http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=adYcyuIIIJiI

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks extended losses after Reid’s support for Bernanke wavered earlier in the day and two other Democrats who face re- election this year, Barbara Boxer of California and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, said they will oppose the 56-year-old former Princeton economist.

Bernanke has drawn fire from some lawmakers for lax regulation of banks prior to the financial crisis and for bailouts of firms such as American International Group Inc. The Democratic party’s loss of a seat in Massachusetts this week has added to pressure on those senators facing re-election at a time of rising voter anger over the economy.

Christopher Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee chairman who proposes stripping the Fed of banking supervision authority, renewed his support for the Fed chief today. He said rejecting him would send the “worst signal to the markets right now” and produce an economic “tailspin.”

“This is the most important central banker in the world,” said Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut.

(ET's note: Ouch! Isn't this the same tone as "too big to fail" for Wall street cats or bankers?  Or "too powerful to fail" toward philipine people a few years ago?  Eeven today, how come those politicians don't get the true picture what is good for the people.)  

“Bernanke is viewed by markets around the world as a positive for the U.S. economy and the uncertainty about his reconfirmation is accelerating today’s sell-off,” said Michael Holland, who oversees more than $4 billion as chairman of Holland & Co. in New York. 

 (ET's note: Uncertainty? Give me a break! Who has injected the biggest "uncertainty" in American daily economic life to make the "certainty" of market forces no longer exists? Now you are talking about "uncertainty." Did I tell you so?  That's two years passed for you to realize it, right?)

Nevada Poll

Reid faces re-election this fall in his home state of Nevada, where a Public Policy Polling survey conducted Jan. 11- 12 showed him trailing two possible Republican opponents by at least eight percentage points.

Boxer, in a statement, said she won’t support Bernanke because “our next Federal Reserve Chairman must represent a clean break from the failed policies of the past.”