SalenaZito

Reports out of Nevada contend that homeboy and U.S. Senate Majori­ty Leader Harry Reid's biggest problem is ... Harry Reid.

Dragging in home-state polls with Bush-like disapproval ratings, Demo­crat Reid faces re-election in 2010.

"Reid's numbers are never very good," said Eric Herzik, political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, "and his elections are always tight."

Herzik said Reid is not beloved in Nevada: "He is powerful and res­pected, but he also has very harsh critics in the state ... even among Demo­crats."

Until the last election cycle, Nevada has been a fairly even split be­tween Democrats and Republicans. Thanks to aggressive voter registration during last year's early party caucus, Democrats now outnumber Republi­cans by 100,000 registered voters.

"That surplus, and the fact that the Republican Party is in disarray, is about the only good news for Reid," said one inside-the-Beltway Democrat strategist who is from Nevada and considers Reid a "disappointment".

One thing hurting Reid is that his state is changing. Anytime you have an established, old-school politician in a dynamic state with thousands of people moving in who have no historic affiliation toward their U.S. senator, it's a problem.

"To win, you need a connection among the new voters," said Jon Rals­ton, a Las Vegas pundit, "which is difficult to achieve when the candidate is charismatically challenged."

Also hurting Reid is Nevada's economy. His traditional role of delivering the bacon helps, but Nevada hovers between No. 1 and 2 in the nation in foreclosures, Las Vegas is tanking economically and construction projects are being canceled for the first time in anybody's memory.

"Nevada has been hurt by the economic downturn more than any oth­er state in the country," said Herzik, citing a recent Rockefeller Center Re­port showing Nevada way ahead of the national downturn.

Then there are those "Reidisms"- stunning proclamations that give staffers acid reflux, such as the time he surrendered the war in Iraq by say­ing it was lost. Or when he said "coal makes us sick" while Obama was try­ing to win the Appalachia vote.Or his very vocal refusal to seat Illinois Democrat and senator-designate Roland Burris, who was sworn in Thursday as a U.S. senator following a 180-degree turn by Reid.

"Oh, he did not look good in that," said Herzik. "The coal issue really doesn't hurt him here, but the 'war is lost' has had lingering effects even though the saliency of the issue has dropped.

"But Burris, and the failure to get the votes against warrant-less wire­taps, were not... his finest moments."

The Burris dust-up particularly infuriated Democrats because people who know Illinois better than Reid, such as Sen. Dick Durbin, D-lll., told him to give the green light to a special election. Reid, concerned about losing a Democrat seat in a special election, by default gave tarnished Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich the power to make the appointment.

"At the end of the day, Harry Reid is going to get re-elected," said Phil Singer, the brains behind the Democrats' stunning Senate wins in 2006. Singer points to Democrats' significant outnumbering of Republicans in the state.

And you can't beat someone with nothing-so, while Reid is a juicy target for Republicans, the GOP todayhas no one to carry the ball.

"If you look at the opportunities that Republicans have for the next cycle, if (Reid) is not at the top of the list, he sure is No. 2," said Republican strategist Glen Bolger.

Bolger dismisses Republican weaknesses and points to recently de­feated Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., as a credible candidate: "The only reason he lost is that it was a terrible year to be a Republican across the country and in that state."

Fair enough: Plenty of candidates have bounced back from defeat to win higher offices. "Had Porter won, Reid would already be in a serious fight," said Herzik.

Another guy on the bench is Nevada's Lt, Gov. Brian Krolicki, who has already announced his candidacy for the Senate. Too bad that-a week after his announcement - he was indicted.

"This indictment stinks," Herzik said. "It is a political indictment by a Democratic state attorney general that is a Reid loyalist."

Ralston warns anyone who stands in Reid's way that he "is totally ruth­less and Machiavellian. ... He will do everything he can to keep anybody viable out of this race, because he knows he is in big trouble."

TASK 6: Compare the results of your observation with the dictionary definitions of “carry the ball”. Can some of these definitions be regarded as more fitting than others? Explain.

THE BALL IS IN YOUR COURT

SOURCE DOMAIN: If you are playing a ball game and the ball is in your court, your opponents have been active and successful; hence, you and / or your team are supposed to hit / carry / pass the ball further in order to keep the game going and get closer to winning it.

TASK 1: Consider sports contexts, which describe ball games played on a court. Discuss the generic scenario that determines how players deal with the ball in court games. For example, “if the ball is in your court, your opponents have been active and successful, and now you have to hit the ball / pass it over into your opponent’s court in order to get closer to winning the game.” Some contexts are given for you below, but you are encouraged to look up more contexts on the internet.

TENNIS

From http ://xrocker3 0. hubpages. com/hub/Basic-Tennis-Terms:

Cross court: Hitting a tennis ball diagonally into the opponent's court. For example, if you hit a ball from the right side of your court and it lands on the right side of your opponent's court, then you hit cross court. (When I say the right side of your opponents court, I mean from their viewpoint). This is what peripheral vision is for. You do not need to see your opponent in detail when the ball is in your court. You should be able to track the ball before it gets to you and easily see if the opponent is moving.

From http://www.unlimitedteimis.com/free_tips/tennis_tip01_szwx.html:

Aside from winning and losing, the goal in tennis is to keep the ball in play longer than your opponent can... “Keep the ball in play" means it lands inside the playing court of your opponent. Hence, the playing court becomes your target. When your game progresses to where just hitting the ball over the net and into the court is no longer a challenge, you're ready for smaller targets.

VOLLEYBALL .

From http://newmexicoaau.org/wp/?page_id=134:

The game starts when the "server" on the offense side hits the ball from behind the boundary line over the net to the other team. Offense is played by the team with possession of the ball on their side of the court by trying to attack the ball and hit it as quickly and as hard as possible into the other team's court. The goal of the Defense is to immediately pre­vent the offensive attacker from succeeding at getting the ball into their court.

<...>

Several different positions and techniques are played in volleyball. A blocker is a player at the net who will jump and reach above the top of the net in order to block an attackers ball from coming over the net. When a ball successfully enters the defending side of the court, the defensive players arranged in the rest of the court attempt to gain control of the ball. A bumper will reach low to bump the ball up high in the air for a setter. A setter will hit the ball above their own head with the fingertips of both hands to set the spiker up. A spiker will hit the ball back over the net with one hand in a downward motion as hard as possible to make it difficult for the offense to block or return.

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 772