Harry Reid Refuses To Step Down

Harry Reid: "I'm Not Going Anywhere"



Senior advisers for Sen. Harry Reid say he won’t resign as majority leader over comments he made about Barack Obama — and that Republican attacks on Reid will give them the opportunity to solidify Democrat support by arguing that he's the victim of a partisan witchhunt.

“The more you have in terms of criticism from Republicans, the more likely it is that it is just a political pile-on,” a senior Reid adviser told POLITICO Sunday.

The calculus could always change if more revelations emerge or if Democrats begin to call for Reid to step down. But Reid’s advisers expect neither of those situations to play out, believing that support has been solidified on the left and that they can weather the storm in Washington – and will have to turn the focus in his Nevada reelection campaign to jobs and the economy.

Republicans attacked Reid in force Sunday, with RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who is black, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) all calling on Reid to step down and comparing his remarks to those that led to the downfall of Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) in 2002.

But since Republicans have no power to remove Reid from his position, the majority leader remain in place unless he decides to step down voluntarily or Democratic senators turn against him. Neither seems likely.

“He has no intention of stepping down as majority leader,” Reid spokesman Jim Manley said. “Unlike others who advocate moving our nation backwards, and viewing this moment for political gain, he’s working, today, tomorrow and the next day to move our country forward.”

“Mr. Steele and Sen. Cornyn want Reid out because they know they can’t beat Reid” in November, Manley said.

Reid has moved quickly to show contrition after a new book, "Game Change" by journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin revealed that he made comments in 2008 suggesting that Barack Obama could be elected president because he is “light skinned” and lacks “Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

Embarrassed by the remarks and already facing a tough climb to reelection in the fall, Reid has reached out to the African American community, apologizing for his comments and highlighting his legislative record of backing civil rights issues important to the black community. He immediately won a showing of support from prominent Democratic black leaders, including the president, who accepted his apology and said he’s seen the “passionate leadership he’s shown on issues of social justice and I know what’s in his heart. As far as I’m concerned, the book is closed.”

But Reid continues to face slumping approval ratings back home – and losing his spot as majority leader would certainly imperil his reelection bid, where he is making the case that he is the most powerful legislator in the Senate.

Reid spent Sunday at his home in the mining town of Searchlight, Nev., continuing to make phone calls and also working to bridge a compromise between the House and Senate on health care.

But back in Washington, his advisers expected him to avoid the fate of Lott, who in 2002 was weeks away from taking command as majority leader until he made clumsy remarks at the 100th birthday party for then-Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), the late Dixiecrat who had run for president in 1948 on a pro-segregation platform.

Senior Reid advisers – who were caught off-guard by Saturday’s disclosure of the senator’s comments – believe that the majority leader is in a much better position politically than Lott, who in his 2002 comments first identified with Thurmond's candidacy as a fellow Southerner and then added, "If the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years, either."

Much as Lott apologized later for remarks he said were not meant to be racially insensitive, he was ultimately forced to step down by his Republican colleagues. Conservatives complain now that a double standard is helping Reid, but it was Republicans themselves who chose to push Lott out, and among Democrats, Reid has three big advantages the Mississippian did not have.

First is the president himself. While the Bush White House provided little or no help to Lott at the time, Obama has already come to Reid's assistance. Soon after the news broke Saturday, the president issued a strong statement accepting Reid's apology Saturday.

President George W. Bush, by contrast, said in 2002 that Lott's comments did "not reflect the spirit of our country," explaining that "any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable or positive is offensive, and it is wrong." Lott later wrote in his book, “Herding Cats,” that Bush’s public comments about the matter were “devastating” and that many on his staff had “grown certain that some powerful Bush staffers had launched a power play to replace me as Senate majority leader.”

Second, Reid is able to tap into support among African-American leaders because of his record on civil rights. Lott was in the opposite position since he was widely viewed as to the right of his own Mississippi Republican colleague, Sen. Thad Cochran, on civil rights and had opposed the creation of a federal holiday to honor Martin Luther King.

Third, there is no clear rival in the Senate to challenge Reid and the uproar now comes in the middle of a Congress when he has been working closely with the White House on its top legislative priority: health care reform.

Lott, who didn’t return a phone call Sunday, got into trouble at the end of a Congress, where there is a dearth of news. Reid's problems come in the middle of the health care debate --where he is crucial to securing a deal --but also at a time when people are more worried about other news, like terrorism attacks and the economy.

Plus in Lott’s case, there were already divisions in the GOP leadership, and Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who replaced Lott, was able to capitalize on this unhappiness and well as his own successful stint as chairman of the party's campaign committee in the 2002 elections.

By comparison, Reid's political problems are more in Nevada than in his caucus.

If his colleagues were to dump him as leader, it would hurt them and could certainly cause them to lose a pivotal seat in November.

Moreover, one of the Senate's most aggressive political personalities, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), appears genuinely close to Reid, who has given him opportunities Schumer never enjoyed under the prior Democratic leader, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). Anyone challenging Reid would have to contend then with Schumer, who retains significant influence with newer Democrats elected during his two tours as the party's campaign chairman. Plus, Reid has generated good will from Democrats and is deeply trusted for the deals he’s struck with them in his four terms in the Senate.

Still, Reid’s opponents in his Nevada race have no plans of letting the controversy die away – with three GOP opponents, former state GOP chair Sue Lowden, Las Vegas businessman Danny Tarkanian and former state legislator Sharron Angle each excoriating the majority leader for his comments.

“Sen. Reid's approval numbers are at their lowest point ever - these comments won't just alienate African Americans, they could alienate anyone who believes in equality and fairness regardless of race, sex or religion,” said Ryan Erwin, a senior GOP strategist in Nevada. “I think the repercussions with the electorate could be huge, but it would also be interesting to see how African American members of Congress will deal with him.

“How will Asian, Hispanic and female members of Congress deal with this?”

While Reid’s advisers admit that the senator’s comments were clumsy and inarticulate, they argue strenuously that Reid has been forceful in integrating the Las Vegas strip, has pushed for diversity on the judiciary and worked hard for the election of the first black president, as “Game Change" shows.

“Remember the context of the story that Halperin was telling: Sen. Reid wanted Obama to run,” said Brandon Hall, Reid’s campaign manager. “Reid believed the country was ready to elect an African American president, and he was right. This story documents that.”



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Sources: Politico, Google Maps