Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki is now strongly considering a run for the U.S. Senate this year against Sen. Harry Reid, he told the Sun today.
“There are serious people making compelling arguments to me both in the state and out of the state to reconsider the Harry Reid race, and based on that pressure and those conversations I am indeed looking at it,” Krolicki said.
Republicans in Washington are displeased with the current crop of candidates taking on Reid, which includes former state Sen. Sue Lowden, former UNLV basketball star Danny Tarkanian and former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle.
All are viewed as second-tier.
Krolicki said Sen. John McCain, whose Nevada presidential campaign he chaired, had reached out to him in the past week.
“It’s hard not to consider this when you have people like John McCain asking you to,” Krolicki said.
You may recall that Krolicki was strongly considering challenging Reid, but terminated his plans after going through a drawn-out legal fiasco for much of the year. Krolicki was indicted for his alleged mismanagement of a college savings program, but the charges were thrown out by a Clark County District Court.
If the national GOP is hoping that they can clear the field with a preferred candidate, I don’t think they’ll have much success. But Krolicki should have a leg up in the primary in terms of name recognition, and he may have the sympathy of a primary base who see him as the victim of a partisan witch-hunt by the Democratic state AG’s office. Ultimately, whether he’s facing Krolicki, Lowden, or Tarkanian, Harry Reid is still on pace to lose re-election.
In other Handsome Harry news, Barack Obama is set to make a trip to Nevada next month for Reid. I’m sure that will be time well spent.
RaceTracker Wiki: NV-Sen
It’s hard to even complain about Harry staying in as we really have no one to step in. I like the SOS, but I doubt he wants to put his future on the line in an environment like this.
I remember how Ted Stevens was widely resented by Republicans in 2008, for a lot of reasons. But right after the case against him was thrown out, he instantly became this martyr. I think the same would work for Krolicki, especially given his higher statewide name recognition.
That sure sounded like a defeatist post. Shame how far we’ve come over the past year.
Not blaming the OP specifically, but it’s amazing how desperate things have gotten, particularly in Nevada.
I remember a time when the title of this post would have filled me with abject terror. Now, after having been exposed to a new poll every other day showing Reid down by double digits against a trio of political dwarves, I literally could not care less.
Also, I’m thinking that the Obama visit to Nevada could just as easily be about shoring up his own support in the state as it is drumming up reluctant base enthusiasm for Reid.