Harry Reid has put to rest rumors that he might be a victim of the preemptive Torricelli Strategy that caught Chris Dodd in its foul wake:

“I am absolutely running for re-election,” the Nevada Democrat told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which commissioned a new poll that found more than half of Nevadans are unhappy with his performance.

OK – fine by me, but I wonder exactly what race (or racist, as the case may be) he is running for? I hear Bob Byrd has vacated his position in the Klan due to health reasons, and Reid is making a mighty fine case for replacing him:

Reid’s troubles continued on Saturday, when he was forced to apologize for private remarks reported in a new book in which he described Barack Obama during the presidential campaign as a black candidate who would benefit from his “light-skinned” appearance and speaking patterns “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

“I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments,” he said in the statement. “I was a proud and enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama during the campaign and have worked as hard as I can to advance President Obama’s legislative agenda.”

Hmmm…maybe he can explain exactly what a “Negro dialect” is. At least he didn’t call Obama “clean and articulate”. I mean, that would be a career killer – right?

I expect much more on this story in the oldstream media in the next few days, and will be holding my breath waiting for it to happen. If you see me, I’ll be the guy turning blue and passing out.