SPARKS, Nev. – The battle for the Senate is raging in Nevada, but the candidates are so unpopular they have mostly been ducking the public and instead are waging war against each other on television.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Democratic incumbent, made a rare appearance in this Reno suburb Wednesday to tout the millions of federal tax dollars he has steered toward northern Nevada communities for rail, infrastructure and emergency relief.
But the event was held in his campaign office for members of the media, not the public.
For the most part, Reid and former state Sen. Sharron Angle, the Republican challenger, face such fierce voter anger that they’re hoping they can win by simply undercutting their opponent’s support with negative campaign advertising.
In fact, one of the few ways Nevada voters can see either candidate is by watching their dueling attack ads.
A Reid spot released Wednesday featured not the four-term majority leader but actors mocking Angle’s views on gun ownership, abortion and Social Security.
“She’s too extreme for any person on the planet!” a female narrator exclaims.
A new Angle ad features images of Reid and promotes his support of legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for children whose immigrant parents are living illegally in the United States. It dubs Reid “The best friend illegals ever had.”
“Each is trying to drive down voter participation for the other by trying to gross everyone out and trying to convince the other’s supporters not to show up at all,” said Hugh Jackson, author of the liberal blog the Las Vegas Gleaner. “I like to characterize the race not as Reid versus Angle, but rather anyone but Harry Reid versus anyone but Sharron Angle.”
Reid and Angle are tied in the latest polls, though 15 percent of voters say they’ll probably chose “None of the Above,” an option on Nevada’s ballot, rather than vote for either Senate candidate.
The candidates themselves have helped deflate their own popularity with outrageous public comments. Angle, for instance, said unemployment benefits have “spoiled our citizenry,” while Reid said unemployed men “tend to become abusive.”
Those foot-in-mouth moments have been memorialized on the Internet and in the candidates’ ads.
But where are the candidates?
“I’ve been running the country, or at least helping to run it,” Reid told The Washington Examiner on Thursday. “I’ve been busy and I got out here just as quick as I could.”
Staffers in one of Angle’s campaign offices were of little help when someone called this week to ask about meeting her.
“Good luck,” a woman responded to the caller. “We can’t even get her into the office.”
Angle has been jetting to D.C., Los Angeles, Boise, Idaho, and elsewhere to raise campaign cash.
As the Tea Party favorite, state political observers say, Angle has alienated the state’s GOP establishment and, as a result, Republicans are making contributions to Reid’s campaign instead, forcing Angle to look elsewhere.
“She’s had a tough time getting the big donations from in-state,” University of Nevada, Las Vegas, political science professor David Damore said.
Voters here have tired of Reid and Angle on television and want to see them in person.
“I think a town hall event with a question-and-answer session would be helpful,” said Brenda Murrey, who owns the Lock and Glass Shop in Sparks with her husband, Walter.
Still, neither candidate has any public events scheduled.
