His party loyalty and willingness to take on the grunt work of the minority party has also won him allies among Democrats who will now choose a new leader.

"If some other senator came up and asked, 'Could you take one for the team,' you'd say, 'When did you ever take one for anybody? Give me a break,'" Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., told Congressional Quarterly. "But you look at Harry and say, 'OK, Harry.'"

Not that Reid isn't willing to buck his party, especially on issues like abortion, where he is pro-life.

And he can play politics with the best of them. He is credited for wooing Republican Sen. James Jeffords to leave the Republican Party, swinging control of the Senate to the Democrats for a time.

Reid has dropped enough hints over the years that he wants the Senate leadership job. Two years ago, when it looked like Daschle might retire and run for president, both Reid and Dodd made known their interest in succeeding him.

Even when Daschle changed his mind, Reid appears to have been covering his bases.

Associated Press reported that Reid has donated more than $1 million from his political PAC to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — greasing the wheels for a leadership bid. Dodd's PAC gave only $100,000.

Reid is rushing this Senate leadership choice to quash any potential competition, Eric Herzik, political science professor at the University of Nevada at Reno, told Gannett News Service. But becoming Senate minority leader would push him into the spotlight, he said.

"He's not going to run for president four years from now. He doesn't have those ambitions," Herzik told Gannett. "But he could be a power broker in the party. Harry Reid is as influential as any Democrat in this country."

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E-mail: spang@desnews.com