Washington Examiner: Harry Reid Not Above The Law

From The Washington Examiner:
Most observers attributed the phenomenal success of Reid's last-ditch comeback to the Nevada Democratic Party's highly polished get-out-the-vote "ground game." But an internal e-mail from a Reid campaign operative to a Harrah's executive strongly suggests the Reid ground game depended at least in part on breaking the law.
As former Federal Election Commissioner Hans A. von Spakovsky explained Friday in The Examiner, federal law makes it illegal for officials with a Senate campaign to coordinate with corporate or union officials: "Both the Reid campaign and Harrah's may have violated federal campaign finance law that prohibits in-kind corporate and union contributions to, and coordination with, political campaigns. Corporations and unions may spend money to run ads in support of or opposing a candidate, but they are not allowed to make direct or in-kind contributions to federal candidates. Federal criminal law also prohibits intimidation and coercion of a person exercising his or her right to vote (or not to vote)."
According to the e-mail, which was first made public by National Review Online's Elizabeth Crum, the Reid staffer pleaded with Marybel Batjer, Harrah's vice president for government relations, to do everything possible to get the firm's thousands of employees and their families in Nevada's largest county to the polls to vote for the Senate majority leader, including putting a "headlock" on recalcitrant supervisors "to get them to follow through." In response, Batjer instructed her fellow Harrah's executives that they were to "do whatever we need to do to get the supervisors to know that there is NOTHING more important than to get employees out to vote. Waking up to a defeat of Harry Reid Nov 3rd will be devastating for our industry's future."
It is clear that the pro-Reid effort by Harrah's executive met with some level of resistance within the company, as one of the e-mails obtained by Crum referred to problems encountered by the Reid backers with midlevel supervisors in the company's culinary department. "They simply are not cooperating and listening with upper management" in the companywide get-out-the-Reid vote campaign, a Harrah's executive complained in one of the e-mails. Because intimidation and coercion were apparently involved, this matter requires the attention of the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section. Attorney General Eric Holder can be sure that the House Judiciary Committee will be closely watching his actions on this matter. Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Harry-Reid-should-not-be-above-the-law-1471102-106799933.html#ixzz14eE0acBx

I am not going to be a cry baby about the election- Reid won, but in the end, he lost. He is going to be nothing but a neutered dog looking to make babies- he is not going to be able to do anything in the Senate.
First, he needs the GOP House's help, which won't be easy. In addition to that, there will be about 21 Democratic Senators who are for re-election in 2012 and they are going to stay as far away as from Reid and Obama, unless they are in a really safe seat. So, he won't get much help in the Senate, especially with 6 new GOP Senators.
Further, the GOP has won many State houses and governorships, which will help in redistricting. And it won't help Harry Reid one bit.
So, yes, Harry Reid won, but the GOP took the big prize home and Reid will be useless to Nevada and to the U.S. And that is not a bad thing.