By Eric Stevenson

(AXcess News) Carson City, NV - A recent poll shows that Senator Harry Reid's popularity has sunk to a new low while President Obama heads to Las Vegas next week to give the Democratic lawmaker a boost in his re-election campaign, looking to duck Nevada's Gov. Gibbons while there.

The Reno-Gazette reported Friday that Reid, a four-term Democratic Senator, had dropped in popularity amongst Nevada voters to the point that if a lawmaker Nevadans had more confidence in were to run against Reid in 2010, that they'd vote for that candidate.

The poll, conducted for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, showed that 45 percent of those voters polled said they'd "oust the candidate", if given half a chance.

Reid, who earlier this year flew offshore where he secretly met with Democratic backers, soon afterwords announced his re-election campaign saw a large infusion of cash in preparation for the Nevada lawmakers re-election campaign in 2010.

Real estate developers tied to the collapse of several Nevada banks also had a trail of contacts leading back to Sen. Reid, though when those banks were taken over by the FDIC and sold, the Las Vegas newspaper, nor its Reno counterpart, made any mention of the lawmakers' ties.

Reid "could have shot a tourist on the Vegas strip and gotten away" with it in the eyes of Nevada's two largest AP-member newspapers during his last political race, though it appears that the publishers are preparing to kick Reid's golden stool out from in under his Democratic campaign ahead of next year's election with the backing of the recent poll.

While Reid earned his brownie points for backing Obama's presidential race, many Nevadans felt like they were abandoned as the Senate Majority Leader appeared more interested in party politics as it related to the Washington political scene than he did what was happening in his home state.

Gov. Gibbons, who's popularity is about as low as Sen. Reid's, turned heads earlier this week when he drew the attention of national TV newsrooms when he slammed Obama over digs made towards Las Vegas.  But Obama overlooked the GOP governor's comments and is now planning a quick trip into Vegas in support of Sen. Reid's upcoming re-election campaign.

Republicans say Obama is flying into Las Vegas to try and help Reid recover from his growing lack of voter confidence.

Democrats say the upcoming race is nothing like the Daschle 2004 campaign when the South Dakota Democrat was unseated.

"You can't compare Daschle to Reid", say Nevada Reid-loving campaign donors.

When Obama ran for president he drew strong Nevada voter support and Democrats say Reid will too.  "If President Obama lends his support to Sen. Reid early-on, it's only because the White House supports the Senate Majority Leader for his political contribution - not because Reid needs help in regaining his popularity," said one Las Vegas Reid supporter - though he asked that his name be left out of the story.