and they doubled down and in 1978 started planning for their next campaign, but i would say paul laxalt really is a giant of nevada politics. he's kind of a powerhouse of nevada politics. so paul axel had made the decision that he wanted to give his personal political papers to the university of nevada reno some of the first shipments of his papers started coming in 1983. and that includes scrapbooks that includes memorandum correspondence briefing books reports. anything that you would have in a political office you name it's going to be in those papers. so we're in the reading room now, but we're going to go into the work room, which is where all of the processing happens for the archives here at the university. so come on through. and actually interestingly enough while we come through the door. you can see right here. this is this is a portion of some of paul axle's materials. this is a micro microfilm, which is a lot of the constituency correspondence. and the stuff that came into the office they microfilmed everything. so these are all of the cartridges this is millions and millio

woman 2: senator paul laxalt will be retiring at the end of this term. laxalt: i've done my political bit, and that's it for me. [lively tune playing] reid: i've never taken my good fortune for granted. there's one other thing i've never taken for granted, and that's you. [rousing music pys] tom brokaw: there were enough votes to bring about a fundamental shift of power in washington. in nevada, congressman harry reid was a giant killer, winning the senate seat of president reagan's close friend, paul laxalt, now retired. christensen: it's election night, harry reid has won the senate seat. big celebration, lots of reporters around, microphones getting stuck in his face. one reporter asks him, "what's the most important thing you're going to work on?" reid: i said, "water." now, frankly, at that time, i didn't know what i was talking about. man: from a staff perspective, one of the things i really appreciated about him is his sort of decisiveness. he would make a decision, and then you would go do the thing. he decided that he was going to save pyramid l