Harry Reid "The Gunslinger" - Rolling Stone

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Everybody says it was about values, but I don't buy that. Senator Kerry lost because he ignored rural America. Take Nevada as an example. Ninety-one percent of the registered voters are in Reno and Las Vegas. So you would think that someone who carries those two counties by a nice margin would be the winner. Wrong. Kerry carried those counties -- but he got slaughtered in the other nine percent, where the turnout was huge. The rural vote went five-to-one against Kerry, and he lost the state by two percent. Democrats can no longer win elections in big cities. We have to go to places like Elko and Carson City and Ely and let people know who we are. Until we do that, we're going to continue to lose.

That's a weird way of putting it. Kerry lost Washoe (Reno) county, but won Clark (Las Vegas) county by enough that he won the sum of those two counties. Washoe had a Democratic swing, probably mainly due to being the closest part of a swing state to all of the people who volunteered from the bay area.

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Harry Reid is pro-life.  I think he needs to embrace his populist views.  With the Republicans taking huge hits in public opinion, the time is right for Democrats to introduce a "contract with america."  That means an alternate social security plan, a new exit strategy for Iraq, and creating a new energy plan for America.

With the GOP brewing with corruption and the public full of discontent for it, the time is right for a 1994-style scenario.  On the other hand, we could let this opportunity go, not make any noise in the national media, and simply offer bland opposition to the Republicans and continue our failures.

I'm not sure how much of a populist he is. He voted for the bankruptcy bill.

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Those items are not winning issues for the Dems, nor has the GOP taken major hits in public opinion.

Yeah that Schiavo bill was real popular.