Nevada's Reid, new leader of Senate Democrats, steady, not flashy

[NVMojo]

Sen. Harry Reid regulated gambling in Nevada when organized crime ran some casinos, and he lived to tell about it. His steely resolve in a sometimes dangerous job could come in handy as the new Democratic leader in a more conservative Senate.

The soft-spoken Reid will, in essence, be the Democratic Party's most powerful elected official, thrust into a position of prominence by the twin defeats of current Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Sen. John Kerry.

Until now, Reid was Daschle's deputy, best known by C-Span audiences as the constant Democratic presence on the Senate floor. He focused on the chamber's sometimes arcane procedure -- the kind of work that wins respect from colleagues but is virtually invisible to the public.


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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/11/04/state1656EST7329.DTL