Reid diverges from Pelosi on superdelegate decision

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been making statements that appear to benefit Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), despite saying he’s neutral in the Democratic presidential primary.

The Nevada Democrat has not come out against the superdelegates voting to overturn the candidate with more pledged delegates, Clinton’s best path to the nomination. Reid is also less concerned about the primary dragging on into June.

{mosads}“I think superdelegates have the opportunity, the ability and the right to vote for whoever they want, and I think that’s what they should do,” Reid said last week on National Public Radio.

Some have speculated that Reid would stand to lose some influence should Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) win, given that fellow Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin is a close Obama ally and the chamber’s No. 2 Democratic leader.

Jon Summers, a Reid spokesman, stressed that his boss is completely neutral in the race, a position the senator has maintained since winning Democratic National Committee support for moving Nevada’s caucuses up to January. Aides said in no way should Reid’s statements suggest he is sending signals of support to Clinton.

Reid’s actions run counter to those of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who also professes to be neutral in the race but said superdelegates — elected officials and party leaders — should not overturn the will of voters.

That would be “harmful” to the Democratic Party, Pelosi said, advancing an argument made by the Obama campaign and denounced by major Clinton fundraisers.

Pelosi has also raised concerns about the tone of the campaign, saying it could hurt the party’s chances against the presumptive GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). But Reid has downplayed those concerns,

emphasizing positive aspects of a protracted campaign, like the scores of new Democratic voters who have been “healthy” for the party.

Similarly, Clinton has called the rhetoric of the primary season “mild” and has argued that her decision to stay in the race is beneficial to the party.

 “He’s honestly saying what he believes and that happens to be benefiting the Clinton campaign,” Kenneth Fernandez, an assistant political science professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, said of Reid.

Nadeam Elshami, a Pelosi spokesman, also maintains the Speaker is neutral. Her aides say that she reached her position on superdelegates before it became a major campaign issue and appeared to benefit Obama.

The leaders regularly praise both candidates and say they will work to elect whoever is their nominee, but are starting to push all superdelegates to make their positions known by the end of June.

That means Reid, Pelosi and the less than 300 other uncommitted superdelegates must soon choose sides since Tuesday’s North Carolina and Indiana primaries and future contests are unlikely to be the final word.

In weighing their endorsements, the congressional leaders may have a reason to back different candidates.

If Reid chooses to side with Nevada’s voters, he would back Clinton, who narrowly won the popular vote in his state’s January caucuses despite falling short in the delegate count. By that rationale, Pelosi would back Obama, who won the Speaker’s Northern California district handily in February, by a 10-percentage point margin.

When asked in February if he would vote with his state, Reid dodged the question, saying, “I can’t hear a word you’re saying. OK?”

An Obama White House might mean greater influence for Durbin. Plus, Clinton is rumored to have an eye on becoming Senate majority leader should she lose the nomination, though those prospects seem unlikely.

But some analysts dismiss that scenario, saying a Clinton White House could be worse politically for Democratic leaders.

“The Clintons don’t treat everybody very well, even within their own party,” said Eric Herzik, chairman of the political science department at the University of Nevada-Reno.

Reid has gone to lengths to portray neutrality in the race. For instance, when Clinton allies sued to stop the Democratic Party from holding caucus meetings at some Las Vegas hotels, Reid stayed out of the fight.

Reid, however, has family ties to the Clinton campaign. In February 2007, Reid’s son Rory, the chairman of the Clark County Commission in Nevada, signed on as Nevada chairman of the Clinton campaign and a senior adviser on Western issues.

But the elder Reid has emphasized that his son’s endorsement does not translate into his backing of Clinton.

Reid has a longer history with the Clintons, having worked closely with the former president on mining and nuclear waste issues. Facing a tough reelection in 1998, Bill Clinton sent top aides to help Reid campaign for a third term, which he won with just 48 percent of the vote.

Reid, however, has worked closely with Obama since he joined the Senate in 2005, making the junior senator the Democrats’ point man on ethics legislation.

Earlier this year, Reid defended Obama against attacks that he was perpetuating a stalemate that has hampered the Federal Election Commission this election year.

“If anyone [wants] to try to stretch this, it’s a figment of their imagination,” he said in February.

It’s unclear whether the Clinton campaign will win support from Reid in its bid to count primaries in Michigan and Florida, which she won despite a vow by the candidates not to campaign there since the states broke party rules for moving up their dates.

In a March interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Reid criticized the states for breaking the rules, but said the delegates would be seated without offering how or whether they would be split among the candidates.

In his new book, The Good Fight, Reid writes that both candidates are “extraordinary,” saying he will “work tirelessly to make sure that one of them reaches the White House.”