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.
About 45% said they'd vote to oust the 69-year-old Senate majority leader, 17% said they'd consider somebody else, and about a third would vote for him. Going into such elections, incumbents prefer 2-to-1 favorable-to-unfavorable ratios.
Reid already has about $3.3 million in the bank to avoid being "Daschle-d": in which a Democratic majority leader is unseated by Republicans as Tom Daschle was five years ago. Of course, Daschle went on to become a millionaire advisor to a rich guy, while not paying a lot of taxes and not becoming secretary of Health and Human Services -- so losing isn't necessarily all bad.
President Obama this week will fly out to Las Vegas on Air Force One for a celebrity-studded funder with Bette Midler and Sheryl Crow, despite his criticism last winter of bankers who go to Las Vegas for taxpayer-funded parties. And then the president will hop over to Los Angeles the next day.
All that Nevada Republicans need to beat Reid is a viable Senate candidate, but there is none yet. U.S. Rep. Dean Heller is a possibility, though he's not widely known.
Republican John Ensign is well known statewide and enjoys a 53% favorable rating. Trouble is, he's already the state's other senator.
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