The indefatigable Harry Reid’s ‘difficult day’

By Lisa Mascaro

Sunday, June 8, 2008 | 2 a.m.

It was a busy week for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, even before Wednesday hit.

Reid leads the Democrats with a slim one-vote majority in an extremely partisan Washington. But on Monday two icons of the Senate were hospitalized, leaving him without beloved colleagues, and votes.

Then, on Tuesday, Nevada’s longstanding fight against Yucca Mountain flared as the federal government filed its much-anticipated application to construct the proposed nuclear waste dump 90 miles north of Las Vegas.

By nightfall Illinois Sen. Barack Obama became his party’s presumed presidential nominee, an epic moment overshadowed when rival Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York delivered a soaring speech without a concession line.

Then Wednesday arrived.

A day like this is a reminder of the skills and stamina, mental and otherwise, needed to run the Senate, which one former leader famously compared to herding cats. It was a very long day.

As the morning’s first coffee was being poured, a release from Reid and other Democratic leaders sat waiting in in-boxes.

Reid announced the presidential primary race was over — a signal shift for the leader who had remained neutral as his senators battled for the nomination. “The voters have spoken,” they wrote, setting a Friday deadline for uncommitted officials to declare their endorsements and unite the party.

As workers filed into the Capitol that morning, Reid went on to meet colleagues at a weekly Senate prayer breakfast.

From there he delivered a speech downtown before the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee, assuring that the Democratic nominee stands “four-square with Israel.”

Back in the Capitol he chatted about Nevada issues with a radio reporter for an interview to be broadcast in Laughlin and other Southern Nevada communities.

He spoke to Obama.

By midday word was circulating that Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, a senator who helps tip the chamber’s balance to Democrats, slammed Obama during a conference call on foreign policy. The Independent Democrat has infuriated his colleagues by supporting presumed Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain. But Reid is wary of punishing a colleague needed to keep the majority.

Then, as the lunch hour came to a close, Wednesday released its fury.

Republicans upstaged Reid’s plan for a debate on global warming by employing a procedural trick to force a full reading of the 491-page bill.

The Senate came to a standstill as a recital of whereas clauses sucked the air from the room.

Republicans said they were protesting a side issue — the lack of judicial nominees moving forward — but Democrats said they were avoiding the climate change debate. Reid was furious, but appeared to keep his cool.

He hosted 70 Nevada visitors at a reception in the Capitol. He gathered Nevada lawmakers to strategize their fight against Yucca Mountain.

He cracked jokes.

Shortly before 10 p.m., as bleary-eyed clerks read the final pages of the bill, Reid (up later than many grandpas his age) announced his revenge.

He stood by the podium and called for a procedural vote.

“People are going to have to take off their pajamas, turn off their TV sets and head for the Capitol,” he announced.

He had had enough.

For more than an hour, senators streamed to the chamber. Reid and the Republican leader mixed it up on the floor, as if they were the ones campaigning for office.

After midnight, as the new day began, Reid finally turned in.

Wednesday was long, but the week was still young. Between then and Friday he would recommit to Lieberman, pull the global warming bill from the floor, congratulate Clinton and endorse Obama.

“Difficult day,” Reid said in closing the chamber as Wednesday became Thursday. “But I have learned, being in the Senate, to put today behind you and move on to tomorrow.”