Reid to Heller: Be ready to step it up

The relationship between Sen. Harry Reid, Democrat and Senate majority leader, and incoming appointed senator Dean Heller, a Republican and U.S. House member, is sure to be closely watched between now and Election Day 2012.

Heller will be trying hard to keep the seat; Reid will be trying hard to get fellow Democrat Rep. Shelley Berkley elected instead.

In an interview Thursday on KNPR, Las Vegas public radio, Reid made his first live comments on Heller's pending appointment, which was announced Wednesday by Gov. Brian Sandoval.

It was a carefully worded greeting to Heller. And in remarks likely to be parsed by analysts, Reid also warned Heller the step from U.S. House to the Senate can be a steep one.

Heller, who represents the Northern Nevada-based 2nd Congressional District, will need to broaden his focus to encompass Clark County and beyond what Reid called "the most conservative part of the state and in some instances the most conservative part of the country."

"Clark County is not like representing Battle Mountain," Reid said. "He is going to have to broaden his view and understand that he's going to have to, in my opinion, start looking at a broader view than what he has represented in that little congressional district."

Reid, who served four years in the House before becoming a senator, also noted the Senate is a larger, more prominent and more pressurized stage than the lower body.

"In the House of Representatives, 435 members, you go to a committee and some of those committees have 65 members," Reid said. "Before you get to ask a question you might have to have lunch first."

"From the minute you step onto the Senate you are in the limelight and subject to the world," Reid said. "You can hide in the House of Representatives. You can't hide in the Senate. There is no place to go."