Harry Reid

Well, now we for sure know why Nevada Sen. Harry "I Did Too Smile Once Back in High School" Reid is calling in the Big Guy for a grandiose fundraiser on Tuesday. A new statewide poll of 625 Nevadans confirms previous research that the four-term Democrat is not well-liked. In fact, he's downright disliked. Fully half the respondents think of him unfavorably. Only 38% think of him positively; 11% didn't care, according to the survey by Mason-Dixon for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid came home recently to address the Nevada Legislature, a small but vocal band of Republican protesters gathered at the state Capitol. They waved signs, razzed Democrats and marched outside. But the group fell silent when asked the chances of ousting Reid at the polls next year. "It's going to be tough," demonstrator Carol Howell, 65, finally said. Inside, Reid illustrated one reason why. Speaking to a bipartisan group of lawmakers, he touted hundreds of millions of dollars headed for Nevada under the economic stimulus legislation he helped push through Congress.

New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer was accused of speeding the failure of IndyMac Bancorp in July. Now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is getting credit for sparking a blistering sell-off in insurance stocks. Shares of MetLife Inc., Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc. all fell by double-digit percentages Thursday after Reid said Wednesday that the financial-system bailout plan was crucial because a large insurer was at risk of failing.

A few years ago, when President Bush announced plans to dump nuclear waste in Sen. Harry Reid's state, it was a political insult so stinging that the Nevada Democrat responded by calling the nation's commander in chief a liar. Now Reid, the new Senate majority leader, is getting the red-carpet treatment. The administration treated Reid to two military plane rides in one week. He was invited to an intimate White House party, where Bush politely asked what books Reid had been reading lately.

It's hard to buy undeveloped land in booming northern Arizona for $166 an acre. But now-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid effectively did just that when a longtime friend decided to sell property owned by the employee pension fund that he controlled. In 2002, Reid (D-Nev.) paid $10,000 to a pension fund controlled by Clair Haycock, a Las Vegas lubricants distributor and his friend for 50 years.

President Bush said he told a senior Chinese economic minister Thursday that the U.S. was "watching very carefully" whether Beijing would strengthen the value of its currency. After a meeting with Vice Premier Wu Yi, leader of the largest high-level Chinese delegation ever to visit the United States, Bush told reporters the U.S. was "making it clear to China that we value our relationship, but the $233-billion trade deficit must be addressed."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday questioned the competence of the senior American commander in Iraq and the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, setting off a new war of words between the Nevada Democrat and the Bush administration. A White House spokesman quickly condemned Reid's comments, which came nearly two months after he provocatively said he believed the "war is lost." Reid, a fierce critic of the war, is gearing up for a new legislative push to bring U.S.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wrote at least four letters helpful to Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff, and the senator's staff regularly had contact with the disgraced lobbyist's partners about legislation affecting other clients. The activities -- detailed in billing records and correspondence obtained by Associated Press -- are more extensive than previously disclosed.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid called President Bush "dangerously incompetent" and said the administration ought to be doing more to prevent increasing sectarian violence in Iraq. Reid told the Associated Press in Las Vegas that the United States was "failing three different ways in Iraq." Military efforts have lagged, the economy is crippled by decreased oil production and frequent power outages, and attempts to form a national unity government are behind schedule, he said.

Engaging in partisan political warfare, President Bush and the Senate Democratic leader blamed each other Saturday for the Senate's failure to pass legislation to overhaul immigration laws. Bush used his weekly radio address to thrust himself into the thick of the immigration battle, accusing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) of obstructing the bipartisan compromise announced Thursday. Bush called on Reid to end his "blocking tactics" on the bill, which stalled Friday. "We should ...