Herding the Democrats

(2 of 2)
Now his challenge is herding a group of Democratic Senators whose number is set to dwindle to 44 from the current 48. Lest he suffer the same fate as Daschle, he must balance his role as a partisan with the fact that he represents a state that Bush won, albeit narrowly. Reid also can't ignore that other Democratic Senators from Bush states — such as Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Bill Nelson of Florida — will be up for re-election in 2006 and don't want to be picked off either. Democratic Senators say Reid plans to choose his fights carefully, perhaps letting a compromise on tort reform go through, for example, but battling fiercely if Bush tries to privatize parts of Social Security.

A consummate Senate insider, Reid has largely shunned the cameras, and one senior Senate Democratic aide is worried that he "doesn't have a strong TV personality." But Reid has been consulting regularly with imagemaker Jim Margolis, who produced some of the most powerful TV ads for John Kerry during the primaries, and Reid plans to add media experts to his staff, showing once again his determination to rise to the task at hand.