Ensign aims to aid Reid challenger

CARSON CITY -- U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said Thursday that whoever surfaces as the top Republican challenger to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will get his support and that the race will be "a heavyweight battle."

Ensign, talking with reporters after a speech to Nevada lawmakers, added, "You'll see a lot of money from special-interest groups coming here. It'll make the Reid-Ensign race (in 1998) look like there was no money spent in this state."

Reid has amassed several million dollars for his 2010 bid for a fifth term. He won his previous election handily but won his 1998 race against Ensign by only about 400 votes, out of more than 416,000 cast.

Ensign also discussed his opposition to legislation authorizing federal stimulus funding, including about $1.5 billion for Nevada, telling lawmakers it was "riddled with problems" and the goal should have been to try to fix the housing crisis first.

With the stimulus plan, "the long-term debt that is being added onto our children and grandchildren was not worth the price that was being paid," he said in his speech.

"Getting the economy going is the most important thing," he told reporters. "I just don't believe that the stimulus package got the economy going."

Ensign also said that spending levels proposed by President Barack Obama cannot be sustained and that the interest on the national debt will hit $800 billion a year 10 years from now.

"That is unsustainable. The United States cannot exist," Ensign said.