LAS VEGAS (AP) — A group calling itself “African-Americans for Senator Harry Reid” is launching a drive to help re-elect the Nevada Democrat.
The effort, announced Thursday, comes less than a week after the Senate majority leader faced criticism over comments he made about President Barack Obama in 2008.
Reid’s campaign already had been dogged by low poll numbers and criticism over health care legislation.
Reid apologized last weekend after a book revealed that during the 2008 presidential campaign, he described Obama as a light-skinned African-American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”
Obama accepted the apology and called the matter closed. Democrats have since defended Reid’s record on civil rights and rejected calls for him to step down.