Reids Running, But Maybe Not Together

By Erin McPike

Rory Reid is chock full of dry jokes when it comes to Maj. Leader Harry Reid and his re-election race in NV next year, but he's not anxious to talk about the effect of his father's campaign on his simultaneous run for governor.

"Some of you may know my mother; she lives in the district," he began before laying out what his GOV campaign will look like next year. And that is all about his vision for "a new economy" in the Silver State.

"I think you should ask him to handicap his own race; I'm not going to do that," he said of his father.

"Want me to handicap mine? I'll do it all day long," he said with a chuckle. "I think I'm going to win."

The younger Reid, Dems' top candidate to take the gov mansion in NV, said having his father on the ballot would not impact his own race.

"I come from local government; potholes aren't partisan." He went on to joke later, "I love my father more than any of you; lots more."

"It's curious at least to have two Reids on a ballot," he added. But Rory Reid made it clear he has tested the question in polls.

"[The] data and my personal experience lead me to believe that while it's interesting to talk about in a race that's yet unformed, ultimately, I'm going to be running against somebody. It's a binary decision: people are going to be voting for me or the other person," he said.

Reid will face the winner of a contest between highly unpopular Gov. Jim Gibbons (R) and ex-fed. Judge Brian Sandoval (R), who quit the bench earlier this year to challenge Gibbons. Reid said he wishes the Republicans would start to engage, because he's eager to start the debate.

The younger Reid ticked off NV's problems and said the state's problems stem from prolonged prosperity that led to complacency. For that reason, he said, there has been a dramatic lack of long-term planning in the NV.

Citing a 1955 Collier's magazine cover story, "The Sorry State of Nevada," Reid said he wanted to "change the end of the story. And to do that, we need a new economy in Nevada." He has developed a 30-page plan for the state's economy.

"Las Vegas exemplifies Nevada's problem: a unique reliance on one industry and the failure to provide the kind of long-term planning that is necessary for society," he said.

With unemployment in NV higher than in any state but MI, Reid, chairman of the Clark Co. Commission, has had to deal with meager budgets.

"I inherited a mess," he said. When it comes to statewide problems, "I don't know if cleaning up messes is a good campaign slogan, but that's the fact."

While in town, no senators are hosting any fundraisers for him.