New Reid hits Angle on economy; Angle slams new $50 billion spending plan by Dems

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and his GOP challenger Sharron Angle sparred Tuesday over the economy, which is the top issue driving the Senate race.

In a new TV ad (below), Reid responds to Angle’s attack that have blamed the Democratic incumbent for Nevada’s record high rates of unemployment, home foreclosures and bankruptcies.

The ad says it wasn’t Reid or the Democrats, but former President George W. Bush’s policies that "shattered the economy" before he left office two years ago. The ad also blames Wall Street "greed" by companies shipping jobs overseas as well as the high cost of foreign oil for the nation’s recession.

"And Sharron Angle’s blaming Reid? Come on," says the TV ad’s narrator.

The ad notes that Angle opposes Wall Street reform and has said it’s not her job as U.S. senator to create jobs.

"That’s Sharron Angle — extreme ideas that will make things worse," the ad concludes, using the Reid camp’s favorite label for Angle.

Earlier Tuesday, Angle criticized the Democrats and Reid for proposing yet another round of spending to try to lift the economy. In this case, Angle targeted President Barack Obama’s new proposal to spend $50 billion on infrastructure projects across the country, including rails, roads and runways. The proposal is one of several tax-cut and spending ideas Congress may take up when it returns from its summer break later this month. Republicans already are criticizing the Democratic proposals as a "mini-stimulus" that follows the $787 billion stimulus last year that critics say hasn’t done enough to stop the economic slide.

Angle, in her statement, said that the massive stimulus spending hasn’t proven popular with people across the country.

"Harry Reid and President Obama are either entirely tone deaf to the voices of the American people or they simply don’t care about what voters are saying," Angle said. "Across this country, and especially in Nevada, voters are crying out that they are sick of the out-of-control government spending and they want it to stop."

Angle, a Tea Party favorite who has a record of "no" votes as a Reno assemblywoman on tax and spend programs, has vowed to fillibuster Democratic proposals to block them if she is elected.

"This November, a vote against Harry Reid is a vote against President Obama and our best chance to stop this endless spending," said Angle, who is trying to make the race a referendum on Reid and the Democratic agenda.