“In Reid, Dean sees vestiges of himself”

“Aides to Dean say Reid’s recent aggressive style has earned admiration from the former Vermont governor, and is producing a budding friendship between the two men. ”He’s honest and direct, which is what Governor Dean likes,” said Laura Gross, a spokeswoman for Dean. …

Dean has worked to repair relations on Capitol Hill, meeting privately with the two chamber leaders in Pelosi’s office, addressing the Democratic caucuses of each, and speaking to Reid frequently, according to aides.

The rapprochement is not entirely surprising, since Dean’s success rebuilding the party will be helped by a united front. ”He knows [Reid and Pelosi] are his two most important individual clients,” said Jim Jordan, an adviser to Dean. ”He wants very badly to construct a [Democratic National Committee] that serves their purposes.”

In Washington, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada has emerged as the fire-breathing face of the party, describing the Federal Reserve Board chairman, Alan Greenspan, as a ”political hack” and charging that President Bush and his allies are ”drunk with power.” …

Reid and Dean have strategized by phone at least a dozen times over the past few weeks with the Democratic National Committee, which Dean chairs, producing television ads to bolster Reid’s efforts to crush White House plans to create private Social Security accounts for younger workers. Together with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, Dean, the doctor from the Green Mountains, and Reid, the lawyer from the Nevada desert, are shaping a Democratic Party that is rigorously oppositional, a strategy that GOP opponents call ”obstructionist,” and one that some Democrats find invigorating while others criticize as shortsighted. …