Reno TV ad targets Reid

WASHINGTON -- Republicans began a television ad in Reno on Wednesday attacking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as a "super-spending partisan."

The early ad buy by the National Republican Senatorial Committee is the latest indication that the GOP views Reid, D-Nev., as a top target as he seeks re-election to a fifth term in 2010.

Committee spokesman Brian Walsh declined to say how much money the committee was spending to air the ad. It accuses Reid of supporting Democratic attacks against Republicans who backed government bailouts last year but also supporting big new expenditures himself.

"And now he wants a trillion more dollars in new spending? A trillion dollars?" the ad's announcer says over an image of a hammer smashing a piggy bank. "Tell Harry Reid to stop wasting our hard-earned money."

The ad airs on cable TV in Reno for a week, Walsh said.

Reid dismissed the ad when asked to comment during a conference call about renewable energy Wednesday afternoon.

"I think it's just basically for show. It's a meaningless ad. They're spending no money. They're trying to get a little publicity," he said, noting that Republicans had supported bailout money, too.

"I don't think that gives them much credibility ... I think they better get a different script," Reid said.

Although polls have shown Reid has image problems in his home state, no strong Republican opponent has emerged to take him on. Meanwhile, Reid already has raised some $3 million and put a strong campaign structure in place.