Reid faces task of mending fences with Republicans after campaign attacks

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) infuriated Republicans during the campaign with his harsh partisan attacks and now faces the delicate task of mending his relationship with the GOP.

"I do think he lost more credibility with Republicans because of his aggressive comments during the campaign, said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist and former leadership aide who served in the Senate and House.

The make-up of the Senate is almost the same and I think Sen. Reid is likely to produce the same type of gridlock he did before because of his unusually partisan stance," Bonjean added.

Reid said Romney, a fellow Mormon, sullied their shared faith after the GOP nominee told a group of donors that 47 percent of Americans suffered from a sense of victimhood and mooched off the government. Reid declared in the closing days of the campaign that Senate Democrats would not work with Romney to pass his severely conservative agenda.

But sources who know the Democratic leader, a former amateur boxer, say its a classic case of Reid being Reid. He punches hard during the campaign but is willing to pivot to constructive bipartisan relationships after Election Day, just as fighter is willing to embrace his opponent after the final bell.

Sen. Reid knows as well as anyone theres a time for politics and a time for governing, said Rodell Mollineau, a former senior aide to Reid. The time for politics has passed. First and foremost, Sen. Reid cares about governing. So now that the election is over, he would want to find a consensus to move things forward.

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Reid immediately extended a peace offering to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) after Democrats picked up Senate seats.

I look at the challenges that we have ahead of us and I reach out to my Republican colleagues in the Senate and the House. Lets come together. We know what the issues are, lets solve them, he told a boisterous audience and stand of television cameras packing the ballroom of the Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel on Election Night.

The following day, Reid reiterated his offer and made an overture to his home-state colleague, Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), another target of his campaign barbs. During Hellers race against Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), Reid accused his colleague of a failure in leadership for not rounding up GOP votes for an online poker bill.

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Reid faces task of mending fences with Republicans after campaign attacks