Minden visit won't do much for Reid

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., probably didn't gain too many more Douglas County voters than he had before he visited Minden on Tuesday.

In keeping the visit quiet for as long as possible until before Reid's arrival, we feel that some of the benefit of having a U.S. senator here to answer questions was lost.

We can't imagine that Reid and his staff thought it would be a good idea to show up at an open forum in a place where a substantial majority of residents would like to see him sent home.

As it was, Reid was greeted warmly by his supporters and only had to suffer some minor protests from representatives of the county's majority.

Reid has been Nevada's senator since 1986, when he won the seat after Paul Laxalt retired. He was re-elected in 1992, 1998, and 2004.

Not once in those four elections did Douglas County give him a majority. If Nevada's most Republican county had had its way, Jim Santini, Demar Dahl or Richard Ziser would be representing the state in the U.S. Senate.

Sen. John Ensign, who came the closest to unseating Reid in 1998, also earned the widest margin of Douglas County voters.

Reid has said that his strength is in the number of opponents running against him. With 23 candidates on the ticket, he's not wrong about the cattle call. But there will only be one Republican on the ballot in November, and we would bet the farm that person will win Douglas and most of the rest of Nevada's rural counties.

With close races in Clark and Washoe counties, where Democrats are currently in the majority, a visceral reaction in the rurals could result in his return to Searchlight.