A stiff breeze could "Pressure" Harry.

Can we please get some info on who is actually planning these ads so that I can send them some money? I'd rather have another Republican senator than Reid.

I'd say this idea is about 3 years too late and counting. Reid should have been tossed after his collaboration with Bush in the last 2yrs of Bush.

I am all for pressure to get the public option but you must all understand that dumping Democratic Senators just gets you farther away from the goal. So now you have ANOTHER REPUBLICAN in the Senate .... how the hell does that help?

This is the point where frustration becomes irrational. Please understand the complexity of this situation and do not resort to funding and promoting ANOTHER REPUBLICAN SENATOR. That is exactly what the pubic option does NOT need.

About damn time somebody held his feet to the fire!

It's About Effing Time! Personally, I think Harry should go home, get drunk and wander around Searchlight until he falls down one of those abandoned silver mines that dot the landscape there.
Might save the taxpayers the price of a State Funeral in the long run and in the short, might just provide health care to a whole bunch of deserving people..

Just this old Chief's 2 cents

Reid will get the strategic Republican vote in Nevada to keep him as Senate Dem leader - he's the gift that keeps on giving there.

Reid will have silly money, and the Obama Administration Machine behind him - it's fun to dream about, but he's not going anywhere.

Good God, this is insanity and beyond stupid. This is basically a liberal Club For Growth approach and a road to both legislative and electoral defeat.

Those liberals who think this is all such a great approach need to get real about politics. "Leadership" is not ramming a particular legislative component down the diverse caucus' throat. It's getting the caucus to vote together on whatever all 60 are willing to vote "yes" on.

It's not clear-cut at all that the public option is "popular." The polling is mixed, and too many proponents just cherry-pick favorable polls that show a very incomplete picture. Most voters don't care about politics or follow it closely enough to have firm opinions on particular components of legislation, including the public option. Public opinion can drift either way. And we have some Senators in plainly CONSERVATIVE STATES who rightly fear the messaging much more easily can be worked against the public option than for it.

Harry Reid losing next year hurts us badly. Anyone who fails to recognize that is truly stupid.

We don't have a liberal or progressive majority. We have a Democratic majority. And our majority is a liberal/moderate coalition. And the "moderate" part of that coalition is FORCED by the voters in states like Nebraska and Arkansas and Louisiana, rather than a matter of choice like the sleezeball Lieberman. And that means as liberals we can't get everything we want.

About time. I'm doing the same with Colin Peterson, I'd rather a Republican just take the seat openly. Democrats will never get it back but enough is enough.

Another shout out in support of bitch slapping Harry Reid!

Anyone who thinks its better to have a Republican than Reid is batshit cray-zee.

Just how much legislation have any of you passed?

I think this goes waay too far. I'm all for pressure but this kind is stupid.

It is Obama not Reid who will be calling the shots on how the public option goes down.

It would be an absolute DISASTER for the Senate majority leader to loose his Democratic seat to a conservative Republican. This 'eat your own' mindset is so completely self defeating it makes me really wonder if any of you have any common sense or are just venting.

What the Senate needs is to PICK UP A FEW MORE SEATS and operate with a margin of 62 or 63 so that it doesn't always depend on an all or nothing calculation.

Go out and fight to PICK UP 2 or 3 new Senators instead of killing off your majority with misplaced anger.

Reid is trying to gather the votes needed to pass a solid bill with a public option. Lefties throwing a hissy fit won't change that.

Where do these nuts get the notion that he is working against health care reform? Take a few minutes and learn a bit about how government works.

Ol'Kolob REid is an IDIOT and a SPINELESS Troll

nuff'said...it is about time progressives help get rid of the loser

You don't get it if you don't know why we would literally allow a Republican to take his seat. What is the point? They said they can't do anything without a majority. We give it to them. They say they can't do anything without 60 votes. We give it to them. Now you are going to tell me Reid can't get 60 PROCEDURAL votes for the DEMOCRATIC President's HC bill with a public option when with 60 DEMS in the Senate? FUCK THAT. You get the job done Reid or we come for your damn seat. PERIOD.

Which progressive organizations is this article referring to? This is a good plan, because it gets rid of a problem and makes a very important point, which is that progressives have the power and the will to make people lose their jobs for non-performance. People like Sen. Reid won't respect any group that can't hurt them. It sounds like a plan that's beyond most of the progressive organizations I've been reading about lately.

Reid has been a weak and ineffective leader for as long as I can remember.

Call and let him know your fed up with him:

Phone: 202-224-3542 / Fax: 202-224-7327
Toll Free for Nevadans: 1-866-SEN-REID (736-7343) -Restricted to calls originating from area codes 775 and 702

I did and his staffer sounded frazzled.

I think pressuring Reid is one thing; primarying him is another. I think the key is public pressure. As long as the insurance companies have a seat in Mr. Reid's office on a daily basis -- and his constituents sit back and allow it -- we're going to have a hard time getting a public option. They cannot stand the public option. So, the more progressive/grass roots, the better the chances.

But, we have limited resources. Progressives, generally, have limited resources. Think about if we had run a controversial Senate primary in 2008. Would Franken have won? No way. I don't think the answer is to vote out people like Reid. Ask Hatch staffers if they are glad the GOP stayed home and pouted in 2008. Ask them how they feel about criticizing McConnell and the gang for the last several years.

Change is not going to happen overnight. I want a public option. Absolutely. But, if we don't get one, then we go back to making insurance reforms, such as banning rescission, requiring coverage for preexisting conditions, etc. And, we see whether we can get another shot at universal coverage down the road.

People who say this is it -- we'll never have 60 again -- will make sure that we never have 60 again. I think the best ideas are Democratic ideas. We will have 60 again. So, I think the answer is to make sure we continue to enact legislation that improves people's lives -- and it's to make sure that people like Reid (who is fairly liberal for Nevada, anyway) are brought into the fold.

Nobody is perfect. Ask me about Rockefeller today and I love him. When he was handling FISA, though, it was a joke. I'm not for primarying Rockefeller because of his FISA foolishness. The same is true with Reid. He's a good senator. We should keep the pressure on him to make sure the public option appears in the bill. And, he should be able to deliver the votes. But, if Mary Landrieu or Ben Nelson agree to side with the GOP, then he'll still enact meaningful reform that protects consumers (assuming he doesn't try to do an individual mandate without a public option).

I'm in Nevada, count me in.

i couldn't agree more; what use has he been as the majority leader? each democrat, each republican in sheep's clothing calling themselves a democrat, every member of congress who owes his position to democrats electing them should be asked one simple question for all of america and their constituents to hear: is health care a right or a privilege?

no more lying, delaying, obstructing, obfuscating, placating their corporate sponsors (which i still think each of their offices should be named like stadiums with their corporate sponsor.) if health care is a right to all citizens, then who should benefit from health care reform? if their only answer is the health care industry, then they need to go!

BUSTED! Government Healthcare Advocate Admits Public Option is Trojan Horse!
http://02e56fa.netsolhost.com/blog1/index.php/2009/09/21/first-post-of-the-new-era-pickle-1-advoc

the much manipulated but clear AHIP report which clearly shows the health insurance monopolies intent to raise premiums, proves all too conclusively, the much touted "trigger" is already here!

the democrats must surely realize, any watered down health insurance reform that does not provide the means offered by a strong choice of a public option to bring down costs, will only increase cost, cover fewer americans and politically cost the all democrats more than under newt!