Case Study I
t was after midnight on November 3, 2004. Harry Reid was in the Rio Hotel, in Las Vegas, having just won election to his fourth term in the U.S. Sen- ate. But he wasn’t celebrating. Democrats around
the country were in trouble. Among those who would go down was Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. That meant Reid was next in line to lead Senate Democrats. Six years later, in November 2010, Republicans would
try to do to Reid what they did to Daschle. But on a night when things went the Republicans’ way almost ev- erywhere else, in Nevada, they failed. Harry Reid won re-election when most observers said it couldn’t be done. We believe television advertising played a key role in helping Reid to victory and we focus on television ads in this article. But no discussion of the campaign would be complete without making mention of three other factors that also proved essential: First is Senator Reid himself, who, in our admittedly biased view, was a tireless fighter for Nevada with an ex- traordinary record of accomplishment. Second, Senator Reid’s foresight to bring an early Dem- ocratic caucus to Nevada in 2008 provided a massive “dry- run” organizing effort among Democrats and resulted in a dramatic increase in Democratic voter registration. Third was the extraordinary campaign operation Reid
built. The team included the earned media and rapid re- sponse effort led by Jon Summers; a record-breaking fun- draising operation directed by Jake Perry; a crack oppo- sition research team headed by Matt Fuehrmeyer; a fully integrated direct mail program created by Mike Muir of Ambrosino, Muir & Hansen; a comprehensive online pro- gram designed by Well & Lighthouse; an unprecedented Nevada GOTV effort run by Preston Elliot; and spot-on research developed by Mark Mellman of the Mellman
“Nevada Jobs” highlighted Reid’s role in helping to resurrect the giant CityCenter project in Las Vegas.
Group, which provided the foundation for television and most everything else.
The Nevada Political Landscape in 2010 Heading into the 2010 midterms, Harry Reid was con- sidered the most vulnerable incumbent in the coun- try. No state had been hit harder by the recession than Nevada. Unemployment was the highest in the nation, and foreclosure rates were skyrocketing. As a result, Ne- vadans were angry and exhausted. In focus groups and polling, voters expressed profound disenchantment with Washington. Conservatives were highly motivated, inde- pendents were behaving like conservatives, and progres- sives were dispirited.
In this kind of electoral environment, any Democratic incumbent would face significant challenges. For Senator Reid, they were only part of the story. First, Nevada’s population had exploded since Reid’s
“Hard Work” recalled Reid’s humble origins and his tenacity throughout his life and career. 28 Campaigns & Elections | Canadian Edition
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