Sue Lowden’s barter remark attacked in ad; she blames Harry Reid for controversy

By Las Vegas Sun Staff (contact)

Friday, April 30, 2010 | 10:58 a.m.

A pair of political salvos landed this morning in Nevada's U.S. Senate race, with Sue Lowden taking fire from a group headed by a former spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Republican front-runner returning fire in an op-ed for Politico.

As the Sun's Jon Ralston reports this morning, Patriot Majority has an ad attacking Lowden for her remarks about bartering for health care like past generations did using chickens and other useful items. There's been no shortage of silliness over Lowden's remarks - dudes in chicken suits and music videos with dancing fowl - but Patriot Majority's ad uses "real people" in street interviews in an attempt to portray the wealthy casino owner as out of touch.

Lowden's piece for Politico is a defense of those controversial remarks. She says much of the controversy surrounding them has been ginned up by Reid and his "liberal allies" to distract public attention from Democrats' "unpopular" new health care law.

"The comment I made about bartering was not, and was never intended to be, a policy proposal. It was an example of how struggling families are working to pay for medical care in any way they can during these tough times," Lowden writes. "The truth is that Reid is so out of touch with these hardworking American families that he needs political theater to distract Nevadans from both his own unpopularity and the costs of his plan."