Slate's Chris Suellentrop seeks to find out exactly what type of person the new Senate Minority is.

Reid may not be the most colorful figure in Washington, but his career is far more interesting than that of the average senator. In politics, Nevada is the next best thing to Louisiana. To take just one example, is there another U.S. senator who has been part of the inspiration for a character in a Martin Scorsese film? (A character played by Dick Smothers, no less.) In Casino, Robert DeNiro's character melts down in front of the Nevada Gaming Commission after the commission denies him a license to operate a casino. The scene is loosely based on a December 1978 hearing when Reid was the commission's chairman, and some of the dialogue spoken by Smothers is taken directly from Reid's words during the hearing. (The rest of the scenes involving Smothers, who plays a composite politician known only as "Senator," have nothing to do with Reid.) OK, it's lackluster Scorsese, but at least it's not Gangs of New York. And there are other Reid echoes in Casino: Joe Pesci's character refers to a "Mr. Cleanface," which gangster Joe Agosto said was his nickname for an in-his-pocket Reid, but a five-month investigation of Agosto's claims cleared Reid of wrongdoing.

Reid's evidently not quite as dry as the Washington press corps has labeled him. Suellentrop makes another very important at the end.

I'll concede. Harry Reid is no Tom Daschle. Whether that will be good for the Democrats remains to be seen. But it won't be boring.

I'm not nearly as pessimistic about Democrats' chances under Reid as many others in the blogosphere, so I think Suellentrop is right on the money here. In Reid, the Democrats have one of the most able parliamentarians the Senate has seen since Robert Byrd was Majority Leader and one of the best Whips since Lyndon Johnson held the post.

Though it will be a tough four years for progressives, having Harry Reid as Senate Minority Leader will help ensure that the Democrats at least put forth their best effort in defending the social programs that have made America great.