Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Harry Reid makes ad buy; GOP opponents top polls

The U.S. Senate campaign is on full blast, with several developments today:

• Sen. Harry Reid, the embattled Democratic Majority Leader, announced a significant TV advertising buy that he hopes will swing public opinion on the unpopular health care reform legislation passed this year. One will feature a small businessman set to receive a tax credit to buy coverage for his employees; a second has a woman who lost coverage because of a pre-existing condition, a practice outlawed by the legislation; and, a third features a senior citizen who will see her prescription drug costs reduced.

• Two new polls show Reid in trouble, though the numbers are vastly different, which is not surprising so far from the election when accurate reads on voter opinion can be more difficult. Rasmussen, a polling outfit that Democrats often accuse of leaning to the right, has Republican frontrunner Sue Lowden beating Reid 52-39; lawyer Danny Tarkanian up over Reid 51-41; and, former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle up 48-40; 53 percent say they favor repeal of the health care bill, a sentiment Reid's campaign is clearly trying to combat.

In a Research 2000 poll commissioned by the liberal blog DailyKos, Reid is in better shape, trailing Lowden, Tarkanian and Angle by 4, 2 and 3, respectively. In the GOP primary, Lowden leads Tarkanian by 10.

• Tarkanian attacked Lowden on her recent foray into health care policy in which she said bartering was a potential method for driving down health care costs -- an attack that's been anticipated but just now landed. "Ask yourself if Sue Lowden is ready to run against Harry Reid," the press release says, with a link to a Reno TV report in which Lowden's bartering travails are laid out in detail, including the jokes of late night comedians.

• Lowden, meanwhile, sent out a press release touting the latest Rasmussen poll and using the opportunity to drive her favored line of attack on Reid as an out-of-touch Washington politician.

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