Arizona Sheriff backs Angle, plans formal endorsement announcement

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is backing Sharron Angle, who plans a formal announcement to accept his endorsement, her Senate campaign said Wednesday.

The Republican candidate challenging U.S. Sen. Harry Reid needs all the help she can get in her tough bid to unseat the Democratic incumbent.

Arpaio's endorsement could help Angle with more than half of Nevada voters who support Arizona's controversial law that gives police expanded authority to crack down on illegal immigrants who are stopped or arrested for other reasons, according to a recent poll for The Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Major portions of the law are on hold, however, as President Barack Obama's administration sues Arizona in a lawsuit that Reid supports.

"It's no surprise that America's toughest sheriff would be against Senator Reid since Harry is an advocate for amnesty and opposes Arizona's attempt to protect its citizens," said Jarrod Agen, communications director for Angle's campaign. "Sharron Angle wants to protect our borders, unlike Harry Reid who actually supports suing a state for wanting to enforce the law."

Reid recently helped push through $600 million in new federal funding to beef up border security, saying that's the first step toward what he calls comprehensive immigration reform that would bring some 12 million people living illegally in the United States "out of the shadows." Reid has said he isn't advocating amnesty, but wants illegal workers to come forward to pay fines and penalties and then go to the back of the line to seek U.S. citizenship if they wish.

The Associated Press first reported Wednesday that Arpaio said he supports Angle because Washington needs new leadership. Arpaio told The AP that he doesn't know much about Angle, but he hopes her victory will increase Republicans' clout in Congress.

Angle often mentions her admiration for Arpaio's tough justice and for the Arizona law, a sure-fire applause line in her stump speeches.

Arpaio and Angle already are scheduled to speak at the National Tea Party Convention in Las Vegas in October. Angle spokesman Agen said the campaign plans "to coordinate with Sheriff Arpaio for a more formal announcement" of his endorsement at some point.

A Mason-Dixon poll for the Review-Journal in June showed that 57 percent of likely Nevada voters would support a law like Arizona's in Nevada, while 32 percent would oppose it and 11 percent were undecided.

Among Republicans, 85 percent supported such as law, 8 percent were opposed and 7 percent undecided.

For Democrats, only 31 percent favored such a law, 53 percent were opposed and 16 percent undecided.

The law was fairly popular among non-partisan voters, who will likely decide the Reid-Angle race, with 61 percent supporting such a law, 30 percent against and 9 percent undecided.

Civil libertarians and Hispanics, who make up a quarter of Nevada residents, have criticized the law, saying it could lead to racial profiling with police stopping people who look Hispanic. Defenders of the law maintain police would only check the legal status of people suspected of another crime first.

Reid enjoys strong support among Hispanics, although they generally turn out to vote in smaller percentages compared with other voter groups.