Is Harry Reid the luckiest mofo in politics? Fresh off getting the craziest imaginable opponent, he scored two big endorsements, both from Republicans. Reno Mayor Bob Cashell had backed Sue Lowden in the primary, but after Chicken Lady’s goose got cooked, he switched to Reid instead, calling Angle “wild” and “an ultra-right winger.” He’s right!
The other boldface name newly in Reid’s corner belongs to Dawn Gibbons, the estranged and soon-to-be-ex-wife of lame-duck Gov. Jim Gibbons. Dawn Gibbons, you may recall, came in third against Angle in the NV-02 GOP primary in 2006, and describes her as a tough campaigner. (Angle lost to now-Rep. Dean Heller by fewer than 500 votes.) But Gibbons says she thinks Reid is better on the economy. (She also declined to endorse Brian Sandoval, the man who beat her husband in the gubernatorial race.)
While we’re on the subject of Reid’s good fortune, a piece in the WSJ suggests he might be able to win this year with less than 50%. That’s because there are multiple independent candidates, at least two third-party candidates, and Nevada’s famous “none of these candidates” option on the ballot. Interestingly, Todd Palin-like, Angle was once a member of one of these third parties, the Independent American Party, which, according to the WSJ, “opposes gun control, illegal immigration, abortion, gay rights and ‘global government’.” There’s probably a treasure trove of dirt on these nutters.
Meanwhile, Reid has a new ad up absolutely lacerating Angle for wanting to do away with Medicare and Social Security. And I think it even uses a clip from that gonzo Sue Lowden ad attacking Angle for her “massages-for-cons” proposal. (Relatedly, Angle surfaced in a 2007 video touting this Scientology-backed program.) No word, as per usual, on the size of the buy, though the AP says it’s “airing statewide.” See it for yourself:
For her part, Angle just hired Scott Brown’s web consultants, hoping to recreate his sui generis success in Massachusetts – but I know I don’t need to list the myriad ways in which Angle and Brown are nothing alike. She’s also jetting off to Manhattan to parlay with the “Monday Meeting,” a right-wing cabal of NYC plutocrats, modeled after Grover Norquist’s DC-based Wednesday meetings. While I’m sure the cultural differences will be extreme, as long as Angle sticks to her plan to abolish the 16th amendment, she’ll get along fine with this gang of banksters.
Angle: Too extreme for Nevada and America. Cornyn should of badgered Dean Heller or John Porter 24/7 until they agreed to run against Reid. This is what you get when your so confident that you’ll beat someone you nominate anyone, including complete nutjobs.
It hits the crazy right from the start, ties into previous accusations of crazy (and makes Scientology more prominent than Lowden did in hers) AND leaves and open ending to make a whole of series of ads like this that will always reference the last ones. I look forward to the eventual Fluoride one with clips from Dr. Strangelove inserted into it.
Jack Conway, take note. This is how you take down the stupid/crazy republicans.
I love when these issues come up because it really shows how politically bipolar the electorate is. People will think it is horrible she opposes Social Security, but they will think it is just as horrible if Reid came out in favor of some tax to adequately fund it.
Postives:
Using Angle herself to read the quote.
The “What’s Next” Tagline.
Images of Senior citizens. Especially the empty plates.
Negatives:
The Scientology thing seems disjointed and slightly offputting especially to Democrat-Scientologists in Nevada. I am sure that there are 50 or so (maybe more) in Nevada who could make the difference. Reid could have been more subtle. Makes an excellent ad “very good” instead.
I remember reading something a few months back, maybe it was on here, about Reid’s GOP endorsements. It seems he’s doing quite well with some big name GOP friendly Nevada businessmen and local GOP elected officials (municipal, county, and I think a few former state legislators).
Really, I think everyone is underestimating Reid.
said those things could win a Senate race in a single state in the country. You DO NOT propose phasing out Social Security and win.
I have to believe that Reid is strongly favored at this point–shockingly.
like a goldmine for opposition researchers.
Especially relative to Blanche Lincoln (who has nothing on Reid on campaigning).
Reid might be unpopular, but he knows how to use negative ads to his advantage (and when it’s all said and done, I think it’s entirely possible that Reid wins against Angle in the mid-single digits).
never thought this would happen but I am moving this race from leans R to leans D, tossup at the worst.
My current Predix
Reid-44%
Angle-39%
NOA/Tea Party/other-17%
Thats not really new. IDK why he is releasing that endorsement again. She endorsed him earlier last year. http://www.harryreid.com/ee/in…
June 3 2009 she joined Republicans for Reid.
Unless Obama and Reid’s favorable numbers improve in this state, Angle wins this thing by a good 8-10 points.
Nevadans don’t like Obama and Reid personally and I don’t see any other explanation for their low favorable numbers other than the fact that it’s personal.
If Corzine wasn’t able to do it in a state where Obama was personally popular and a state much more advantageous to Democrats than Nevada, Reid won’t be able to do it. Angle’s personal numbers were better than Christie’s as well and Christie is a guy who comes off as a very unlikable politician.
If so, that would imply that Sue Lowden gave permission to Reid to use that except from her Scientology spa massage ad. (Unless those four seconds might be considered fair use.)
Notice though that in Reid’s ad the clip ended before it got to the framed picture of Tom Cruise.
I guess Reid didn’t want to go there…
that luck.
The Reid political operation has been preparing for his re-election since the day after his last re-election race.
Reid brought the 2008 presidential caucus to NV in part because it would be a good party building exercise for the NV Dem Party. He brought in professionals to NV to run the party, too. He made sure that those state Republicans who weren’t crazy, were defeated or maneuvered out of the way prior to this election cycle. (In other words, some targeted Republicans in 06 and 08 were targeted because that way they couldn’t run against Reid in 2010 if they lost.)
And of course, Reid has always benefited from the fact that you can vote “none of the above” in NV. This is one state where your win number doesn’t have to be 50+1, and Reid’s won with less than 50 before.
Since I wrote last week* following the primary about Narconon, Scientology and Sharron Angle I have heard from a source close to her campaign, or at least a lot closer than myself, that she is not willing to throw this destructive and highly aggressive cult under the bus. Apparently she has a stubborn nature and Scientology’s position on drugs, we are talking about legal drugs here, appeals to her. There is talk among her advisors that since she can’t or won’t run away that maybe Scientology could be rehabilitated to some extent for the purposes of this election. They think that since few people have any real idea of what Scientology is that they can soft peddle things by saying they are just a bunch of well meaning, but confused people, who have gotten a bad rap from the liberal media. There is no end to the arguments along these lines that could, and will, be made. After all, they plan on saying, if John Travolta is a member just how bad can this be??
Just let me make a few more comments about Narconon. Besides being Scientology under another name it is junk science founded on L. Ron Hubbard’s understanding of 1950’s era literature on vitamins and borrowed regimens of steam and sweat. No scientist or clinician of any stature would stand up for this pile of crap today. The favorable reviews are almost all written by Scientologists or people who lack any real credentials in the field of addiction. The success stores that are waved about are mandatory and done before the so-called treatment is finished and are worthless as such.
Of special interest is the fact that the two main Scientologists, Arte Maren and Henning Heldt, who were responsible for helping Hubbard put Narconon together were both fingered in the infamous Scientology scandal, “Operation Snow White.” Hubbard’s wife and Henning both did hard time in the federal pen for orchestrating the burglary of the Justice Department and other government agencies. Arte Maren, was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator. Both of these men are still active Scientologists A low point was reached even for Scientologists when they drowned a judge’s dog in an effort to make him recuse himself.
These are the fine people that Sharron Angle helped out. To read more about Snow White there are a lot of good web sites but here are some of the better ones. Thanks, Rollo Weems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O…
http://www.xenu.net/archive/go…
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Nar…
* http://www.swingstateproject.c…
There have been stories about forced abortions in Sciengology for years but this is the best recent story. I wonder how well this will play among the conservatives?? This is the group Sharron Angle is in bed with.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/s…
For as toxic as Harry Reid is, he’s smart, and he knows how to brand somebody. Harry Reid will look like The Great Hope before it’s said and done, because Angle will look so bad in comparison
About this talk about Heller: I’ve read that he’s good buds with Reid, and will almost surely run for (and, let’s face it, almost surely win) John Ensign’s seat. He’s the best candidate in either party, in my opinion, in all of Nevada and wouldn’t have to run against the zillions of dollars and national backing of Reid. If he won, nevada would also two have LDS senators, so maybe thats important to him too. Seems like a really good strategy to me.
Also on Heller, he slammed Angle on Scientology in 2006 and only won by a small margin. I don’t know if it helped or hurt…
By the way, the most important thing about Angle’s win is that it will mobilize all Democrats. As someone who will always vote Democrats, I have always had a “meh” opinion of Reid. If I lived in NV, I’d be working my tail off to make sure Angle doesn’t read the Senate.
Reid is going to win thing by a lot. Quote me on thAt.
is related to the American Independence Party, which was the third party that George Wallace founded to run for president in 1968.