Reid leaves no fingerprints, but also no doubts

Officially, at least, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid is neutral in the Democratic primary fight between former Rep. Dina Titus and state Sen. Ruben Kihuen.

Officially.

But behind the scenes, people who work for or are loyal to Reid seem to be doing their damndest to get Kihuen elected. Their theory: Kihuen will excite the Hispanic base located in the 1st Congressional District in a way that Titus cannot, and those Hispanics will help everybody from Rep. Shelley Berkley to President Barack Obama to victory. But if Titus defeats Kihuen in June -- a distinct possibility -- Hispanic voters may just stay home in November.

Kihuen announced his campaign team this week, and there are plenty of Reid alums. Mark Mellman -- the expert pollster whose numbers showed Reid beating Sharron Angle in 2010 while other public polls were wrong -- is working for Kihuen. So is GMMB, the media firm that just happens to employ former Reid spokesman Jon Summers as a senior vice president. And ex-Reid finance director Megan Jones is raising money for and advising the Kihuen campaign.

A list of Kihuen endorsers includes former Review-Journal columnist Erin Neff, who heads ProgressNow Nevada, a group founded with help from Reid. And it was Kihuen, and only Kihuen, who on a recent trip to Washington, D.C., just happened to have his picture snapped with Reid's fatherly arm around his shoulders.

Titus? Not so much, although she does count Reid 2010 campaign manager Brandon Hall among her consultants.

Before Titus announced last week that she'd challenge Kihuen in a primary for the Democrat-friendly 1st District, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tried fruitlessly to get her to run instead in the 3rd District. Titus lost her 2010 re-election race there to Rep. Joe Heck by the thinnest of margins.

And while some Reid loyalists whisper that Titus may yet be persuaded to change her mind, Titus says she's in the race to win.

"That's my home, and that's where I'm running," Titus says, dismissing rumors that she'll change her mind and run elsewhere. "If they're saying that, they're not talking to me."

Recall this isn't Titus' first run against the Democratic powers-that-be. In 2006, when she was mulling a race for governor, several Democratic luminaries signed an open letter that testified the establishment candidate -- then-Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson -- was just as good a Democrat as Titus. It was untrue and it failed: Titus easily defeated Gibson before she herself was defeated by Republican Jim Gibbons.

The latest knock? Titus is allegedly too conservative, and had to be persuaded to vote for liberal priorities such as health care and the DREAM Act. It's an elegant lie: While it could hurt her in the 1st District (where Democrats enjoy a 27-point voter registration advantage) it could actually help her in the 3rd District, where the spread is but 3 percentage points.

Get the hint, Dina?

So far, no, she doesn't. After a lifetime of working in Democratic politics, Titus can't help but be angered by efforts to shunt her aside to run in a district that already has its own Democratic contender, Assembly Speaker John Oceguera. And even if she did decide to run there, assuming a primary could be avoided, her reward would be constant fundraising and tough races for the next decade, instead of the easy wins to be had in the 1st.

But Reid is nothing if not relentless -- isn't that right, not-Senate candidate Byron Georgiou? -- and resourceful. "There are many tools available in the Reid arsenal," says one Reid-Kihuen operative. And because filing doesn't formally happen until March, Titus is probably just starting to feel the pressure.

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist and author of the blog SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/SteveSebelius or reach him at (702) 387-5276 or ssebelius@ reviewjournal.com.