One More Thing: Reid and his Yellow Papers

As I mentioned in my Politics Daily piece, Senator Harry Reid began scribbling on yellow legal paper the moment he got to the podium, and the pages kept multiplying throughout the hour until he couldn't figure out where he'd put a tepid closing remark he would have been better served to wing. Is it really possible that he doesn't know what to say for himself if it's not written out for him?

Actually, yeah. On the secret tape I obtained of Angle talking to a business group in July and wrote about for AOL News at the time, she was asked about the plans for debates. And among other things, she said this:

[Reid] said he would like to have his talking points available to him, we said, no, we want a microphone, no podium and no notes. Let’s just talk.

Reid spokesman Jon Summers denied that to VegasHappensHere.Com at the time:

Her take on the debates is wrong and over-the-top. NPR never came up. Neither did this whole thing about talking points and podiums.

But seeing Reid get to work writing up a novel on stage and being so dependent on it in at the end of the hour, I've got to think it must have really been something they wanted.

Post-Debate: Odd smiles, goofy web poll & more

The general consensus for last night's Harry Reid-Sharron Angle debate was that she "won" it by seeming sane. A few thoughts:

* Here's my coverage for Politics Daily.

* The press and public clearly got that Harry Reid was underwhelming, but if you weren't in the studio you may not realize just how badly he performed. He looked half asleep and highly annoyed to even be there. He walked up to Angle for a couple of pre-debate moments, said a few nothings and then condescendingly patted her hand as he ambled rather unsteadily to his podium.

* And That Smile. Not hers, which was weird, too, and buried under makeup quite possibly applied by RuPaul. But Reid's smile. That creepy, odd, bad-toothy smile that came out at all the wrong moments. After Angle accused him of voting to give Social Security to undocumented immigrants, for example, he shot back: "These ideas of my opponent are really extreme. Her facts are absolutely wrong." And then, suddenly after a beat, out came That Smile. Shivers.

* By the way, the nonscientific web polls on the R-J and Sun's sites both assert that Harry Reid won the debate.

This probably is the result of, I'm guessing, someone from the Reid campaign being assigned to do nothing but vote for him all night long on the R-J's site. The Sun's site, which would naturally attract more Reid supporters, also prevents people at an IP address from casting multiple votes, but the R-J's crack technology staff led by their Online Guy hasn't yet figured out how to prevent such newfangled shenanigans. (Disclosure: I just voted six times just for shiggles.)

* My favorite wrap-ups came from Slate's John Dickerson ("In the casinos in Nevada when this happens, they pump in oxygen. This debate did not do that for this race") and some dude named @delrayser who Tweeted: "Man, Harry Reid is the WORST. Except for that crazy lady running against him." -every Democrat on Twitter last night." For an interesting and different view, my Politics Daily editor-in-chief Melinda Henneberger, formerly of The New York Times, wondered why the media is being so nice to Angle today.

* Bravo to the Las Vegas Sun for having David McGrath Schwartz on hand to fact-check what was said. Yes, Laura Myers of the R-J did a little of that in her piece, but there needed to be a LOT more and the main newspaper let down the readers by failing to do so. Maybe they could have skipped the dullsville feature on supporters waving signs outside the VegasPBS mothership.

* The only publication that really gave Reid much credit was, intriguingly, the allegedly diabolically pro-Angle Review-Journal, which intoned, "Reid gave as good as he got" even though he really, truly didn't. Nonetheless, Jon Ralston mocked their coverage as slanted towards Angle -- for saying essentially the same things he has said about the same event -- because he just can't help himself. Whatever.

* Reid's somnolent, dour performance makes my Daily Beast piece from yesterday even more relevant. The nation has to be wondering how this man got to his height of power. I explained.

* It's hard not to admire the quick work Reid's folks did in turning around a TV ad within hours of the debate. See it:

Live From The MSNBC Democratic Debate!

I know you're not interested in a play-by-play on the debate, which better sources than I can and wish to provide. But I figured you'd like to see what it looks like from the media's point of view. Here we are all scattered in an enormous, very echoy exhibition space at Cashman Center watching flat screen TVs all over the place. The candidates are debating in another room similar to this, but I'm not real sure where that is.


The Democrats are supposed to be so concerned about the disadvantaged, but not a single TV here has captions on. I'm sure if I asked someone they'd say, "Well, it's really pretty loud." And it is. In this case, it's so loud as to be distorting. Oh well. They did, however, feed us an oft-replenished buffet of chicken breast, salad, pasta and very rich brownies...


Anyhow, the stars have descended on Vegas. Here's the shameless blowhard Chris Matthews of MSNBC with the brilliant and rocking Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post.

...and the lovely, very friendly and much slimmed-down Candy Crowley of CNN...

And the hardest working journalist in Nevada (besides me?) this week, Jon Ralston...


Here's the big screen with the big graphics that's set up as the backdrop for the MSNBC post-show events. That should be fun...


And, finally -- for now, until the spinmeisters come in here -- is my favorite shot of a clearly well-traveled journalist's laptop...