Word: reid
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...Reid started his second week on the job, I asked him how things were going, especially with George W. Bush, someone else who has all but ignored him. That's when I saw the reflexes Reid developed 50 years ago, when he was going rounds in Las Vegas as a Golden Gloves middleweight. "I want to get along ..." he began, but he suddenly seemed at a loss for words. He slumped in his chair, buried his fist in his cheek and tapped his foot for a few awkward seconds. Then Reid let one fly: "He has 24 months left...
...loser and "King George." But with the slimmest possible majority (51 to 49) in a chamber where he needs at least nine Republicans to get anything difficult done--60 votes being what it takes to get past a filibuster and 67 to override a veto--the real test of Reid's leadership will be more about finesse. Republicans say they believe Reid when he says he wants to work with them, and in an initial show of good faith, he and minority leader Mitch McConnell co-sponsored the ethics and lobbying-reform legislation that is the Senate's first order...
...eight years that Reid has spent in a leadership role--the first six as Democratic whip and then as minority leader--he has developed what his fellow Senators say is an extraordinary feel for the institution, with its subtle rhythms and treacherous undercurrents, its fragile egos and bitter rivalries. Says former Democratic leader Tom Daschle: "He had antennae that were as sensitive as any I'd ever seen...
That helped Reid maintain unusual cohesiveness when his caucus was in the minority. By constantly staying on top of their individual needs and priorities--he reserves a breast pocket of his jacket for note cards on which he records favors asked and promises made--Reid managed with sheer vigilance and persuasion to keep spotlight-loving Senators like Illinois' Dick Durbin and New York's Chuck Schumer in harness, and unpredictable spirits like Montana's Max Baucus from straying over the fence...
...challenge is different when his party is in charge. The newly empowered Democratic committee chairs are aching to flex their muscles. Labor chairman Edward Kennedy wants to write a "clean" bill raising the minimum wage, but Reid doubts it could pass without including tax breaks for business that Republicans are demanding. Even Reid's freshmen are uppity. When he called Virginia's Senator Jim Webb to inform him of his committee assignments--the standard backwater spots that junior members are usually consigned to--Webb demanded "A" assignments on both Armed Services and Foreign Relations. Since Webb's surprise victory gave...