Reid on a course to run for re-election
By Amber Phillips, Las Vegas Sun
WASHINGTON — Will he or won’t he?
That’s the question entertaining Nevada and Washington’s political class this winter as they debate whether Harry Reid will run for a sixth term to represent Nevada in the U.S. Senate.
The case for the doubters: Despite the fact he’s said publicly and privately he’s running, the 75-year-old would be 84 by the time he finishes the term. His latest approval ratings barely pass 41 percent in Nevada, and polls show he’s got an uphill battle to win re-election against any number of opponents. The $1.4 million sitting in his campaign account today is relatively low. Couple all that with a brutal exercise accident on the first day of 2015 that could leave him partially or totally blind in one eye, and it’s easy to see a path for Reid to retire.
But those close to the Democratic leader say that argument completely misses a fundamental understanding of what drives Harry Reid — and why he’s almost definitely running for a sixth term in 2016.