Sen. Dorgan (D-N.D.) said Fri. he would remain Democratic Policy ...

has said he would seek the minority leader’s position, replacing Sen. Daschle (D-S.D.), who was defeated by former Rep. John Thune (R-S.D.). Sources and news reports said Reid wouldn’t face a challenge for the leadership position. Sen. Durbin (D-Ill.) likely will take over the whip position, since Dorgan said he wouldn’t pursue the post. Communications industry sources said Reid has left few fingerprints on communications policy. But NTCA noted that Reid signed a recent letter opposing a primary line restriction on universal service fund support. But Reid has received political contributions from telecom, broadcasting and Internet political action committees. Cisco, Time Warner, Microsoft and Qualcomm each gave “Friends for Harry Reid” $10,000 during the past 2 years. ILECs gave Reid more than $20,000 during the past 2 years, Qwest’s PAC leading the way with $7,000. SBC gave Reid $6,000, Verizon $5,000, BellSouth $3,000 and USTA $1,500. Competitive carriers gave less, but AT&T chipped in an impressive $8,000 while CompTel/Ascent gave $1,500 and Sprint gave $4,500. Cable also gave significant amounts to Reid, with the senator accepting $10,000 from NCTA and $5,000 from Comcast. NAB gave Reid $3,000 and Clear Channel $2,500. News Corp. gave $2,000, Viacom $5,000 and Disney $6,000 to Reid’s campaign. Other wireless industry donors to Reid included Nextel with $4,000, Verizon Wireless with $3,000 and Nextel with $2,000. Other Internet donors to Reid included Amazon.com with $3,500 and $2,000 each from eBay and Yahoo. Also, TechNet donated $5,000 to Reid’s campaign and a group called “People for Digital Competition” contributed $1,000.