The Democrats' Senate scrapper: Harry Reid in the new Washington.

ON the recent Inauguration Day, Washington became solidly Democratic. And there are three kings in this new Washington. The kingiest of all, of course, is President Obama. Then there is the famous, notorious Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House. (She is more of a queen than a king, to be sure.) And then you have Harry Reid, the majority leader of the Senate. He is maybe less starry than the other two monarchs. But he is a Democratic and governmental big, now more than ever.

In the last Congress, he had a very slim majority. These days, he has quite a cushion (no matter the result of the Minnesota election, which is pending). As the new Congress was sworn in, he said, "I'm so excited, so pleased, and so happy to have a real majority now."

Maybe the most charming thing he ever said was, "I know my limitations. I haven't gotten where I am by my good looks, my athletic ability, my great brain, my oratorical skills ..." People have long remarked on his unprepossessing appearance. They say he is part accountant, part undertaker. You recall that, in November 2004, Reid took over as minority leader from Tom Daschle, who had been defeated in South Dakota. An article in the New York Times said, "It is hardly clear to his allies that Mr. Reid, with his round glasses, plain face and soft-spoken manner, is the man to replace Mr. Daschle as the loyal if lonely face of the Democratic opposition, soldiering on from news conferences to television studios." And Sen. Joe Biden said, "I can't picture Harry on the Sunday shows every Sunday. I don't think that's his strength. His real strength is inside baseball, knowing the Senate, knowing the procedures."

If I may interpret, what the future vice president was saying was: Leave the gabby pretty-boy stuff to me.

Reid may not be Periclean (though he is at least the equal of Biden), but it can be enjoyable to hear him talk. For example, here he is on the effort to make Yucca Mountain--in his home state of Nevada--the federal nuclear-waste repository (and remember that he staunchly opposes this effort): "It's dying on its own. It's just happening. You don't need just a sudden demise. It's breathing really hard. Just let it lay there a while and it'll be dead." At the same time, he can speak with a viciously partisan and extremist tongue. Of President Bush, whom he openly hates, he has said, "I think his efforts to destroy Social Security were very bad," and, "He's done his very best to destroy Medicare." Bush might have a different interpretation of his attempted reforms of those programs.

And if New York Times reporters thought Reid "soft-spoken" in 2004, they have to have changed their minds since.

You can expect Reid to be a proud legislative warrior for President Obama. In early February, he was talking about a group of moderate senators who balked at the stimulus package, and wanted to modify it. He said, "They cannot hold the president of the United States hostage." You did not hear him talk this way when Bush was president. In those days, he was a ferocious check-and-balancer.