Washington Post: Why Harry Reid is in trouble

Harry Reid is one of the three or four most powerful people in the United States government. But the state he represents isn’t just in a bad recession — it’s in something closer to a depression:

Unemployment in Nevada is now 14.4 percent, the highest in the nation and a stark contrast to the 3.8 percent unemployment rate here just 10 years ago; in Las Vegas, it is 14.7 percent.

Now, I don’t think the unemployment rate in Nevada is Reid’s fault. He didn’t sit Nevada down and tell it to base its economy on a housing bubble. But voters blame their representatives for the economy, and given Reid’s uncommon power, he has fewer excuses than most. The reality is, he’ll need a miracle — or an extremely unelectable opponent — to survive this election.