WASHINGTON (AP) - Nevada's senators—both winning leadership posts in opposite parties—pledged Wednesday to stay close on issues of mutual interest, but not too close. "He and I just like each other, and I think we set a good example here in the Senate," Majority Leader-elect Harry Reid said of colleague John Ensign, who was chosen Wednesday by Senate Republicans to head their campaign fundraising operation.
"He's a Republican, I'm a Democrat, we work together on issues that are important to the state of Nevada. And I wish other people had the same nonaggression pact we have," Reid told reporters. "It's not a 'Brokeback Mountain' situation," he added, referring to last year's film about two gay cowboy lovers.
Ensign and Reid went head-to-head in a 1998 Senate race that Reid won by 428 votes. Ensign was elected to the state's other seat in the Senate two years later. Since then, the two men have cooperated to stymie the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada, co- sponsored public lands bills and co-hosted constituent breakfasts.
"Their relationship will not be affected," Jack Finn, a spokesman for Ensign said of the dueling leadership roles. "It is a genuine friendship and a genuinely positive working relationship, and most importantly the relationship is too vital for the good of the state to allow it to be compromised."
