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A bad week for Sue Lowden, but it’s still really early
Challenger of Sen. Reid has rough times — one year before the election
Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sue Lowden has name recognition as a former local TV reporter, anchorwoman and state senator and benefits from her political connections as state party chairwoman. She and her husband are wealthy casino owners who netted $150 million more than a decade ago when they sold the Sahara.
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Harry Reid
CARSON CITY — Welcome to the spotlight, Sue Lowden.
Not long ago the former chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party looked like the clear favorite to emerge from the GOP field and face Sen. Harry Reid in next year’s election.
Then came last week.
John Chachas, a Republican Wall Street investment banker who has committed $1 million to his campaign to unseat Reid, showed he’s willing to spend the money, hiring top-tier national and state political talent.
Then Lowden laughed at a conservative radio host’s suggestion that Reid campaign ads exaggerate a 1981 incident in which a bomb was found under the family’s station wagon. Reid was Gaming Commission chairman. Lowden, a television anchor in Las Vegas at the time, said she couldn’t recall the incident.
Reid’s campaign pounced, spawning a round of media checking that unearthed police reports and old newspaper clippings proving police took the threat to Reid seriously. The coverage fed a narrative Reid has to like — he was so tough cleaning up the gambling industry that someone tried to kill him.
A Ron Paul activist, still bitter about the aborted Republican state convention last year, announced he was forming a political action committee to defeat Lowden.
To top it off, Friday offered a Geraldo Rivera-worthy media moment, as Sun columnist Jon Ralston described it. An unopened ballot box from that Republican convention had been found in a Reno casino cage. It was unveiled Friday at Reno Republican headquarters, with Chachas in attendance.
The incident dredged up memories of the convention where Republican leadership, including Lowden, had to be escorted out to protect them from angry Ron Paul people, who believed they were poised to send supporters of the libertarian-leaning congressman to the Republican National Convention before the party’s establishment abruptly shut down the convention.
The general election is a year off and the usual caveats apply. There’s plenty of time for any candidate to recover, or stumble, before June’s primary. Reid is faring poorly in polls and the state’s anemic economy is showing no sign of recovery, which hurts incumbents.
But Lowden’s rough week highlights Reid’s biggest advantage, besides his prodigious campaign cash: Republicans failed to field an “A list” candidate to challenge him.
Lowden had been one of the top-tier candidates, along with Danny Tarkanian, a businessman best known for being the son of former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian.
Her campaign said it’s far too early to count her out.
“There are a lot of people talking about Sue Lowden right now, and that’s OK,” said Robert Uithoven, a Nevada political adviser to Lowden.
He said the attention reflects the fact that the Reid campaign views her as the biggest threat.
“When Reid advisers talk about vaporizing his opponent, it’s clear who he’s talking about. Sen. Reid is focused on Sue Lowden, and views her as the biggest threat to his power and prestige,” Uithoven said.
He maintains that a competitive primary is good for a party, especially when it’s trying to redefine itself and rebuild.
Ryan Erwin, a political consultant hired by Chachas last week, said his candidate is “in it to win it.”
“Sue Lowden is a front-runner, so is Danny Tarkanian,” he said. “I think you put us up there in that conversation, along with (former Assemblywoman) Sharon Angle and (State Sen.) Mark Amodei. There’s a pathway for five candidates to win that race right now.”
The more the candidates fight and falter, the better the news is for Reid.
Discussion: 41 comments so far…
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We have something of a pattern here. Sue Lowden also played a key role in subverting the will of the delegates to the Clark County Republican Convention in 1998, which I had the distinct displeasure of witnessing first hand. If you want a senator committed first and foremost to doing the bidding of her elitist cronies, she's your candidate. I, for one, will be taking a long hard look at EVERY other individual running for the office . . . besides Lowden and Reid.
What Sue Lowden did with the ballots is illegal.
Sneaky.
Underhanded.
Nasty.
Childish.
She belongs on AM talk radio and NOT in politics.
Lowden laughed at a suggestion that Reid campaign ads exaggerate Reid hoax of a 1981 incident in which a bomb was found under the family's station wagon.
That would be the not working "WIRE" from the front of the car to the back of the car - not a bomb.
Oscar would know if this hoax was real or not but he will not give up Harry Reid
how many other skeletons are there in sue lowden's closet???
hmmm???
let's all look in sue lowden's closet shall we???
hmmm???
do you think there are other goodies in there???
who the hell would join the stupid pathetic lying republican party these days???
with johnny i'll sleep with my best friend/senior staffer's wife then run to mommy and daddy to fix my boo boo ensign...
with that little gibbons monkey in the governor's mansion with no leadership skills whatsoever...
only l-o-s-e-r-s!!!
Sue Lowden is not ready for prime time. Nevada needs strong leadership - not some photogenic airhead who doesn't have the brains to check her facts before making herself look like an idiot - or the class to apologize when she is proved to be so very, very wrong.
Hmmm....Reid comes out for the public option and members of his own party slammed him down.
Of course, the Sun will never report on that.
That would be actual real news.
SgtRock Hmmm... once again you do not know a thing about the truth. Reid like anyone with a brain knows that the only way to make insurance companies stop abusing the public is to take way their anti trust protection and a public option which will for the first time in decades offer true competition. You pathetic right wing nut jobs are never interested in the truth,just more spin and lies like your heros Fox News and Rush. Get a brain,know the facts as well as the truth then get a life Rocko.
Sue Lowden the original lounge lizard who claims to have been a reporter managed to do one thing right in her patheic little life and that was to marry up to the Buffalo crime families front man nit wit Paul Lowden. You can take Sue the lizards accomplishments and put them in a thimble along with her peroxided small brain. It is now time for Sue the lizard to hit the louge trail one more time before gravity and old age takes over for good.
Homer.....thinks for not disputing the FACT that the his fellow Democrat Senators slapped him over for coming in out in favor of the public option.
I can see you just skipped over my point and when into a rant over why you support the public option.
I support any means to reign in crooked insurance companies and their abuses. I also realize there are politicians on both sides of the isle who can not resist insurance companies lobbyiests money, including Dina Titus. If you have a problem with the Sun it is because they do not print what you want to read, after all they have won Pulitizer Prizes. I do not think he was slapped anymore than others who have different ideas. Just what is your point? You should spend more time researching issues rather than looking for fodder at any expense to blast someone you don't care for.Spin is what it is called. I'll take Harry any day over Ensign, Gibbons and the flip flopping George Bush lackey congressman from the north. Public option, denying insurance companies anti trust exemption are jsut a few of the things needed to stop the abuses of crooked insurance companies, where the real death sqads exist. To those who have insurance from a retirement and think they are immune from these abuses good luck.
Thanks for agreeing with me that Reid got slapped down.
I was just pointing out that the very very very very Democratic Sun just focuses on Republican speed bumps and just completely ignores the Democratic speed bumps.
It is there right to be a completely bias paper and I am glad that they do it in a neon bright red way for it makes it easy for the common folk to recongized that they are not a paper to be trusted.
Sue Lowden had a bad week for "laughing" at Harry Reid? The fact Harry Reid cynically pounced on this with the help of his pals at the LVSun shows even he doesn't take this whole "bomb" thing very seriously.
Sgt. Rock, I have to thank you for your persistent submissions to the LV Sun's wall. The frequency of your posts does a lot for Democrats in that it creates a picture, true or not, of how insane right wingers are. Thanks for the polarization! Please keep up the posts, for while your sophistry is absolutely asinine, it is also quite funny.
Sue Lowden would be a great Senator! Right now really anybody would be better than our slime-ball Senator Harry Reid. Harry Reid expects to win by marginalizing opponents which is indicative of a failing leader. He has lost our confidence and needs to go. We need to rte-elect Harry Reid like we need a hole in our head. So go Sue! WE need a fresh face to represent our state.
Cleanface Harry Reid says he "ran the mob out of Las Vegas, and the mob put a bomb in his family car." That sentence along contains three lies. 1.) He DID NOT run the mob out, his mafia pals were in charge when he took office and when he left. 2.) There was NO bomb. Just a wire (cops said probably kids trying to hook up a stereo). 3.) Who says the mob did it? Listen to the commercial and read the police report. Who is lying?
I'm delighted to see that a Wall Street investment banker is running. Who's next, Osama bin Laden?
It's Wall Street and loosely underwritten money that is a source of many of the problems today in Las Vegas. With cost-debt structures so high as each gaming property competes for business, even within the same company, as a result of the supercharged flow of money into the Strip Corridor from Wall Street, hospitality jobs are no longer careers, they are just jobs applied for online. Meantime, the relationships at the top of gaming companies remain close to Wall Street.
Smaller, local banks are the real key to effective underwriting and lending in communities and regions, which provides sustainable outcomes in areas such as jobs, housing and business.
Megaresorts have to seek capital from larger lenders than local banks, but that brings with it the added problem that funding and support for influence-control of Southern Nevada will be diluted by non-local entities and relationships.
Ensign and now the corrupt, lying lounge lizard,money grubbing Lowden, the whole world not just America will laugh at Nevada.
Why not Lowden and Heidi Fleiss, now we have matching lamps.
White bread, Sue & Dawn....good eating sandwich.
homer, homer, homer, come on now, settle down and quit the name calling...
Nobody will stop you from voting for Harry...
Sue Lowden is a great person, she just chose the wrong year want to become Senator. The should try for Senate in 2012.
I don't know a thing about this now infamous ballot box or Mrs. Lowden's connection to it. But I do feel the need to correct an inaccuracy in your story: I was in Las Vegas on Friday attending the Keystone Dinner and meeting with various officials...not in Reno, as your article indicated.
"You should spend more time researching issues rather than looking for fodder at any expense to blast someone you don't care for."
Good advice. Then the same person wrote: "Sue Lowden the original lounge lizard", and "You pathetic right wing nut jobs", and "corrupt, lying lounge lizard,money grubbing Lowden", and "Lowden and Heidi Fleiss, now we have matching lamps", and "hit the louge trail one more time before gravity and old age takes over for good", and more.
I guess the writer meant to say, "Do as I say, not as I do."
I wonder how much more the LV SUN got wrong in this article...
the republican party is in shambles and morally corrupt; what an alternative to harry reid! i do like the "matching lamps" comment about two dim bulbs, lowden and fleiss.
Oh yes, Harry Reid the man that cleaned up the mob in Vegas. Check your facts Harry, who fiananced mob casinos in Vegas? That's right, The Mormon church. The same church Greid belongs to, As a assistant DA in Searchlight, how many cases did you win? Not very many. Who wanted Harry off the Gaming Commission Board,Bill Bible. For those that have lived here less than 10 years, SHUT THE F##K up cause you don't know anything bout Harry Free , I mean Greid, I mean, Pinkie. Even people in Searchlight don't like Pinky. Send Harry to 1960's.
I will say one thing also, SUE LOWDEN IS HOT, HOT, HOT. Who do the Democrats have that is Hot like Sue Lowden. Yes, I Know Sue and worked for her but man, she is HOT.
stick to mexican food b bandit2.
At least the bandito can support his statements with good solid facts...
Burritobandit2 is dead wrong as is Larry. The Teamsters Health and Welfare Fund (Pension Plan) financed mob ran casinos. It was Hoffa who loaned huge amounts of money without any collateral to the mob. Bandito where have you been all of your life if infact you have been in Las Vegas? Do you know how many trials and federal investigations back up these facts? I guess ol' Larry only likes it when someone is calling Harry names. Just like a right winger who wants it all his way. Everthing said about Sue is fact. I remember the days when she haunted the lounges and halls of the Sahara like she owned it, when in fact her sugar daddy husband was the front man for the Buffalo mob. Now Larry if you can't contribute substance sit on the side lines and listen, you may learn something about real FACTS.
Actually there homer, I was referring to the Bandito's 0429 post.
I didn't attack your post where you lump Lowden with Heidi Fleiss. Now that's real class...
Sneaky.
Underhanded.
Nasty.
Childish.
These are exactly the skills and traits that make a politician.
Just another example of Republican underhandedness and guile against anyone and everyone who is not Republican. It's no wonder so many people are jumping off that ship.
Where is the Republican underhandedness and guile? I must have missed it...
Those hound dogs are always up to no good...
People are jumping Republican and Democrats and joining the ranks of the Independents.
Sue should drop out; she's out of her league. And who is this Chachas guy from NY? No carpetbaggers!
I guess that leaves Tark. I'm ok with that. He seems to be a better choice than the rest.
We hope she'll change policies and procedures to halt and de-escalate the 200% increase in Clark County's childrens' wrongful deaths.
The amounts being court ordered to be paid plaintiffs have bankrupted the State.
"I don't know a thing about this now infamous ballot box or Mrs. Lowden's connection to it." (John Chachas - LV SUN)
What better proof do Nevada voters need to recognize that John Chachas is an out of touch New Yorker who knows nothing about what's going-on in Nevada? It's not too difficult to figure out that Chachas just wants to take his exorbitant gains as as Wall Street banker and buy himself a senate seat. Trouble is, John, Nevadans aren't as star struck as New Yorkers so we can find a senator who actually lives in Nevada.
I'm a supporter of Harry Reid - his clout is so strong that replacing him would lesson Nevada's influence greatly. But, Sue Lowden is smart, articulate, and brings a sincere and authentic work ethic to challenges she takes on. She also conducts herself with a dignity at all times that always reflected favorably on her casino enterprises. The unions are obsessed with defeating her which is another check in the plus column for her. If Reid was not in she would have my vote.