Republican candidate for US Senate from Nevada, Sharron Angle

This past week, Sharron Angle won the Republican nomination to oppose Senator Harry Reid in his re-election bid in Nevada. This race has become a huge deal for both parties. Not only is Sen. Reid the Senate Majority Leader, but he also represents a reliably “red” state, where his negatives are about as high as someone of such stature could have.

Reid is clearly worried about re-election, so he decided to interfere, or so the rumor mill goes. The rumors are that the Reid campaign wanted Angle to win, because they see her as the easiest candidate to defeat, or in the words of the Reid campaign, “destroy”. This is a huge mistake on the part of the Reid campaign, as well as a great misunderstanding of the current political dynamic in the country.

To be sure, the senator’s campaign does have some good selling points, and the Republicans would be quite foolish to ignore this fact. The Reid campaign can point to two areas that are historically very persuasive in re-election campaigns for figures as powerful as Reid. They are the length of time in the Senate, and the power of his office. In response to the Tea Party accusations that he is just another Washington hat, the senator can point to the fact that he represents his constituents quite well in Washington. Indeed, he can use the same trick that most liberals campaigning in conservative areas have used, the argument that they have to make an almost-Faustian deal sometimes, to stay in power, and push the people’s real interests and goals. In this argument, the time in office has allowed him to accumulate the power and position to do this.

Despite the overall good poll ratings of Sharron Angle, whom Rasmussen Reports has winning over Reid by eleven points, and the current political climate, Reid could still pull out an upset. The race is clearly Angle’s to lose, because combating Reid’s campaign talking points is easy with the right strategy. Once the talking points are neutralized, the momentum of the Tea Party should pull the Angle campaign easily over the finish line.

The question is how can the Angle campaign convince people to turn in a Senate leader for a new freshman senator? To be honest, without some raw political bargain that might potentially turn away the base, there is no way to make Sharron Angle a better deal in terms of raw ability to gain resources for Nevada. The only way to defeat Reid on this issue is to convince the people of Nevada that this exercise in raw political power is harmful to the state and nation. Indeed, it corrupts the office holder.

The national deficit is astronomically high at over thirteen billion dollars, and is about to get much, much higher. In large part, this is thanks to Harry Reid’s support and ushering through of the health care bill. This is on top of the so-called “Cap and Trade” bill, the support for overall increased spending, the support for amnesty for illegal aliens, and other liberal ideas that the liberal senator is eager to push through. These ideas are not what the people of Nevada tend to favor.

Yet Harry Reid continues to be re-elected even though he supports these ideas. It’s an old game. He claims to support the ideas of his constituents, but then goes to Washington, and does the opposite of what he says. This type of duplicity, or lying, is typical of Washington politicians, especially those Democrats that run in conservative or right-leaning states and districts.

The enormous disconnect between the pleasing rhetoric of Sen. Reid and his actions on Capitol Hill is the first point that the Angle campaign can make. The second point is a bit more complex, but can easily be broken down to two simple questions. What do all the perks matter if you are still unemployed? If the pot is constantly shrinking, how does a continually smaller “return” on tax dollars, help you? Sharron Angle must point out not only the disconnect between Harry Reid and the voters in Nevada, but also point out how the policies that he has pushed over his time in office are actually hurting Nevadans.

This is where the Reid campaign has made its mistake in thinking Angle an easy candidate to defeat. The very arguments that resonate with the Tea Party voters are also the arguments that will sink the Senator in any debate that the two are sure to have. Indeed, the label of “kook” that the Reid campaign plans to give her can be dispelled by simply appealing to the beliefs of Nevadans, and asking what good the Washington programs that Senator Reid favors have done for Nevada. Reid should be careful of his tactics and labels, because he might not like the people of Nevada thinking about the answer to this question.

The old adage about getting what you wish may just apply to Senator Reid. He may end up regretting what he wished for in Sharron Angle.