Angle rides tide while Lowden, Tarkanian founder

Sue Lowden's team just shrugs. Danny Tarkanian's camp is in denial.

But those who closely follow Nevada politics have been hearing for weeks how conservative voters are talking increasingly about the rock-solid beliefs of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle.

It started long before she won the Tea Party Express endorsement.

Angle has conservative street cred, and it's reflected in the latest Review-Journal-sponsored statewide survey conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. In the Republican primary contest, Angle has risen to second place with 25 percent, Lowden is first with 30 percent, and Tarkanian continues to fade with 22 percent. The poll has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points, meaning Lowden and Angle are neck and neck.

Angle, a Northern Nevada resident and former assemblywoman, is the one GOP primary contender who can point to a long record of conservative values and beliefs. She's also a tireless campaigner who, despite being at a fundraising disadvantage, in past races threw real scares into Rep. Dean Heller and state Sen. Bill Raggio. She lost to Heller, a gifted campaigner, by 428 votes.

Lowden hasn't helped herself by making impolitic comments, whether it's referring to chicken bartering during the health care reform debate or ridiculing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for not jumping into the MGM Grand-Perini subcontractor dust-up when she appears to have a personal history of stiffing subcontractors. Reid's campaign thumped her on that issue earlier this week, but Lowden should consider that a self-inflicted wound.

Lowden's support from Nevada conservatives, the folks who turn out most in primary elections, appears to be getting shakier as the May 22 early primary voting approaches. Does she have enough steam left to win?

Sure she does, but it's as though she's being pulled from conflicting sides inside her own camp. In weeks she's gone from unflappable shoo-in to a cackle-generating "Chickengate" candidate.

Although in a Review-Journal story Lowden blamed daily media assaults by the Reid and Tarkanian camps for her softening poll numbers, that doesn't wash. Lowden's campaign appears to be losing its gravity by the day, and resorting to political stunts, such as the one earlier this week when she tried to link Reid and MGM Grand, makes her look like less than the front-runner. It's the kind of amateurish theater usually reserved for third-party candidates and far-end political groups. I wonder whose idea that was.

Lowden has plenty of, well, paid consultants, but here's some free advice: Return to making your case as the strongest candidate for the job. Bring specifics. Bashing Reid might be your favorite pastime, but it won't win you a single vote. Display straight, conservative views before conservative voters.

It's clear the authentically conservative Angle is doing that, and it's finding a growing audience.

Just imagine where she might be if she'd started with a couple million in the bank.

POLITICAL PARAMEDICS: The same statewide poll shows Ely-native-turned-New York- financier John Chachas flat-lining, this time at 3 percent. Considering the poll's margin of error, does this mean Chachas is conceivably at minus-1.5 percent?

That's a joke, John.

Still, it might be time for Chachas to reconsider those remodeling plans for his childhood home in Ely.

Chachas has, however, surged ahead of Chad Christensen, who registered 2 percent.

ON THE BOULEVARD: Downtown casino king Jackie Gaughan will throw out the first pitch at Saturday's Las Vegas 51s game at Cashman Field. As a casino owner, our man Jackie has been throwing strikes in business since the Dead Ball era. Name just about any downtown gambling hall, and Jackie has owned all or part of it. He's the undisputed king of the coupon book and key chain giveaway. They tell me the 89-year-old is retired now, but knowing Jackie, he's just resting while he plans another comeback.

Have an item for the Bard of the Boulevard? E-mail comments and contributions to Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.