Reid Machine Keeps Humming In Nevada, Even In His Retirement

[DonViejo]

11/18/2018 06:55 pm ET

Despite being treated for pancreatic cancer, the soft-spoken former Senate majority leader has remained active in Nevada politics.

Michelle L. Price and Nicholas Riccardi

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Harry Reid may no longer lead Senate Democrats in Washington, but the political machine he built in Nevada has Republicans on the run.

Democrats romped up and down the state in the Nov. 6 midterm elections, ousting Republican Sen. Dean Heller, winning races for governor and lieutenant governor, and expanding their state legislative majorities.

The shellacking was 15 years in the making, the culmination of a long-term plan to shift a battleground into the Democratic column. Democrats elsewhere will work to replicate Nevada for years to come. Republicans were humbled.

“These things can change, but right now Nevada is a blue state,” said Mark Hutchison, the state’s outgoing Republican lieutenant governor. “There’s no doubt that the Democratic Party has done a very good job in Nevada of getting out the vote and creating an infrastructure that is formidable.”

more
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reid-machine-keeps-humming-in-nevada-even-in-his-retirement_us_5bf1fa07e4b0f32bd58aa550

[Awsi Dooger]

1. Light years superior to what I've witnessed in Florida

This is exactly correct. I've emphasized it many times. Harry Reid knew the Democratic operation in Clark County was weak. It was underperforming, especially in midterms. I worked GOTV in Las Vegas in 2004 and couldn't believe how unsophisticated it was. We spent more time receiving bad information than actually accomplishing anything. But other volunteers were telling me you should have seen 2002...that midterms are exponentially worse.

I didn't do GOTV again but the changes from 2004 to 2006 and especially to 2008 were amazing. I didn't have to see it first hand to understand how much had changed. I would be canvassed at my home in Henderson and then within minutes receive a phone call from the operational headquarters, asking about the visit and if I needed anything else. Truly amazing. Reid knew he had to fortify things in preparation for his troublesome midterm re-election bid in 2010.

Florida, where I live now, is a comparative joke. I know there are people here working hard on Florida but the operation is either shorthanded or poorly designed to begin with. Undoubtedly both. I have been back here for a full decade yet been contacted by exactly two Democratic campaigns -- Dwight Bullard in 2016 and Donna Shalala (multiple times) in 2018.