The Daschle Effect
A devastating signed editorial in the Las Vegas Review-Journal by Sherman Frederick, the publisher of that paper, savages Harry Reid. Frederick predicts a brutal reelection fight in three years or a quiet retirement. Because Reid is following directly in the footsteps of the last Senate Majority Leader from a conservative state who carried water for the far left wing of the Democratic party, Tom Daschle. The farther to the left Daschle went, the less support he got back home. The result was an electoral defeat.
Let me spell out Harry's problem. No one can win a statewide race in Nevada on a platform that appears anti-military, anti-family, anti-marriage, anti-religion, anti-free speech, pro-illegal immigration, pro-abortion, and pro-taxation. While Harry isn't all of that personally, he clearly projects elements of them all when he's doing the bidding of his party on the national stage.
(It also doesn't help Harry's numbers when he foolishly attacks Rush Limbaugh, only to have the conservative radio talk show host lash back in a brutally effective rebuttal for the entire nation to hear.)
Tom Daschle knows what I'm talking about. He was Harry's predecessor in the Senate. He, like Reid does now, carried the liberal banner of his national party and slowly but surely his support eroded in his conservative home state of South Dakota. Then one day he woke up with big negatives and the next day he was unelected.
Whether you buy into the 51 percent number as the precise level of Nevada dissatisfaction with Reid or not, it's crystal clear the Daschle effect is in play with Reid. And that means his next race may be the political fight of his life.
While Harry demonstrated resiliency in past races, let's not forget he's no spring chicken anymore. He was born in 1939, just about the time golf moved from hickory shafted clubs to steel. He's already suffered one stroke, and most folks who see him regularly say he looks weary. Of course, we're all getting older, so we ought not to hold that against him.
It's just to point out that getting old is not for sissies. Katharine Hepburn said that.
For politicians, the one thing worse than getting old is not death. It's getting a midterm unfavorable rating of 51 percent. I said that.
You can bet if that number doesn't improve, he will draw a quality, younger opponent, well-funded and perfectly willing to engage him door-to-door up and down the state, from Laughlin to Winnemucca and Gardnerville to Mesquite.
It does not help Reid that is is also singularly ineffective at his job. My guess is that his attempt to grab credit for Rush Limbaugh's auction of the smear letter from Reid and 40 other Democrats didn't play well back in Nevada, either. I have been saying for a long time now that the party rank and file would come to vilify the Reid-Pelosi regime in Congress. Harry may get it directly from home.
Other Links to this Post
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The Lion in Winter? | BitsBlog — Sunday, 21 October , 2007 @ 7:43 pm
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Blue Crab Boulevard » Pelosi Worried — Tuesday, 23 October , 2007 @ 10:08 am
By Mwalimu Daudi, Sunday, 21 October , 2007 @ 9:39 pm
It will depend upon the quality of candidate the GOP puts up. The elections last year convinced me that while you cannot beat something with nothing, a strong and well-funded nothing will beat a weak and waffling nothing every time.
Reid is many things (most of them unprintable), but weak and waffling he is not, at least when it comes to bullying GOP Senators. He can count on the MSM mud machine to watch his back if he chooses to run for re-election. Our media overlords were embarrassed by Daschle’s defeat, and will do anything within their power to keep the Democrats in control of Congress.
By Uncle Pinky, Sunday, 21 October , 2007 @ 11:47 pm
Also Daschle had some charisma.
Reid has charisn’tma. Although his brazen “Let’s not talk about the Democrats” press-kung-fu seems strong, after Bush is gone he won’t be able to keep that cloaking field up.
The mask is already slipping; “Mr. President, if we’d had time we could have had one-hundred Senator’s signatures” was the bleat of a broken malweather. His hometown rag is spearheading the bullying and shady deal investigations. It is only on the national stage that he has any sort of mojo left, and that because the poorly veiled activists cumjournalists give him extraordinary latitude.
From a Pinky who comes by his name honestly to Harry “Pinky” (or “Thin”) Reid:
Hang it up. It’s time to think of your legacy. Your people did not elect you to be led by the nose by the KosKidz and Soros. They elected you to represent them as a good American. Do so.
By mockinbrd, Monday, 22 October , 2007 @ 1:17 pm
Harry reid will push the turd cart in Hell. And I will kick him when I see him there (for saying this).