Perhaps the most far-reaching game of connect-the-dots leads to the Senate's top Democrat, Harry Reid of Nevada, who is an old law school buddy of Forgy.

Larry_forgy Forgy has been rumbling all summer about potentially challenging McConnell, and last week he lobbed criticism at McConnell in a Washington Times article.

Forgy says his interest has nothing to do with his longtime friendship with Reid.

Forgy and Reid's relationship dates to their time at George Washington University law school together in the 1960s. Reid graduated in 1964, while Forgy, who took a semester off to campaign for Kentucky U.S. Sen. Thurston Morton, got his degree in '65.

"Harry and I both worked our way through law school," Forgy said. Both served in the U.S. Capitol security detail, working 4 p.m. to midnight.

“They’ve wasted the first seven months by being excessively partisan and creating unnecessary, in my view, disputes with a pretty robust minority of 49,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.

Democrats accuse Mr. McConnell and Congressional Republicans of deliberately trying to block the majority’s initiatives so they can then pin the blame on the Democratic leadership that was put in place in the 2006 elections.

“They resent what happened last November, they’re jealous of what happened last November, and they’re mad as hell at what happened last November,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said Tuesday. “What they don’t want to acknowledge is what we’ve been able to accomplish.”