Republicans urge clean Nevada sweep

Setting the stakes high, Sharron Angle told an energized Nevada Republican Party Convention Saturday that the "fate of the nation" is riding on the U.S. Senate race and that her opponent, Sen. Harry Reid, isn't "too big to fail" despite his powerful job as the Democratic leader of the Senate.

"The fate of the nation doesn't ride on me; it rides on you," Angle said, drawing rousing applause from a crowd that included 558 registered convention delegates. "It rides on the voters of Nevada."

Harry Reid and his son, Rory, who is running for governor, provided a handy double target during the second and final day of the biennial convention. The meeting theme was "unity," an effort to bring together members of the conservative Tea Party movement and moderate party factions.

"Some people think that Harry Reid is too big to fail," Angle said, drawing laughs. "I'm going to tell you he's failed already. He's been failing us for 24 years."

Brian Sandoval, a former federal judge and GOP gubernatorial nominee, mocked Rory Reid for keeping his distance from his unpopular father, including by using only his first name to campaign.

"Unlike Rory Reid, I'm not ashamed to tell you where I came from and I'm proud to tell you who I am and who I'm related to," Sandoval said, explaining that he didn't grow up in a privileged family but instead had to do chores on his parents' property.

"I ain't no senator's son," Sandoval said to laughter. "I can assure you that I didn't have a silver spoon with me when I cleaned lamb pens every Sunday before I went to college."

Former state Sen. Joe Heck, who is hoping to unseat endangered freshman Democrat Dina Titus in Congressional District 3, gave the most spirited speech. Heck drew the loudest support when he proclaimed the GOP isn't as splintered as critics believe following a bitterly fought U.S. Senate primary.

"I want to put an end to the myth that we are fractured, that we are divisive, that we are not unified," Heck said, his voice rising from the stage. "We are unified and we will prevail in November."

Heck said the four months until Election Day will go quickly and Republicans can't waste time.

"The goal is we win, they lose," Heck said. "And the way for that to happen is for all of you here to become energized. The primary's over. We now have to rally around a slate of candidates up and down the ticket -- Sharron Angle all the way down the ticket -- to make sure we bring new direction to Washington, D.C., and Carson City."

Heck warned that the Democratic Party, which is far more organized and focused on re-electing Harry Reid, is resorting to using "distortion, mistruths and outright lies" to attack Republicans and that the party must fight back with a unified front. He noted Angle has been under withering attack.

"When they're wrong on the issues ... they bring out the dirt," Heck said.

Outside the convention hall, "Take Back America" bumper stickers were being handed out along with a plastic spray bottle with the label, "Reid Be Gone." The bottle instructions said, "Stops socialism at its roots." Several conventioneers wore "Dump Harry Reid" signs around their necks.

Angle, the first and most anticipated speaker that included more than 30 GOP candidates, shocked the GOP establishment when she won the June 8 primary. Her top vanquished rival, former state GOP chairwoman Sue Lowden, didn't attend the convention at the Green Valley Ranch resort in Henderson. Also absent was Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., whose seat is considered safe.

Some moderate GOP figures such as state Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, who nearly lost an election to Angle, are still withholding their support for her. More than 100 GOP power brokers in the state also have their names on a list of "Republicans for Reid."

Yet it was clear from the weekend gathering that conservatives and Tea Party backers who supported Angle now dominate Nevada's GOP, a takeover that began two years ago when supporters of former presidential candidate Rand Paul disrupted the 2008 convention.

The party platform, which Angle promised to campaign on, included many of the basic tenets of her campaign, including defending the U.S. Constitution and reforming Social Security by allowing young workers to open private retirement accounts while restoring $2.5 trillion owed to the Social Security trust fund.

The platform also calls for "less government, lower taxes, less regulation and more individual and personal responsibility."

It also urges repealing the new health care law, eliminating the Education Department, using Yucca Mountain for storing and reprocessing nuclear waste and opposing taxpayer-funded abortions, for example. However, the conventioneers cut out some of the more controversial ideas as being unrealistic, including getting rid of the Internal Revenue Service.

Angle said the top issue that could ensure GOP victory is the economy because the state is suffering a record high 14 percent unemployment rate and record home foreclosures and bank­ruptcies.

"The three mains issues of this campaign are the economy, the economy and the economy," Angle said from the stage, which was bookended by American and Nevada flags.

Angle blamed Reid and President Barack Obama for the nation's and Nevada's troubles, although the two leaders last week blamed the Bush administration for the economic recession.

Angle said Reid has gone from being "independent like Nevada," one of his campaign themes, to promoting the "progressive agenda of Barack Obama."

"He's not just been voting for it. He has been pushing it. Barack Obama proposes but Harry Reid disposes," Angle said of the Democratic Party agenda. "So when Harry Reid gave us the stimulus, the bailout, Obamacare, he failed us and he failed America."

State GOP Chairman Mark Amodei, considered fairly moderate, said he believes that despite some differences on issues, Republicans are more united than ever behind the goal of defeating the Democrats in an election year when voters are angry at the party in power.

"I don't think you can ever say that Republicans are going to fall in line on everything," Amodei said. "What's different about this year is they understand how important it is to aggregate."

Both Heck and Sandoval, in separate interviews on the sidelines of the convention, said they would be happy to campaign alongside Angle and other Republicans to show a united front.

"Anytime you can do something that's a force multiplier, that will help," said Heck, whose swing district is the main battleground in Clark County and the state in the U.S. Senate and governor's race, too. "These kinds of things make sense. My hope is that we leave this weekend with a united front."

Sandoval, who is considered a moderate Republican but who adopted more conservative positions during the GOP primary, said he was proud to run alongside Heck and Angle.

"I think the Republican Party has a very strong ticket. I'm going to continue to work hard for the party any way that I can," Sandoval said in the brief interview with the Review-Journal.

Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.