Despite PAC’s cosign, its calculus misses on Angle

Thursday, Aug. 17, 2006 | 7:33 a.m.

What can $880,000 buy? Almost enough.

That's how much the conservative Washington, D.C.-based Club for Growth poured into Republican Sharron Angle's campaign for Nevada's 2nd Congressional District primary, lifting the long shot candidate to just a few hundred votes shy of a run for Congress.

The nation's largest conservative economic advocacy political action committee, or PAC, whose goal is to bring more Reaganites to Washington, has racked up impressive primary successes this year - most notably the upset trouncing earlier this month of Republican Rep. Joe Schwarz of Michigan. He lost to the Club for Growth's choice, newcomer Tim Walberg, who attacked from the right.

The group ponied up more money for Angle than it has for most other races across the country this year. And it almost got what it wanted.

Although Angle has not yet conceded, she trails moderate Republican Dean Heller, Nevada's secretary of state, by 428 votes. Her campaign might demand a recount.

Despite the apparent loss, Club for Growth has been quite successful this year, said Amy Walter, who analyzes House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington. "It's their ability to put money in these races that can't be underestimated."

Walter said Club for Growth has emerged as that rare PAC that has both a distinctive message and the political savvy to get voters to the polls.

The group so far has won nine of 12 targeted elections this primary cycle - all congressional districts except for one governorship. One of its next big showdowns is the race for Republican Sen. Lincoln Chaffee's seat in Rhode Island.

"Club for Growth (members) can marry both - they have the issues and they're tactically smart," Walter said. "You have a really effective outfit."

The PAC, backed by economic titan Milton Friedman, counts 36,000 members nationwide. The president is former Pennsylvania Rep. Pat Toomey, who launched his own challenge from the right on Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., in 2004.

Toomey said his group surveys the political landscape for Republican seats and moves in when it finds a candidate with enough contrast to the Republican status quo.

Angle fit the bill.

"We just thought it was a very clear contrast among the candidates, an environment where Sharron's message for limited government, economic conservatism would resonate," Toomey said Wednesday.

He noted that if a few hundred people had voted otherwise, "we'd be having a different conversation now."

The group poured $605,000 into her campaign in direct contributions. It amounted to the bulk of the $720,000-plus she had for the campaign. The group spent another $275,000 on independent expenditures for radio and TV ads for Angle.

Heller raised $904,000.

Many believe it's the group's keen organizational ability - rather than a philosophical voter shift to the right - that brings it victories.

Even with this loss in Nevada, they say, Club for Growth will continue to be a force in the midterm elections.

"In their mind it's probably, 'We've lost the battle but the war's still going,' " said John Sides, a political science professor at George Washington University.