Commerce secretary joins lineup of leaders helping out Reid

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will hold a conference call with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Tuesday to announce stimulus spending in Nevada, the latest in a string of appearances and announcements with the embattled senator by top Obama administration officials.

Locke and Reid will use the 1 p.m. call to detail Recovery and Reinvestment Act investment in broadband Internet access in Nevada, the Commerce Department announced Monday. The call follows an appearance in Las Vegas last week by Locke, who led a roundtable on how high foreclosure rates in the area might lead to an undercount in the census.

President Obama has visited Las Vegas twice since last year, including a recent appearance where he touted $100 million in foreclosure relief spending for Nevada and praised Reid's efforts to boost employment in the state.

In the last year, Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Attorney General Eric Holder, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey have appeared with Reid in Nevada or announced local grants or spending with him.

Reid is working to overcome daunting disapproval ratings as he seeks a fifth term in November.

The attention from Obama and Cabinet officials underscores a key theme in Reid's campaign: He can use his influence to deliver for his state.

Following the 2006 elections, many Democrats faulted Bush administration officials for heavy travel to districts and states of endangered Republican lawmakers to announce federal spending. But a Reid spokesman said the visits to Nevada are a positive sign.

"It's part of what comes with the territory that comes with being the majority leader in the Senate," Reid spokesman Jon Summers said. "When you raise issues that are of concern with the administration, they listen."

Summers said the visits were not political, but argued they demonstrate Reid's clout with the White House. Since the last election, he said, "we have a Democratic administration ... that is more interested in working with the majority leader and paying attention to Nevada. The Bush administration was none too helpful."

A spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee argued the visits have not helped Reid.

"It speaks to the extent of Harry Reid's political problems back home when despite spending almost $2 million in paid campaign ads and holding numerous staged press events with the president and members of the Cabinet, his approval numbers haven't moved an inch. In fact, they've arguably grown slightly worse," NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh said.

"The reality is that Reid is seen as someone who puts the Democrat agenda in Washington ahead of the values of his constituents in Nevada, and these photo-ops emphasize that narrative," Walsh added.