Senate candidates work crowds at Nevada Day Parade

CARSON CITY -- Senate candidate Sharron Angle served pancakes at a Republican breakfast and then smiled broadly, waved and shook hands with well-wishers Saturday as she walked the two-mile Nevada Day Parade route not once, but twice.

Meanwhile, her opponent, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., greeted spectators and participants before the parade began, and then watched from a seat along the parade route. His aides said Reid was advised not to walk or ride a car in the parade because of security concerns.

Capitol police said the crowd of 15,000 was well-behaved and orderly at the parade.

Angle received polite applause from most spectators, although there were a few boos. An airplane flew over the parade route hauling an "Anyone but Reid" sign, but most people cheered when Reid's supporters walked by.

Reid and Angle never set eyes on each other. He was in a restroom when she walked by the first time, and had left by her second pass.

The annual Nevada Day Parade attracted 200 entries, including marching bands, beauty queens, riders on horseback, politicians beyond count and even a car filled with working girls from the nearby Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothel.

"Every vote counts," said Angle as she and her husband, Ted, walked past the Capitol the second time. "It's all about every vote."

A Review-Journal poll earlier in the week found she held a 4 percentage point lead.

"Early voting is over," said a low-key Reid after meeting with well-wishers. "It went pretty good. Everyone has been kind. You run into someone once in a while who is mad. I understand."

Reid, first elected to Congress in 1982, acknowledged that he has never seen a Nevada economy so sour.

"This is a very difficult time," he added. "People are afraid for their jobs. Nevada for 20 years was on top of the economic food chain. When Wall Street collapsed, we fell further than any state."

If people are mad at him about the bad economy the last two years, then Reid said he should be "given credit" for the previous 26 years, when the state was booming.

Folks watching the parade were just happy to meet the candidates.

Marilyn Rich, a 77-year-old retired nurse, was flabbergasted when Reid walked into her front yard, just off the parade route.

"I'm a Democrat," she said. "I'm an FDR girl -- he saved me from starving. So, of course, I am for Harry Reid."

Rich added she is appalled by Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Sandoval and others who contend the state can balance its budget without tax increases.

"We are becoming a Third World country," she said. "We have to take care of our kids."

But Incline Village resident Michael Abel hoisted an "Enjoy Retirement Harry" sign when Reid supporters walked by.

"It's a hard time; we need to move in a different direction," said Abel, adding he wasn't trying to be mean to Reid.

"It's time for him to leave. I don't want someone 75, 78 representing me."

Reid is 70; Angle is 61.

Contact reporter Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.