Nevada Senate Race

As a leader of the party in power, in a down year for Democrats, and in a state with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, Reid is in trouble.

The Majority Leader has to be concerned that a flawed and underfunded Republican candidate can still be running even with him in the polls with just a month to go.

While Reid's numbers have improved over the last few months, he's been unable to shake former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle.

The Reid campaign has been on the air for months with negative ad after negative ad portraying Angle as far too extreme for the state. One even went beyond "extreme" and referred to Angle as "dangerous."

He's received countless endorsements from Republicans, and Angle has gotten a treasure trove of unfavorable press coverage. Yet most polling has shown Reid in the mid-40s and Angle within the margin of error. Going into Election Day, that is not a good place for the four-term incumbent to be.

Establishment Republicans, both national and in the state, did not get their candidate of choice in Angle. However, she's been able to harness not only an anti-incumbent sentiment in the state, but also a sizable portion that is simply anti-Reid.

And while unable to keep up with Reid's spending, Angle has released a fair number of negative ads of her own.

Tensions are high. Extra security was called for an upcoming Oct. 14 debate after a fistfight broke out between supporters of Reid and Angle at an earlier forum, in which the two candidates appeared separately.

Reid, a former amateur boxer, will surely be looking to bloody Angle in what is expected to be their only joint appearance. But he'll need some big swings to connect, with both Angle and voters, to make it back for a fifth term.