Thank You, Harry Reid!

Now, I've had my problems with Harry Reid and there have been several reasons for it. His lack of enthusiasm for Jack Carter's Senate campaign, him giving credit to Ensign for whatever they do in Washington just a tiny bit too often before an important election. At times I've ranted a little.

But no more. Today, I'd like to send a big "Thank You!" note to Senator Harry Reid.

Why, you ask? Well, it's quite simple really. Harry has done something which will prove invaluable come election day. He's found a very elegant way of giving Democratic candidates in Nevada a lot of free airtime and several big fundraisers without getting involved himself.

How'd he do that? Oh, he simply changed the decades old primary calendar for the Democratic presidential nomination and managed to sandwich Nevada right between Iowa and New Hampshire. This surely was not an easy task and a lot of Democratic officials in said states loath him for it.

The fact that Nevada will now hold a caucus in January of 2008 means that the Silver State has seen a load of potential Presidents or presidential wannabes in Nevada. Everyone has come or is about to in the next couple of weeks. Here's a list:

Gen. Wes Clark
Sen. Russ Feingold
Gov. Bill Richardson
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
President Bill Clinton
Gov. Mark Warner
Sen. Joe Biden
Gov. Brian Schweitzer
Sen. John Kerry
Sen. John Edwards
Sen. Chris Dodd
Gov. Tom Vilsack
Sen. Evan Bayh

Now, not everyone of these folks will come run in 2008. Some have already run before, others might run in the future. But we all know that close to none would have come to Nevada and campaigned for Dina Titus, Jack Carter, Jill Derby and Tessa Hafen were it not for that caucus in 2008.

We'll probably have close results in most of the contests on election day. Should the Democratic candidates prevail it's thanks in large part to Harry Reid.

And people are taking notice across the country. Today, it was the New York Times:

No longer is it, “Um, Dina who?”

The name of the Democratic candidate for governor here, Dina Titus, is tattooed on the brain of most every Democrat who wants to be president, because of Nevada’s newly vaunted position in the 2008 election calendar.

[...]

“They raise money for me, and I get them face time,” said Ms. Titus, a little-known state lawmaker who has leveraged the attention into a suddenly competitive race against Representative Jim Gibbons, the Republican candidate for governor.

Of course, Dina's not the only one profiting from this. A lot of obscure people who never thought they'd see the national limelight suddenly see themselves quoted in the New York Times, even if they might not come across in a positive or competent way:

“We’re not talking about figuring out the DNA strand here,” said Jon Ralston, Nevada’s most respected and widely quoted political reporter, who said he had already identified the state’s biggest winner: “Me!”

Yup, never misunderestimated (as W would say) the power of people's egos.

While all these folks from Washington and elsewhere might come out to Nevada this year (which means largely Vegas) candidates still need your help. So, please consider volunteering or contributing to Dina, Jack and Jill!