When Senator Reid was newly elected Senate Democratic leader in November 2004 just after the national election, Senate Democrats were in political shambles, holding only 44 of 100 Senate seats and longtime leader Tom Daschle headed back home after reelection defeat.
And Senator Reid seemed an unlikely candidate to be a Democrat at all, much less a Democratic Party uniter. A Mormon by faith, he opposes gun control and some abortion rights, and is the antithesis of the fire-breathing, hardball-seeming politician.
He's a passionate champion and tenacious advocate, though, for the environment, educational opportunities and standards, equal opportunity for all, and issues vital to senior citizens, such as Social Security, healthcare and prescription drug coverage.
Soft-spoken Senator Reid, former head of the Nevada Gaming Commission who ran the mob out of Las Vegas, molded Senate Democrats plus one Independent and a handful of moderate Republicans into a surprisingly influential coalition.
In May 2005, he successfully led Senate Democrats in a tough fight to beat back an aggressive Republican power grab to kill the filibuster for judicial nominees. He labored tirelessly to bury the President's Social Security privatization plan that would have cut and eventually killed Social Security in the United States.
He relentlessly marshaled support to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil-drilling. He fought off presidential plans to use immigrants to create a permanent, slave-like underclass of US workers. And always, he spoke openly and candidly to the American public.
On August 19, 2005, Reid's office announced that the Senator suffered a mild stroke. Yet, the senator returned full-strength in September to continue to lead Senate Democrats as a formidable and inspiring Senate force for American values and all Americans.
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Cindy Sheehan, Anti-Iraq War Activist and "Peace Mom"
Cindy Sheehan, the blunt-speaking middle-aged suburban mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, gave a face in 2005 to the bereaved families of the War in Iraq. Mrs. Sheehan, a youth pastor at a Roman Catholic church in California, began speaking out against the war in 2004 just a month after her Eagle Scout son was killed in action, and just weeks after a group meeting-gone-awry with President Bush.
In August 2005, Cindy Sheehan came to international prominence, and galvanized the national anti-war movement, when she and hundreds of supporters and other bereaved families camped outside the President's Crawford, Texas ranch estate for the entirety of his five-week vacation.
The purpose of Mrs. Sheehan's encampment was to request a personal meeting with the President to ask him what the "noble cause" was that her son died for. Despite threats of physical violence and arrest, Camp Casey occupants survived and thrived for the five weeks, waiting for a 30-minute meeting with the President. George Bush never made the time to meet with them.
On September 24, 2005, Cindy Sheehan led over 200,000 protestors, inspired by her example, in a three-day rally in Washington DC, in which she and others were arrested for demonstrating without a permit.
Sheehan now travels around the country speaking and encouraging others to stand against the War in Iraq. She has met with members of Congress, both friendly and unfriendly to her drive for peace.
And on December 10, 2005, Mrs. Sheehan addressed the International Peace Conference in London, where she was greeted enthusiastically as a heroine. Later that evening, she attended a play written by Nobel Prize Literature winner, Dario Fo, about Sheehan's leadership for world peace.
Cindy Sheehan is an American mother who made a difference, and inspired others to also make a difference...including Senator Russ Feingold and Congressman John Murtha in their respective calls for the US to exit Iraq.
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