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Harry Reid’s challengers crossing 50%

Dooooooooooom!

Harry Reid

Rasmussen Reports has a new Nevada Senate poll out, and the results are looking terrible for Harry Reid. The Democrat is looking likely to be the second consecutive incumbent floor leader for his party to be voted out of office.

Conventional wisdom says incumbents below 50 are vulnerable. Well, two of the three Republicans running to replace him are now above 50, and the third is at 49.

Except for the extraordinary circumstances of President Bill Clinton’s second midterm after impeachment and President George W. Bush’s first midterm after the 9/11 attacks, the historical record shows midterm elections are always bad for the party of the President. Clinton and Bush themselves found that out in 1994 and 2006 respectively. 2010 appears to be a continuation of the normal trend, and Democrats all over the country are unusually weak.

Reid is no stranger to close elections, having beat out now-Senator John Ensign by 401 votes in 1998, but he had an easy time in 2004, outperforming John Kerry by 96,000 votes to win 61-35 while Kerry lost 48-51. This year though, the polls suggest he won’t beat out a national Republican trend.

Rasmussen has Sue Lowden beating him 54-39, Sharron Angle winning 51-40, and Danny Tarkanian pulling ahead 49-42, each with a margin of error of 4.5%. Winning percentages from my model: 95, 88, and 78 for an average of 87%. Additionally, Reid has not led a single poll in the Real Clear Politics database for this race.

Senate floor leaders for the Democrats seem to be an endangered species.

Crossposted from Unlikely Voter

COMMENTS

  • Michael Dugas

    the day he loses his job! I find it hard to think of anyone who deserves
    such a beating any more than old Harry Reid does.

  • jeffreywturner

    Then again, I doubt I’ll have to stay up much past the poll-closing time in Nevada to see this race get called.

    Next priority to is make certain to gain enough seats in the Senate to block him from getting appointed to anything meaningful.

    There are impolite people, then there are outright jerks, and Reid is clearly in the latter camp.

  • NeoKong

    He knew he was sacrificing his job.
    So did Nancy.
    I’m sure they made plans for a nice soft landing.

  • Michael Dugas

    to her husbands company for years so I am sure she will have a nice soft landing on tax dollar stuffed pillows.

  • nvrepub

    nt

  • proudgop

    We will also get to beat Harry’s son so long as Gibbons doesn’t get renominated?

    Is anyone else concerned with Ensign?

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens
  • Swamp_Yankee
  • proudgop

    Heard Reid might even try to use Ensign to his advantage

  • Swamp_Yankee

    I’m not sure if Ensign matters.

    If he is guilty, I hope he gets out of the way. With the wind at our back, we could probably win two Senate seats there.

    If he’s not, I hope he fights. Two and a half years is a long time for this to blow over, especially in Sin City. We cant bail on him yet like Stevens just because some politicized hacks with an agenda want to take a GOP guy down. If they knew a Dem could win, they’d probably be under all kinds of internal pressure to go forward with the indictment.

  • saltlick

    from RedState for when we know the Republican challenger and where to give.

    I’m unemployed, but I’ll give until it hurts to get Reid’s head nailed to the barn. (Already given to Tark). Summer’s coming and I’ve got a basement that needs to go to a yard sale anyway.

  • saltlick

    I guess that was “inflammatory.” But Harry’s head would make the chickens stop laying and dry up the well.

  • oneconservative

    Reid will be able to get a better paying job as a Lobbyist. He won’t get to be Senate Leader anymore, but what does he care?