Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.) shouldn’t be considered a vulnerable incumbent, but he is. And considering the aggressive race for control of the Senate next year, every competitive seat matters a great deal.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, however, Reid’s most serious competition — Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) — spurned pressure from Karl Rove and announced yesterday<\/a> that he will continue serving in the House.<\/p>\n To be sure, Gibbons would have been a formidable challenger for Reid. Gibbons is a decorated former combat pilot and a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee. Apparently, Gibbons skipped the Senate race in the hopes that he will soon be able to be chairman of that committee.<\/p>\n With Gibbons out, Reid will avoid the one GOP candidate who could probably beat him. This may not seem like a big deal to those of us outside of Nevada, but considering how much this announcement improves Reid’s chances of winning next year, it’s pretty important. Of course, in order to beat Reid in ’04, Republicans needed a formidable challenger. Without one, the national GOP will probably remove Nevada from their priority list.<\/p>\n
\n
\nDespite his leadership post with Senate Dems, Reid had been targeted by the GOP as beatable. It’s not hard to see why. In 1998, Reid won re-election by only 428 votes out of over 417,000 votes cast. Moreover, Reid is a Dem in an increasingly-Republican state.<\/p>\n