Reid: My Endorsement Of Specter Is Not Conditional

Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid said today that his support for Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) in his '10 re-election campaign as a Dem is not "conditional" and that the promises issued this week by Pres. Obama and VP Biden to back the newly-minted Dem are equally secure.

"I'm not going to be in a forever never, position but the facts are he's going to vote with us most of the time," Reid said this morning during a National Journal breakfast.

Reid, speaking with Atlantic Media pol. dir. Ron Brownstein, said he first began talking to Specter about changing parties four or five years ago. The conversation was dormant for some time, but was, of course, rekindled of late, and Reid credited Biden for doing the behind-the-scenes wrangling necessary to bring Specter on board.

In his new book, "The Good Fight," Reid wrote that Specter was always with the Dems when they didn't need him. But today Reid suggested Specter will be a "valuable member of the Dem Caucus. And he joked that he won't be able to use that laugh line anymore.

"He started out as a Democrat," Reid said. "He's just come home."

He added: "I don't think he's going to be an automatic vote, but I don't have many automatic votes."

With Specter concerned about maintaining his seniority, particularly on the health and human services appropriations subcommittee, Reid also said the Senate will pass an organizational resolution determining who holds which positions. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) chairs that cmte, but Specter, who was elected in '80, has been in the Senate longer than Harkin, elected in '85. Reid said he believes he can make everyone happy without displacing Harkin.

During the wide-ranging 45 minute conversation, Reid said he believes Congress will approve a universal health care package before the '10 election -- and that he won't need to fold the legislation into the budget reconciliation process to get it done.

But he also suggested that the House will have an easier time negotiating passage of health care and energy bills.

"The House is a laboratory for us because they have the ability to move things more quickly," Reid said.

And when asked which issue will provide the most headaches for him, Reid said unequivocally that he expects to have a tougher time in his chamber building consensus around a plan to address global warming.

"This may surprise you, but I think health care reform is easier than all this global warming stuff," he said, noting that health care affects every American but that carbon emissions are not a universal concern.

Reid said that before the '10 election, in addition to health care and energy, he expects Congress to tackle legislation addressing credit card billing, housing, tobacco, railroad anti-fraud issues.

"We have to be able to show the American people that we've been able to make a difference," he said.

Brownstein asked Reid, a former amateur boxer, if he believes Senate Min. Leader Mitch McConnell is a slugger or a boxer. Reid smiled broadly and paused to consider his answer.

"Sen. McConnell and I have, I think, gotten to know each other," Reid said. "Mitch holds things pretty close to his vest much more so than I. ... Mitch is a very, very controlled person. I don't say that in a negative sense. He doesn't tell me much. He tells me what he thinks I need to know."

Brownstein pressed for Reid to make the distinction between someone who fires away willy-nilly and and a firm, directed fighter.

"Don't make me say it," Reid said. "That's enough on this."

But asked if he would qualify Obama as a slugger or a boxer, Reid had a quick answer. He cited Obama's "finesse" and coolness under stress. "He clearly would be a boxer," he said. "He's not a slugger at all."

Reid said Obama never raises his voice or swears. He "leaves it all to Rahm," as in WH CoS Rahm Emanuel.

"Rahm fits in the dictionary under the most obnoxious word you can find," Reid said.

(JENNIFER SKALKA)