Harry Reid made it clear: Nevada, his home state, matters more than those other early voting states.
That stirred an uproar in New Hampshire, site of the nation’s first primary, and Iowa, whiych holds the nation’s first caucus. Reid sort of gave an apology Tuesday.
The furor began Monday night, when the Senate Democratic Leader told a Washington Post forum in Las Vegas, “I was always terribly upset about how we were choosing our presidents. You go to New Hampshire. There are not any minorities there. Nobody lives there.
“You go to Iowa. There are a few people there, but again it’s a place that does not demonstrate what America is all about, for a lot of different reasons’
Nevada Democrats will caucus 20 days after Iowa, the first voters in the West to do so.
Iowa and New Hampshire are often criticized for not being as diverse as the rest of the nation. Nevada, on the other hand, is.
“We are a state that is representative of what America is all about,” he said.
Tuesday, at a news conference a few hours before Democrats debate in Las Vegas, he apologized.
"New Hampshire is heavily populated and loaded with a lot of minorities, my apologies,” Reid said.
David Lightman: 202-383-6101, @lightmandavid