In what bizarro universe is it a 'debate' as to whether or not Harry Reid, Joe Barton or any other politician is somehow so beyond reproach that even raising a question about his sincerity is intolerable?

Aaaaaand off come the gloves...

Reid chides Heller for failing to garner support for poker bill [Las Vegas Sun]

In his letter to Heller, Reid wrote: "I did not want this issue to become political in nature, but I cannot stand by while you abdicate your responsibility as a U.S. senator representing Nevada. Nevadans deserve someone who will fight for them. Not someone who is willing to stand by and suggest that others should fight for them."

I am confused by what this means and what the ramifications would be. Can someone clarify?

if heller was a valuable asset to ipoker legislation i would defend him against someone posting baseless conspiracy theories that you're making up out of your own brain so as to discredit him among the forum readership.

i don't know of anyone who thinks harry reid is like a super fan of online poker; that he's personally passionate about the game as a competition of skill in capitalism. i don't have to believe harry reid cares more about me and my issues over those of a farmer on the other side of the country, i don't have to see him as a personal hero, to recognize he's the most powerful pro-ipoker legislator in government, being senate majority leader. if harry reid killed a hooker in a brothel and enlisted the help of organized crime to cover up the murder, it wouldn't change the fact that he's the most powerful pro-ipoker legislator in government (unless of course robert duvall tells him otherwise).

i'm CRAZY pro-federal ipoker, as are many on this forum, and to me that means i need to be pro-reid until the job is done. nobody else in congress is gonna get online poker legislation through to the president without reid having final say, as he's literally setting THE lame duck agenda. if you want to go around implying that the keystone individual wrt federal online poker legislation is stringing us and his home state along, intending work against all the interests he's repeatedly specifically said he's working to help, in order to cash out through a chinese company with his lobbyist son, and you only bring your own assertion that this narrative is true and dozens of other people are lying to us and many others, don't act like you're not just being a c-word when someone challenges you on it.

The Godfather reference was a bit too early in history for that to be Senator Reid. A loosely modeled Senator character is portrayed in the movie Casino, fwiw, played by Dick Smothers. That "Senator" later appears at a hearing on Robert DeNiro/Frank Rosenthal's licensing, clearly a reference drawn from Reid serving as a gaming regulator in Nevada..

I am a "Friend of Harry", meaning I've donated to his campaigns, but I still think the quest for a federal bill is a bit quixotic. Nevada fortunately hedged its bet and is moving ahead at the State level.

thank you for giving me a reason to watch this movie again.
ya, i mean i play the powerball sometimes too, it can be fun.

Think about the politics of this. It is looking more and more likely that Obama will be re-elected. So if you're the GOP you need to do whatever maximizes your slimmer chances (thanks to Todd Akin, Snowe retirement) of having a senate majority. That means the GOP as a party has to do whatever is needed to get Heller to win against Berkley.

Which brings us to Reid's attack. Its easy to see this attack on Heller having an effect. Heller wants the federal poker bill to pass because his state is strongly in favor of it. Yet he still can't get his own party to support him. It makes him look inept in his ability to get shiit done for his constituents.

If the GOP determines that Reids attack is indeed working, they would decide to make Heller look strong and influential by showing to everyone that Heller was able to secure 15 GOP senate votes. Think about it. Heller delivers the votes, the bill passes before congress recesses to campaign, and Heller goes into the homestretch of his campaign telling the voters of Nevada that they can count on him to get things done in DC that are good for Nevada. Also, with those 15 votes the House would be hard pressed to block passage, knowing that doing so helps the Democrats keep control of the senate.

The way I see it we should be rooting for Reid's attacks to do as much damage to Heller's re-election chances as possible.

The PPA rates Dean Heller an A, even better than Harry Reid.

EDIT: Harry Reid is now changed to an A, which seems more reasonable to me.

harry reid says he can deliver 45 votes to your door by next monday: he gets an A

dean heller claims he misread the play and has been sitting on his hands waiting for the house to push a no-compromise prohibition bill with no ipoker carveout. he also says he can't get 15 votes by next monday and frankly it's a little insulting to even ask: he gets an A


i'm surprised heller didn't get an A+

Pat Leahy, Barbara Boxer, and Dianne Feinstein off the top of my head. Im sure there are more.

IF the California tribes were REALLY part of a Reid/Kyl coalition to pass a federal bill, how quckly would the latter two votes get picked up ?

One of the collateral angles of the lottery legislative activity, especially Delaware's "all games" legislation, was it supposedly lit a fire under tribal gaming interests to protect their "slots/casino" B&M turf by supporting a poker-only federal bill.

If that had materialized, that seemingly would have put + signs by two more votes.

Look, Kyl can't "quit" and Heller HAS to vote for a bill, so, maybe Reid thinks he has enough votes that he can slap Heller on behalf of Berkley ..... or not.

(btw, what ever happened to the sympatico support the Cause was supposed to get from Grover Norquist and CPAC, ..... ANY votes at all ?)

A better question is who are the 45 that are ready to vote on a stand alone poker bill? I'd be shocked if he could name 15, this was always going to be a lame duck issue, and always needed to be either a rider or an amendment to another bill.

Where does he expect to get 15 GOP votes if he succeeds in taking out Heller? He's putting party politics ahead of Nevada.

Not sure what everyone has seen today but here are some of the stories coming out regarding this whole big drama:

Reid chides Heller for failing to garner support for poker bill

Online-Gambling Bill Stalled by Tactical Spat

Reid dials up criticism of Heller on Internet poker

And here is the letter Senator Reid wrote to Heller today:

http://******/d/MYh


Also:

Reid's summary of the bill is out! Does anyone have Politico Pro?!

Bad link, but here it is in PDF:
http://media.lvrj.com/documents/Reid...ller_09121.pdf

mother****er! the reiding railroad is at the station!!

refresh button time

http://www.lvrj.com/news/reid-dials-...169493006.html

Kyl, R-Ariz., who had worked both with Reid and Heller on the issue, said Wednesday he like Heller believed the best path to passage first was through the House, a conclusion he reached after discussions with House GOP leaders.

"I am afraid that if the Senate acts first the House will feel itself jammed and it wouldn't go anywhere," Kyl said. "The object here should be to pass a bill and not make Senator Heller look bad."

Kyl said Reid's sharp letter to Heller has further complicated the bill's chances because it has injected overt politics into the matter.

"Now the thing has blown up," Kyl said. "Again, I want to work with Harry Reid to get this done. I regret to say what he has done here is going to make it a lot harder now. Instead of an approach by which we might have been able to bring people along, I think it looks to be what it is, and that is very political.

"It looks like some political hack wrote that letter for Harry," Kyl said. "I think he wants to get this done but he must appreciate that letter was going to make it very, very hard.

"I am distressed it has taken the turn that it has," Kyl said. "I am very concerned about that now."

So we just went from an OESD to a gutter?!

WTF is going on?

repubs demanded control over the legislation before AND after Reid adds his ipoker exemption.

Reid channeled admiral Akbar, recognized the trap, and sprung his own gambit back upon them. ...by setting a deadline of next Monday and unveiling the secret #reidbill??

This is all really inaccurate speculation.

What's your speculation Karak??!!

The bill as it stands now is going to be opt in. Lots of the other stuff is really similar to past versions you've already seen. People who enjoy non poker non horse racing Internet gambling won't be happy. It will also directly address the OLCs recent wire Act opinion. Phone posting so sorry I can't be more detailed.

Edit: opt in meaning states will need to affirmatively opt in