Las Vegas- Taking advantage of a legislative break, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made a rare public appearance in Las Vegas Wednesday, speaking before a meeting of the Paradise Democratic Club.

Reid’s appearance coincided with the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War and he spoke to the costs of that conflict, connecting the toll in blood and treasure to the gloomy outlook facing the American economy.

“Today is the beginning of the sixth year of the war in Iraq,” said Reid.  “A war that began with the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of our country… has now taken almost four thousand American lives, wounded tens of thousands.  A third of them are wounded very badly.  We have more than three thousand that are double amputees, we have blindness, we have paralysis.  Hearing loss of course is significant and the brain injuries are going to be around for generations to come.”   

Reid quoted Nobel Prize-winning American economist Joseph Stiglitz who estimated the total cost of the war at $3 trillion.

“The war is costing us today about $420 million every day,” said Reid.  “71 percent of the American people feel one reason for an economic downturn is the war in Iraq.  Of course it’s one of the reasons.”

Reid urged the assembled Democrats not to allow the increasingly divisive Democratic primary season to discourage them from remaining active, saying “this is going to be over before the convention comes.  Whoever gets the nomination, we must beat John McCain.”

“We all know John McCain did everything he could to help nuclear waste come to Nevada,” said Reid.  “We all know that John McCain did everything he could to ruin our race and sportsbooks with his efforts to stop betting on college games.  And we know that John McCain is the man that has said that we need to be in Iraq for at least another fifty years, maybe a hundred years.”

 Reid offered an optimistic electoral outlook for Democrats nationally, predicting a number of Democratic victories in competitive senate races across the country.

“If the election were held today we would pick up five new Democratic senators,” said Reid.  “We have eleven competitive races.  We’re at fifty-one now.  We’re going to pick up some seats; it’s a question of how many.”

Taking questions, Reid addressed a number of issues including the rising cost of birth control, the economic stimulus package which he predicted will help “not a lot” and the continuing imbroglio over the Florida and Michigan primaries.

“They broke the rules,” Reid said regarding Florida and Michigan.  “They’re the ones causing all the problems, no one else did.  So they will be seated.  They’re big states; they represent twenty million people.  We’ll make sure that their delegates are part of the convention.”

Reid also discussed the failed immigration reform bill, saying that the country needs to secure its northern and southern borders, institute a temporary guest worker program and create a way for illegals to come “out of the shadows.”

PolitickerNV.com was able to speak briefly with Reid after he concluded his remarks and asked him if he would be active in supporting the likely Democratic candidate against state Sen. Bob Beers, Allison Copening.

“I didn’t know there was a senator named Beers,” Reid said laughing.  “So the answer is ‘yes,’ I’ll help.”