Harry Reid may be severely injured at the moment, but that in no way, shape or form is affecting his long-term plans. In a recent press conference, he made it abundantly clear that his political career hasn’t run its course, and that he’s “off and running” to re-election. Splendid:
Appearing with a large bandage over his right eye and a bruise on his face, Reid said that “at this stage” he still plans to run for reelection — and insists that people trying to parse his phrasing heard the exact same language before the injury.“We have quite an operation in Nevada that hasn’t lost a step. We’re off and running,” Reid said. Pressed on his reelect, he replied: “This question was asked before the break, and I’m answering it the same way. I plan on running.”
Despite his jovial demeanor, however, Reid has a (political) target on his back. He’s been described by the NRSC’s Kevin McLaughlin as the “the most vulnerable Senator in the United States of America right now,” and Tea Party groups are just chomping at the bit to unseat him. So while he may have “quite an operation” in the works in his home state, he better bring his A-game in 2016. He won his last election by a comfortable margin, of course, but my hunch is that Republicans will field a much stronger candidate than they did last time around. They won’t make the same mistake twice. Will they?
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So we’ll see how this goes. Maybe he’ll win re-election. Maybe he won’t. Maybe he’ll even be Senate Majority Leader again. The possibilities are endless but this much is clear: It’s not going to be easy for Reid to coast to victory as he once did. Not this time.
After years of gridlock and inaction, Republicans are almost universally committed to seeing him lose.
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