Democrats are preparing to throw the race card back in the laps of Republicans as part of a counter attack designed to help save Harry Reid's political career. Dems launch defense to save Reid

Democrats are preparing to throw the race card back in the laps of Republicans as part of a counterattack designed to help save Harry Reid’s political career.

First, Reid’s allies plan to distribute the NAACP vote ratings of Republican senators who have scolded him. The data will be made available to editorial boards, cable programs and the blogosphere — including votes on minimum wage, community-oriented policing, education funding and HIV/AIDS programs.


Separately, the Congressional Black Caucus plans to issue a new statement Monday, defending Reid and brushing back Republicans.

“Senator Reid’s record provides a stark contrast to actions of Republicans to block legislation that would benefit poor and minority communities — most recently reflected in Republican opposition to the health bill now under consideration,” CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said. “I look forward to Senator Reid continuing to serve as Majority Leader to guide this important agenda through the Senate.”

These moves to turn the race issue back onto Republicans is risky, yet it shows how Reid and his allies are ready to pull out all the stops to help the majority leader recover from his disastrous comments about Barack Obama being “light-skinned” and having no “Negro dialect.” The comments were revealed in the book “Game Change” by journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.

“There are some Republicans who are trying to use this for political advantage,” said a source close to the Reid camp. “If Senators [Jon] Kyl, [John] Cornyn and others want to have an open and honest debate about race — and if they want to discuss their records on issues of importance to the African-American community — we welcome that dialogue. But we are not going to stand idly by while hypocritical Republicans take swipes at Senator Reid, distorting his record of achievement and their own record of failure.”

Top Democrats tell POLITICO that they have no doubt that that Reid, a former amateur boxer, will keep fighting and survive in his leadership job. Indeed, Reid’s racial flub is already turning out differently than the one made by Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) in 2002. When Lott made a nostalgic remark about the segregationist Dixiecrat presidential run of Strom Thurmond, his Republican allies quickly abandoned him. Democrats are sticking by Reid so far.

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat, is said to be quite certain Reid would ride out the controversy, particularly because Obama and the Rev. Al Sharpton had accepted Reid's apology and issued effusively supportive statements.

"It's not a shock to any Democrat that Harry Reid is not the best spokesman," said an aide to a top Democratic senator. "But he made a heartfelt apology."

Reid has also indicated that he felt burned by the authors of the book who revealed the “Negro dialect” comments.

The book says Reid made the remark “privately,” but does not say to whom. In an “Author’s Note,” Heilemann and Halperin describe the terms of their interviews: “All of our interviews — from those with junior staffers to those with the candidates themselves — were conducted on a ‘deep background’ basis, which means we agreed not to identify the subjects as sources in any way.”

But while the NAACP, the black caucus and Reid allies close ranks around the majority leader, Republicans are also planning a new line of attack on Monday.

In a preview of a likely Republican argument in the days ahead, Karl Rove said in a telephone interview: “If you didn’t accept Lott’s apology, to be consistent, wouldn’t have to reject Reid’s, as well?”

On Monday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is sending out home-state news releases reprising critical comments Democratic senators had made about Lott after his racial gaffe.

Republicans say they plan to press reporters to ask Reid what he really meant when he described a “light-skinned” African-American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

“Harry Reid doesn’t just owe people an apology — he owes them an explanation” of why he was even using such terms, said Ed Gillespie, former counselor to President George W. Bush.

While Reid’s surrogates battle it out with Republicans, the incident once again highlights what Democrats acknowledge is one of Reid’s weaknesses as the leader of Senate Democrats — he’s neither a savvy public figure nor a gifted speaker, and he’s his own worst enemy when he goes off script.

Reid once asked a reporter whether she “spoke English” and urged her to “turn up your Miracle Ear.”

He once said you can tell it’s summertime at the Capitol “because you can smell the visitors, [who] stand out in the high humidity, heat, and they sweat.” He called President George W. Bush a “loser,” Justice Clarence Thomas “an embarrassment” and Bill Frist, his predecessor as majority leader, “amateurish.” He referred to Alan Greenspan as a “hack.” And he had to backtrack after saying the U.S. was “losing” the war in Iraq.

Reid has been referred to as the “accidental leader” because he was picked when there was no heir apparent to South Dakota Democrat Tom Daschle when he lost in a historic upset in 2004.

The senior senators at the time — including Sens. Chris Dodd and Tom Harkin, and then-Sens. Ted Kennedy and Bob Graham — determined that Reid as leader would not upset their own internal power centers in the committees, so they picked Reid, according to colleagues.

Daschle acknowledged to POLITICO this fall that Reid was struggling: "Being Senate Majority Leader is tougher than loading frogs on a wheelbarrow. He has limited tools and unlimited expectations. And as the years unfold, the challenges mount.”

What Reid has lacked in PR ability he has made up in vote counting and internal Senate maneuvering. He has taken the Senate to the brink of passing the historic health reform bill, and he’s managed to hold together a nearly unmanageable caucus of 58 Democrats and two unpredictable independents. Aides tout his ability to find middle ground in a diverse caucus.

But none of that will matter if he’s loses much more political capital in Washington and continues to trail badly in polls back home.

“Nevada has always been his focus,” said his Jim Manley, his senior communications adviser. “He may not be a showboat who brags about everything he’s doing, but he fights hard for Nevada every day.”

Meredith Shiner contributed to this report.