RENO - Vice President Joe Biden visited economically troubled Nevada on Friday to promote the progress of the federal stimulus program and boost the re-election campaign of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has troubles of his own.
Hundreds of backers and a handful of protesters gathered at the University of Nevada, Reno, where Biden and Reid spoke after a $2,400-a-plate fundraising breakfast.
Biden arrived with a message that the Nevada Democrat is working successfully in Washington to help his home state, which has been hit hard by the recession. He said Reid's leadership was instrumental in the passage of the $787 billion stimulus package.
"Harry is the son of a hard-rock miner, and I'll tell you what, his father produced a hard-rock guy. He knows what is worth fighting over," Biden told an invitation-only crowd of about 500.
"This guy's got guts. It takes some nerve to do what we have to do to revive the economy, and Harry has it," the vice president said. "Try having your state serviced when you don't have a senior senator like Harry."
Biden said the stimulus package is beginning to help stabilize the economy, citing more positive news from the housing and stock markets in recent weeks.
"People forget we were in a free fall with the economy," he said. "There would be a million more unemployed people without this. But listen to the critics. We know what they're against, but what are they for?"
In remarks before Biden's speech, Reid said he's convinced the stimulus package helped prevent a worldwide depression.
"Times are tough. We know how high unemployment is. And I want you all to focus on how much worse things would have been had we not acted," Reid said.
Nevertheless, Nevada tops the list of the most economically stressed states, according to an analysis by The Associated Press, and that could spell trouble for Reid, whose pitch to voters has relied on what he can do for the state from his position in the Senate.
Republican critics seized on the fact that the 13.2 percent jobless rate is at a historic high and Nevada leads the nation in the rate of foreclosures and bankruptcies. The casino industry, the economic engine that drives the state, has been battered by reluctant tourists and gamblers pinching their pennies.
"Nevadans know that Sen. Reid pushed hard to get this stimulus package through the Senate, but their state has lost over 43,000 jobs lost since the legislation was signed into law," said Jahan Wilcox, Republican National Committee spokesman.
"The people of Nevada deserve to know why the leader of the Senate wasted hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars just to lose tens of thousands of jobs in the Silver State," he said.
But Reid said the stimulus package has softened the blow of the recession in Nevada by creating or saving "thousands and thousands" of jobs.
Among other things, he said the package will create as many as 1,200 jobs through a highway interchange construction project in Reno and 366 jobs through other statewide transportation projects.
"We have fought to bring $1.5 billion back to Nevada (in stimulus funds) and get the country back on track," Reid said.
Four protesters stood across the street from the Lawlor Events Center with signs that read "Biden-Reid on a bankroll - ours," "No more spending - broke," and "How's the penthouse on the Ritz, Harry?"
A newspaper poll earlier this month showed Reid trailing two Republicans who are running to unseat him: former state GOP chairwoman Sue Lowden and Danny Tarkanian, son of former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian.
Lowden sponsored a free breakfast of coffee and doughnuts in a Reno hotel-casino parking lot Friday - a move intended to underscore the contrast to Reid's pricey breakfast.
She said Reid's clout as majority leader is exaggerated. Nevada currently gets back 65 cents for every dollar taxpayers send to Washington, D.C., Lowden said, compared with 98 cents on the dollar while former Republican Sen. Paul Laxalt represented Nevada from 1974 to 1987.
Biden's visit comes five months after President Barack Obama traveled to Las Vegas to headline a celebrity fundraiser for Reid featuring performances by Bette Midler and Sheryl Crow.
Obama urged Nevadans to return Reid for another six-year term, saying his leadership was crucial to passing the stimulus package and an expansion of children's health insurance earlier this year.
Reid "knows how to get things done," the president said.
Since narrowly defeating John Ensign in 1998 by 428 votes, Reid has taken no chances with his re-election efforts and has worked to avoid the fate of his predecessor, Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, who was defeated in his home state of South Dakota in 2004.
Reid, 69, raised about $75,000 in Reno on Friday. He is about halfway to his goal of raising $25 million for his current campaign.
With the election more than a year away, Reid began running two ads Thursday. One focuses on how he helped keep construction going on the $8.5 billion CityCenter project along the Las Vegas Strip.
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Associated Press Writer Scott Sonner contributed to this report.