Las Vegas seat where Joe Heck defeated Rep Dina Titus.

In the Senate, Republicans were gaining at least six seats, trimming the majority that Reid will have at his disposal to advance President Barack Obama's initiatives, and making it more important for Obama and Democrats to reach across for Republican support or compromise.

Reid contended he had "held a hand out the last 20 months" in overture to Republicans, but it was slapped away.

While Reid said not all Democratic senators would agree, "I welcome Republican ideas. I was begging for Republicans to help."

"I am hopeful that when the dust settles, the Republicans will no longer want to stop everything and will work together with us," he said.

Reid said he was aware that Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, has said in an interview that "the single most important thing" Republicans want to achieve is to turn Obama into a one-term president.

"I don't think that is what the American people want," Reid said. "I think that is a road to nowhere."

He said he and McConnell had played phone tag, and he expected to speak with his Republican counterpart later in the day.

"I always felt my job was to build consensus," he said. "That is not a bad word to suggest that legislation is a compromise."

With the election over, Reid complained about misleading polls during the campaigns and scolded the media for "gobbling them up no matter where they came from."

"You just run with them like they are the finest pastry in the world," Reid said. He said he held his tongue during the campaign but "we have to do something about these misleading polls."

A series of publicly released polls during the fall showed Angle with small leads, influencing the perception of the race. Democratic insiders said Reid's internal polling showed him ahead by a point or two above a 4 percent polling margin of error, and indeed he won by 5 percentage points.

Reid also renewed his call for campaign finance reform to blunt the influence of corporations and outside interest groups that took advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January allowing unfettered spending on races with minimal rules.

"It's not right to have nameless, faceless people spending tens of millions of dollars," he said. "You don't know who they are."

For Reid, election night was a mixed bag. While he prevailed in a hard-fought campaign against Republican challenger Sharron Angle, he also saw Democratic colleagues like Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin get knocked off.

Reid said he never got to bed. At 4 a.m. he appeared on network morning shows. He later held a conference call with Democratic senators to take stock of the caucus and begin mapping a post-election lame duck session that starts week after next.

He said he spoke with Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval. He also accepted what he called a gracious phone call from Angle.

"We did not know each other very well," he said of Angle. "I have great respect for her and for her family situation. Her husband was always with her and he has been very supportive of her ..."

He said he spoke twice with Obama, but declined to give details.

As he was answering the question, supporters at the Vdara began chanting "Harry! Harry!"

"That's what the president said to me," he smiled.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.