Lowden camp responds to Tark’s Yucca barb

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sue Lowden has mostly let allies such as Chuck Muth do her fighting for her whenever she’s been criticized by a primary opponent (primarily by the hard-charging Danny Tarkanian. Muth has made Tarkanian a personal project. Tarkanian, meanwhile, has made Lowden a personal project.)

So I was interested to see what would happen when Tarkanian tossed yet another barb at Lowden during his recent meeting before the R-J’s editorial board.

The subject was the future of the Yucca Mountain Project. Tarkanian vocally supports the concept of reprocessing, but he also says he’s opposed to the dump’s existence.

He’s not alone. Yucca’s future is a challenge for Republican candidates, who must woo voters whose rural communities will benefit if Yucca makes a comeback.

After my recent blog post, in which Tarkanian took a shot at Lowden on the Yucca subject, she responded through campaign manager Robert Uithoven.

“While Danny once again attacks from his glass house, voters are starting to find out why he’s lost every campaign he’s run this decade,” Uithoven said. “Being punished by the Nevada Supreme Court as a lawyer, earning an F from the NRA and being called out for lying to voters in annoying robo-calls is sure to once again turn off the voters.”

Now, a couple thoughts.

Tarkanian’s daily sniping at Lowden illustrates his apparent belief that she is his only real competition in the primary. We’ll see if that pans out. But if his criticism isn’t at least somewhat accurate, then the cumulative effect on his campaign could be harmful.

Second, while it’s understandable Lowden wants to portray herself as the inevitable choice to challenge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and therefore she need not personally respond to her primary critics, at some point she should do a little of her own fighting or look like she’s uncomfortable with the usual sparring that takes place in a campaign.

Muth is a sharp guy, but his relentless shill job makes him look like an extension of Lowden’s camp. Better to have Uithoven, Mario Diaz, or another official member of the team return fire if the candidate continues to choose not to do it herself.