How Do You Solve a Problem Like Harry Reid?

Democrats were able to solve a problem like Chris Dodd with a little heavy pressure that he stop, drop and roll right on out of the race.  How do you solve a problem like Harry Reid though?  The Senate majority leader dropping from the race is nothing short of an admission the Democrats need to abandon their sinking ship.  Review Journal gives us a glimpse of Reid's problems in 2010:

• 52 percent had an unfavorable opinion of Reid, 33 percent had a favorable view and another 15 percent said they're neutral. In early December, a Mason-Dixon poll put his unfavorable-favorable rating at 49-38. The lowest Reid's popularity had slipped before in the surveys was 50 percent -- in October, August and May of 2009, when Mason-Dixon started tracking the senate race for the Review-Journal.
• The poll also took a snapshot of how Reid would do against three potential GOP opponents. In each case -- as in past Review-Journal surveys -- it showed the senator would lose with only four in 10 voters supporting him. The potential match-ups would look like this:
• Sue Lowden, former Nevada Republican Party chairwoman, would get 50 percent of the vote to Reid's 40 percent with 10 percent undecided.
• Danny Tarkanian, a businessman and former UNLV basketball star, would gain 49 percent of the vote to Reid's 41 percent.
• And Sharron Angle, a former Reno assemblywoman, would get 45 percent of the vote to Reid's 40 percent, a strong showing given her low name recognition statewide -- 42 percent don't know her.

Call it a day when the Senate leader is beaten in his home state by someone with low name recognition.  The Democrats really can't make a substitute here.  Reid, as leader, gives his home state advantages.  Why then would the people of Nevada elect a newcomer without Reid's seniority just to elect a Democrat?  Reid's position as leader is his only selling point, and the White House wants to make that clear:

"As Senate majority leader, Harry Reid fights for Nevadans every day through his efforts on behalf of homeowners, by ending Yucca Mountain, and by protecting tens of thousands of Nevada jobs through the Recovery Act," said White House spokesman Adam Abrams. "He is spearheading the historic effort to finally make sure that all Americans can get affordable health care coverage and by partnering with the president, Harry Reid is creating Nevada jobs -- leading the way toward a clean energy future for all Americans."

Still, Coker, the Mason-Dixon pollster, said he believes Reid has ''caught Daschle disease," a reference to the former South Dakota senator and Democratic leader who lost re-election in 2004.  "Now that he's taken over as Senate majority leader, he has to be the spokesman for the (Democratic) cause, and that's a little left of where Nevadans are,'' Coker said. "If anything, he's gone further to the left rather than pull Democrats to the center.''

Coker said the issues that have pulled the Democrats to the left include health care reform and financial institution bailouts, which have angered voters who can't pay their own bills.

Nevadans clearly aren't seeing the benefits of Reid's trip to the left and want a Senator who reflects their values, imagine that!  Reid is irrevocably tied to the left now that he has done his best to jam an unpopular reform through the Senate without Republican support.  Reid's numbers may fluctuate some if the economy improves and job growth feels like a reality instead of Democratic double talk.  Come November, however, the former boxer may find himself down for the count.
Via Memeorandum

Cartoon via Reaganite Republican from another great roundup of cartoons