Nice, if true (and now confirmed)

Did Harry Reid just tell his hometown paper that “things are being done” to resolve the nomination before the convention?

Harry Reid is officially neutral in the Democratic Presidential contest, but his son was Hillary Clinton’s co-chair in Nevada and Reid has been understood to be quietly on her side. But if Molly Ball of the Las Vegas Review-Journal is to be believed, he’s not helping her now:

Question: Do you still think the Democratic race can be resolved before the convention?

Reid: Easy.

Q: How is that?

Reid: It will be done.

Q: It just will?

Reid: Yep.

Q: Magically?

Reid: No, it will be done. I had a conversation with Governor Dean (Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean) today. Things are being done.

Reid also says that the Michigan and Florida delegations can be seated: once their votes don’t count anymore.

Without Michigan and Florida, it’s as close as anything in politics ever comes to a mathematical certainty that Barack Obama will finish the primary season with more pledged delegates, more states won, and more popular votes than Hillary Clinton. That means he’s not going to quit before the convention. So if the nomination is going to be resolved before the convention, that means that Obama is going to be the nominee.

On the Florida-and-Michigan front, Reid has a parochial interest: he pushed for Nevada to be one of the four early states, and wants to protect that. But calling for an early resolution of the nomination can only mean that he’s putting the interests of the party ahead of loyalty to his favored &#8212 or at least previously favored &#8212 candidate.

h/t to Kossack Hope ’08. Note: one of the commenters says Ball is not a reliable reporter.

Update This seems to be true; at least, it’s hit the mainstream, and Reid isn’t backing off.

In the meantime, Sen. Cantwell says she’s still supporing Hillary, but also says that if one candidate ends the primary season with more pledged delegates and more states won, the party ought to come together around that candidate. Since Obama will certainly end the primary season with more pledged delegates and more states won, that amounts to a commitment to Obama. Is the ice starting to break?

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com