Harry Reid on the Democratic Race

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


harry-reid.jpg Harry Reid is making vague promises of his rainmaking power, so I went to his communications shop to find out what he thinks about the Democratic primary.

I asked Jon Summers, Reid’s communications director, what the Senate Majority Leader meant when he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he has spoken to Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean and that “things are being done” to bring the Democratic primary to a close. “As the top elected democrat in the country,” said Summers, “Senator Reid talks to Governor Dean and other leaders in the party about how to move forward. He’s hopeful it will be taken care of soon. At the end of the day though, like every other Democrat, he’s excited we have two good candidates, candidates that Democrats across the board are excited about.”

On the question of whether the Democratic nominee would be better positioned against John McCain if he or she was able to turn his or her attention to the general election sooner rather than later, Summers admitted, “If you have more time to run a general election campaign, that is helpful.” He said he wasn’t aware of the specific plans Governor Dean and Senator Reid have, if any, to bring an end to the race.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate