Majority Leader Harry Reid does not yet have a Republican challenger for his 2010 Senate race. So it’s all the more noteworthy that a home-state newspaper has all but endorsing his re-election bid. In an editorial published Wednesday, the Las Vegas Sun called Reid an “extraordinary asset” and wrote that “Nevadans would be foolish to dump” him.

The Sun credited the four-term Democrat with raising “the state’s profile,” making the state’s issues “a priority in Washington” and directing “millions of dollars in federal money to Nevada for a variety of needs, including schools and roads.”

And the paper warned against replacing a high ranking elected official with one who would start at the bottom of the leadership ranks — citing as an example the defeat of Democratic Sen. Howard Cannon by Republican in 1982, which the paper said led to “disastrous” results.