LAS VEGAS (AP) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promoted a version of immigration reform at a convention of Clark County Democrats and rejected harsh remedies, saying it would be impossible to deport 11 million people at once.
"The system is broken and needs to be fixed," he said Saturday.
His proposal calls for penalties and fees for illegal immigrants who break the law, and he'd make undocumented workers pay taxes and learn English.
Reid took the stage to John Mellencamp's "Small Town," as Clark County Democrats endorsed a slate of uncontested candidates Saturday for state and federal offices.
They include Reid's son, gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid, who claims Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons has been in hiding for most of his term.
"After three long tortuous Gibbons years, I think the people of Nevada will finally decide on a leader that will tell them the truth," Rory Reid told the Democratic delegates. "He's hidden for most of his term. Nobody knows what he's doing, where he's doing it or why he's doing it."
Rory Reid is the lone Democratic candidate against Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, who also faces a challenger from his own Republican Party, Brian Sandoval.
One consistent theme at Saturday's convention was about preserving the Reid dynasty by re-electing Reid to the U.S. Senate and elevating his son, the 47-year-old chairman of the Clark County Commission.
"He fought for us," Secretary of State Ross Miller said of the elder Reid, the highest-ranking politician ever to come from Nevada. "It's important we fight for him."
Harry Reid's Republican challengers are front-runner Sue Lowden as well as Danny Tarkanian and Sharron Angle.
Nevada Democrats roasted Lowden Saturday for her comment weeks earlier that people can barter goods or services for health care. She has defended that remark, saying some people do make deals with their doctors. She brought the most ridicule from Democrats by saying that long ago, people bartered chickens for medical services.
"What the heck was she thinking?" asked state Rep. Shelley Berkley.
The setting featured a man dressed in a bright yellow chicken costume and dancing to "Out of Touch " by Hall and Oates. Buttons that read "Free-Range Lunacy Chicken Sue" were circulating.
The Clark County Democrats also heard from Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, Treasurer Kate Marshall and several other candidates in state, county and local races.