Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is facing a potential GOP takeover of the Senate this November, not to mention his own bitterly contested reelection campaign against the pesky (but gaffe-prone) Sharron Angle. So it's a curious time to be issuing a statement that details his opposition to the proposed Ground Zero mosque, especially when the President has seemingly endorsed the move. As The Hill's Michael O'Brien reports, Angle has been consistently applying the pressure to Reid to either break ranks in the Democratic party or face a reprisal in Nevada's midterm elections.

Here's the brief note in the statement from his spokesman, Jim Manley (via The Washington Post):

"The First Amendment protects freedom of religion," Manley wrote in an e-mail. "Senator Reid respects that, but thinks that the mosque should be built someplace else."

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Erik Hayden