Reid tips hand on how he’ll attack potential GOP Senate foe

Even before the primary polls closed Tuesday, Harry Reid's U.S. Senate campaign tipped its hand on the line of attack it will take against whichever Republican wins the nomination.

Reid campaign manager Brandon Hall accused Sharron Angle, the leading GOP contender and former Reno assemblywoman, of having "dangerous ideas," including eliminating Social Security and the Department of Education and "giving massage and sauna treatments to Nevada's prisoners." Hall said Angle's legislative colleagues "call her 'wacky' and have voted her Nevada's worst legislator." Finally, Hall said that the Tea Party favorite's chances of beating Reid are "slim to none."

Angle has suggested getting rid of the Education Department, saying states should have control of schools instead of the federal government. And she has recommended privatizing Social Security. She even wanted Nevada to consider an anti-drug program for prisoners that included heat and massage treatment to get rid of toxins and cramps, saying it would save money in the long run by helping inmates give up a life of crime. But the Democratic leadership in the Nevada Legislative nixed her idea.

Angle's staunch record voting against taxes during her four terms in the Assembly often upset more moderate Republican leaders, which is the main reason she got low ratings from her legislative colleagues, but she has said she's proud that she often refused to go along with the GOP crowd.

As for Sue Lowden, the former GOP front-runner who was trying to catch Angle, the Reid campaign dismissed the casino executive as "an extremely weak candidate" because of a series of gaffes, including suggesting people could barter for health care. Of course, the Reid campaign and its Democratic allies made Lowden's self-inflicted wound bleed during the primary by repeatedly making fun of her comments, including when she tried to defend herself by saying people in the old days even bartered with chickens.

What about Danny Tarkanian, who has played the role of odd man out for most of the Republican primary, never taking the front-runner spot and coasting behind the leaders instead. The Reid campaign dismissed him as a "perennial loser" since he has never won public office and has lost his last two campaigns. Hall also noted that Tarkanian has a temper, which showed up on Friday when he had a dispute with a conservative talk show host over whether he could speak first during a Republican forum in Las Vegas with all three GOP candidates.

Revealing Reid's basic re-election argument for the general campaign five months away, Hall summed up the Republican field as too weak to take on Reid, the powerful Senate majority leader who is expected to spend up to $25 million to defend his seat for a fifth term.

"No matter which B-list GOP candidate emerges from tonight’s US Senate primary, they will face a substantial disadvantage versus Senator. Reid in the general election, making his chances of re-election significantly more favorable than many so-called experts predicted mere weeks ago," Hall said in an e-mail sent out by his campaign.

Still, the Democratic incumbent will have his work cut out for him because of the money the Republican Party and outside interest groups are expected to pour into the Senate race that's the No. 1 GOP target in 2010. Also, Reid's popularity at home is at an all-time low with poll after poll showing more than half of Nevada voters unhappy with Reid.