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From Harry Reid, "I want the boys at the White House, the girls at the White House, the men and women at the White House, everyone to understand, I haven't lost one wink of sleep over the attack yesterday," he said Tuesday
From Nevada's leading paper...
more... Even Nevada's other senator thinks the RNC has over reached. Apparently he knows Harry better than they do...
Although he sought to distance himself from the dispute, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., signaled the RNC campaign may have gone too far. "I never like bringing any family members into anything," Ensign said.
hhhmmmmmmmmmmmm
WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday said President Bush mentioned a Republican attack against him during dinner Monday evening at the White House.
But the Nevada Democrat said the conversation did little to reassure him that he and Bush will have a productive working relationship.
"We'll see what the future holds," Reid said. "We'll see if the president wants to unite, starting with the Democratic leader."
Reid wouldn't elaborate on his conversation with Bush, but a Capitol Hill source said Bush approached Reid privately during the dinner and told him he knew nothing about the Republican National Committee campaign.
The RNC on Monday mailed to about 1 million journalists, GOP donors and activists a 13-page document that labels Reid an obstructionist and says members of Reid's family have benefited from lobbying Congress.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee joined the fray Tuesday with a list of complaints entitled, "Harry Reid's Forty Days and Forty Nights of Partisanship." The list cites Reid's creation of a "war room" to organize Democratic attacks, his claim that Bush "has destroyed the economy of this country" and his calling Bush a "liar."
White House officials on Tuesday continued to reject Reid's call for the president to ask the RNC to halt its campaign.
Reid said he would not allow personal attacks to undermine his effectiveness.
"I want the boys at the White House, the girls at the White House, the men and women at the White House, everyone to understand, I haven't lost one wink of sleep over the attack yesterday," he said Tuesday.
The White House dinner occurred just hours after Reid urged Bush to halt the RNC attack during a speech on the Senate floor.
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., who also attended the White House dinner, said Reid and Bush got along very well. "They patched over things," Smith said.
Two other senators who attended, Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., were tight-lipped.
"They seemed to be (getting along), but I wouldn't comment on details of a private dinner," Dodd said.
"You'll have to talk to them," Shelby said.
Although he sought to distance himself from the dispute, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., signaled the RNC campaign may have gone too far.
"I never like bringing any family members into anything," Ensign said.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., who chairs the Republican Conference Committee, declined to criticize the RNC attacks against Reid.
Reid said Tuesday that during last week's State of the Union address the president said he wanted to reach out to Democrats and be a uniter, not a divider.
"I'm beginning to think that those statements are just absolutely false," Reid said.
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