BizJournals Portfolio
Oct 04 2010 9:41am EDT

Harry Reid's Challenger Gets Big Endorsement

Sharon Angle, the Republican nominee for Senate from Nevada who is challenging the biggest fish of them all this election cycle—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid—got a boost Sunday from the state's biggest newspaper.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal, which six years ago backed Reid, this time is supporting Angle—the Tea Party darling who stunned the establishment GOP operating in Washington when she won the party's Nevada primary. The paper described Reid as being "water boy for the Obama White House, which is pushing perhaps the most radical liberal agenda in the country's history."

On Angle, the paper said this:

Ms. Angle is well within the mainstream on most issues and embraces a political philosophy popular with millions of Americans who are making themselves heard this election cycle.

Ms. Angle sees government expanding to meddle in virtually every aspect of our lives and she stands up to say enough is enough. She sees red ink from sea to shining sea and she argues for a different direction -- one that forces Washington to live within its means, while keeping taxes at relatively low rates. She sees a crushing debt being foisted on our children and grandchildren and she demands fiscal restraint.

Sharron Angle sees entitlement programs that cannot be sustained without significant reforms and she has the courage to offer solutions. She sees an arrogant federal government that routinely ignores its constitutional boundaries, and she isn't shy about trying to push it back behind the fence.

Angle's story has had a Cinderella/Wicked Witch quality to it from the very beginning. Cinderella to those in the Tea Party movement who see her as the perfect voice for their anger. Wicked Witch to those who believe she's unqualified for the job and unresponsive to the mainstream media.

Recent polls have shown a largely dead heat between Angle and Reid. But there's one more twist that's getting more attention—the presence of another candidate on the ticket who is running on a Tea Party line. Angle last week tried to get Scott Ashjia to drop out, but so far he's refused.


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J. Jennings Moss is editor of Portfolio.com.

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