Political Hotsheet
By

Jaywon Choe /

CBS News/ July 30, 2010, 2:43 PM

Sharron Angle Even With Harry Reid in Nevada Senate Race

AP

The latest poll out of Nevada, where Senate Majority Harry Reid is in a tough reelection battle against Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle for the state's U.S. Senate seat, contradicts the conventional wisdom that Reid is emerging as a favorite in the race.

According to a new survey conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Angle has essentially pulled even with Reid in what has become one of the most closely watched contests this election season. Angle now trails Reid by a slim 43 to 42 percent margin, according to the poll.

These results come just weeks after a poll conducted earlier this month showed Angle trailing Reid by seven points. It should be noted, however, that the earlier poll sampled likely voters, while the one released today sampled only registered voters.

The new poll also shows that both candidates remain largely unpopular in the state. 51 percent of voters said they hold an unfavorable impression of Reid, while 47 percent said the same of Angle. Only 38 percent had favorable impressions of Reid and Angle, respectively.

The poll comes after an aggressive ad campaign from the Reid camp labeling Angle both "extreme" and "dangerous," which could explain Angle's numbers. Reid's ads have spotlighted Angle's earlier campaign promises to "phase-out" Social Security and Medicare.

Reid has been plagued by his state's high unemployment numbers and the increasingly high rate of home foreclosures. Angle recently released her own ads calling attention to these problems and noting that unemployment has risen from 4.4 percent to 14.2 percent while Reid has been in the Senate.

Brad Corker of Mason Dixon told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that this may help Angle. He argued that while Reid may have hurt Angle's reputation temporarily, he has been unable to boost his own image due to the state's poor economy.

"Reid had the airwaves to himself for a while, and he drove her numbers down with the advertising," he said. "But that didn't necessarily drive his numbers up. There hasn't been a lot of good news to hang his hat on."

Corker added: "The independents are the most volatile and are the ones who are going to decide this race. I still see this as an anti-incumbent and anti-Democrat cycle."

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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wantthebest says:
I agree that far too many conservatives blame the Obama administration for things that started with the Bush administration. Nevertheless it is a matter of fact that the Obama Administration has spent more in 18 months than did the Bush administration in 8 years. It is time that both conservatives and liberal wake up to reality; that reality may be that both administration have failed the American people.

What the American people desparately need is leadership of good character regardless of the party. If good character is lacking then politicians will lead in a direction of larger government, more laws, more ammendments, more cash in the hands of government, those who administer funds for the government, and less cash flowing through the hands of the working class.

Some things however may be so blatant that only if we refuse to see then do we not see what is evidently before us. Notice that I said "evidently." I say this because some things are so obviously wrong they need not be debated; yet they do need to be reported. When blatant transgressions occur and the media fails to put the proper spotlight on it then that media deserves not to be supported by the American public. One such event occured at a voting poll. One person at the poll was intimidating people, calling them names and even threatening the lives of newborn. And yet the great leader of this nation immediately offers presidential pardon. I am liberal, much more liberal than most my friends on foreign policy, on the rights of women and receiving equal pay. In fact I was in favor of paying women properly and offering job opportunities far before it was popular in our society. I am now shocked that our president pardons criminals. I am shocked that he insults women's intelligence by appointing Muslims to prominent positions in government who believe women have no place in governing over men. I am afraid of what may happen to women's positions and progress under this president.
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bradkt1 says:
The fact that they are both even in the polls shows that "None of the above" is the real winner here.
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rev1960 says:
Go Angle!!! Let's see all the bums voted out this fall. We want our government back!!!! Of the people, by the people, and for the people!!!!
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Nov07 replies:
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Amen!
josephp5 replies:
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Morons that scream "We want our government back" have been listening to too much talk radio. These are the people that never said anything when George W. Bush was monitoring our internet and phone calls without a warrant, putting people that disagreed with him on the no-fly list, firing US attorneys that wouldn't do his bidding in the middle of their terms (something that would be illegal but for a tiny clause in the Patriot Act that allowed Presidents to appoint new US attorneys without Congress approval during times of war), leaking the name of a CIA agent just because their husband wrote something that they didn't like but turned out to be true.

These "patriots" never said a word when Bush was trampling on the Constitution in these very real ways. Yet now they are whipped up into a frenzy over things like the Health Care Act, which passed Congress fair and square in the Constitutional manner. They scream "Socialism!" just because Obama is trying to pass socially responsible programs to help the economy, like the Stimulus Bill (which also passed fair and square---the Republicans demanded more tax cuts in the package, which Obama consented to, yet every one of them still voted against it).

If you don't like things like the Health Care and Stimulus bills, then vote for another candidate. But don't act like something illegal or unconstitutional was done just because you didn't get your way on those issues.

Besides, Republicans have no plans or policy at all---except to block and obstruct by filibuster everything Obama has tried to do, and overturn what Obama has managed to accomplish despite their obstruction.
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shierp says:
I don't particularly care if the Nevada folks like Angle or not. All I know is that Reid is destroying the nation. Angle will only be one junior senator with one vote among 100. Reid is majority leader and responsible for every bad thing happening. He is the leader of the party that has destroyed the economy, destroyed employment, destroyed housing values, destroyed the gulf of Mexico environment, destroyed chances in Afghanistan, destroyed negotiations between Israel and arab nations, destroyed efforts to stop nuclear weapons in Iran and N. Korea, destroyed U.S. health care, destroyed anybodies chances of start up capital and murdered a few million fish and sealife. Please for the sake of the nation, vote out Harry Reid. Satan looks at this guy to get pointers.
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Nov07 replies:
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We are working hard to get Harry out.
Well, in msjb12's bigoted rant against age, he/she just proved you can be a nitwit at any age.
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howitzer8 says:
What the polls don't tell you is the overwelming support of both business and labor that Reid has. When it comes to turning out the vote Reid has a big advantage. Reid's support comes from within Nevada while Angle's comes from outside the state.
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Nov07 replies:
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THank goodness you are wrong in your assessment. Sharron Angle has a lot of instate support, that is how she won the Primary against some very well known names. Small businesses love her, and some of the big Casino owners are backing her too. How do you think she does so well in the polls if no one in Nev. supports her? She is our next Senator from the Great State of Nevada.
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OnTheRoad01 says:
At this point, I don't really care how crazy she (Angle) is, anything is better than 6 more years of Reid!!!
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Nov07 replies:
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She is not crazy, unless you think a person who believes our Country should be ran by the Constitution and Bill of Rights is crazy. Man, those Founding Fathers had some craaaay ideas, right!!! LOL
Nov07 replies:
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I and many others DID NOT VOTE FOR OBAMA, unfortunately people did not bother to learn who or what he was, just voted for him because of his "personality" or skin color. Now that many people are waking up to fact he and his pal Reid are not good for our Nation, vote them out.
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_One_American____ says:
Sharron Angle is a Conservative running as a representative of her constituents in a overwealmingly Conservative State.

Harry Reid is a far-left Socialist running an Obama agenda against the will of the people, and his own constituents.

It's not difficult to see the eventual election outcome.

Pack your bags Harry.
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shocker49 replies:
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If you're going to call the democrat (Harry Reid) a socialist, then you have to call the republican ( Sharon Angle) a fascist!!! DUH!!
Nov07 replies:
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I see that some of you are falling for the mean stream media and Harry Reid lies. You should learn more about Ms.Angle before you make ignorant remarks. When a remark is taken out of context and twisted, you can make it mean anything. HOw about good ole Reids promise to bring back the public option that the Dems took out of the HCB to garner more votes? Now Reid says it will be put back in, another promise broken by Reid. (from his speech at the netroots conference)
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supergranny95 says:
Angle is a ninny, who spouts off weird ideas then later denies she ever said something as dumb,shocking or irrelevant. She's against Social security, medicare, teachers unions, several government agencies and, I heard, gambling. In the state of Nevada this "good Christian" woman is against evil gambling!! Makes sense with the other positions she espouses. She is easily confused, when reporters ask questions she runs away..literally... rather than try to speak in an uncontrolled environment. If this bubble head is what he citizens of Nevada want, well, have at it. She and Michelle Bachman should get along great.
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shocker49 says:
What's really the shame is they have to choose between two bozos!!! They would be better off with Randle Patrick McMurphy!!
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govmess says:
America needs to see Harry Reid defeated NOW....even a frog would be better to have in our government than this guy who has no sense of fiscal responsibility and who can't even speak a sensible sentence let alone a full paragraph. Let's send our money into Angle's campaign fund.
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