Sharron Angle camp bans TV stations from election party

Associated Press

Published Friday, Oct. 29, 2010 | 1:44 p.m.

Updated Friday, Oct. 29, 2010 | 4:25 p.m.

Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle sidestepped questions Friday from TV reporters who tracked her to the airport, the latest evidence of a strategy to mostly stay away from the media in her dead-heat race with Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Reporters from the CBS and NBC affiliates surprised the tea party favorite at McCarran International Airport, where they asked her questions about national security and unemployment.

Angle responded, "I will answer those questions when I am the senator."

Pressed further, she added, "The two wars that we are in right now are exactly what we are in."

Upset at the interview tactics, Angle's campaign later told the two news stations they are no longer invited to the candidate's election night party next week.

KSNV-TV News Director Bob Stoldal says Angle spokeswoman Ciara Matthews told his staff they had treated Angle as if she were Paris Hilton.

The brief encounter came on a day when a new poll found the candidates neck-and-neck in a contest that will be crucial in the fight for control of the Senate.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, Republican 2008 presidential nominee, was expected to headline a Las Vegas rally for Angle, while Reid planned to fire up supporters with Filipino boxing champion and politician Manny Pacquiao at his side.

Angle has long fashioned herself as an outsider in the GOP, but McCain's appearance will signal she has prominent support in the Washington GOP establishment.

Since a debate two weeks ago, Angle has made only a handful of public appearances and her interaction with the media has become virtually nonexistent. Her campaign says she spends much of her time going door to door in rural Nevada or attending private fundraisers.