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twitterGOP front-runner faces attacks from own party
Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009 | 10:23 a.m.
The high-stakes election is still a year away, but Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is already leveling criticism at Republican Sue Lowden, the former state GOP chairwoman, state legislator and Miss America candidate who hopes to unseat him.
Lowden, however, is apparently holding her on against Reid, leading him in mid-October polling. Her problem is the barrage coming from her own party, which remains splintered a year after being soundly beaten at the polls.
Disaffected Republicans who supported U.S. Rep. Ron Paul in last year's presidential election have formed a political action committee to derail the campaign of Lowden, the early GOP front-runner.
Robert Holloway, director of the Fair Nevada Elections PAC, contends Lowden as state chair cheated Paul supporters out of a place at the Republican National Convention last year.
"Sue Lowden basically stole the election for John McCain," said Holloway, 64, a nuclear science consultant from Las Vegas. "We need to elect people who have respect for law and order, and our electoral process."
Holloway said last week's count of missing delegate ballots from the April 2008 state GOP convention supports his group's contention that all three delegates from the state's 2nd Congressional District should have gone to Paul supporters.
The count also bolsters its claim that Lowden abruptly recessed the convention prior to final votes after it appeared Paul would take most of the state's 34 delegates to the national convention, he said.
The PAC also complains the party deteriorated under Lowden's leadership in the last election when President Barack Obama easily captured Nevada and Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., lost, turning a red state blue.
Lowden spokesman Robert Uithoven said the criticism is unfair because Lowden allowed Paul to speak at the state convention and promoted his appearances at party caucuses.
"She has become a target because she's the front-runner. Harry is talking about her, and now a few Ron Paul supporters are talking about her," Uithoven said.
He said the PAC represents just a handful of Republicans and Lowden counts Paul supporters among her backers.
"I think some people want to get stuck reliving the 2008 election cycle," he said.
Lowden, 57, is a former executive vice president of Sahara Hotel and Casino, and a current board member of a casino and investment company that owns the Pioneer Hotel in Laughlin. A former television anchorwoman in Las Vegas, she was Miss New Jersey and second runner-up for Miss America in 1973.
A poll for the Las Vegas Review-Journal in October found Lowden faring better against Reid than any other Republican candidate, with 49 percent supporting her and 39 percent favoring Reid.
She also was in a statistical tie with Danny Tarkanian, son of former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, atop a list of nine primary candidates, according to the poll conducted by Washington, D.C.-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc.
The survey showed 23 percent of Republicans favored Lowden and 21 percent backed Tarkanian, with 44 percent undecided.
Political analysts think the opposition from Paul supporters could hurt Lowden in the June 8 primary. They note state Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, was defeated after he chaired the 2008 state GOP convention under Lowden.
"In a primary with lower turnout, if you have a large block of Republicans who are still bitter, I think it could be bad news for her," said David Damore, a political science professor at UNLV and a Democrat. "I'm sure it'll make Danny Tarkanian very happy."
Fred Lokken, political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno and a Republican, said the ballot count validates the Paul backers' long simmering anger over the convention being shut down.
"I think they're going to be a very large problem for her in next year's election," he said.
Lokken also noted that Nevada's Democratic voter registration surged and Republican fundraising dwindled during Lowden's tenure as party chairwoman. GOP National Committeewoman Heidi Smith of Nevada said she hopes the count of missing ballots brings closure to Paul supporters and the anti-Lowden PAC will "disintegrate."
"I'm hoping the people who are angry will settle down and put their energy toward defeating Harry Reid," she said.
The convention controversy prompted Wayne Terhune, a Reno-area dentist and Paul supporter, to later organize an insurgent state GOP convention, where Paul won most of the national convention delegates and McCain supporter Mike Weber served as chairman.
A Nevada GOP committee appointed another delegation, mostly prominent party regulars and contributors. A key Republican National Committee panel then recommended a compromise list of delegates and said it was troubled by the "ineptness" of the Nevada GOP.
"That's not a commendation for higher office," Terhune said. "I think it'll come back to hurt Sue Lowden to the point where she'll be too weak to win."
Uithoven said frustration over Republicans' dismal 2008 performance at the polls is driving much of the criticism of Lowden.
Already, Reid has lined up some high-profile Republicans to support his re-election, including casino bosses Steve Wynn and Jim Murren, entertainer Wayne Newton, first lady Dawn Gibbons and political consultant Sig Rogich.
Last week, Reid's campaign criticized Lowden after she made light of a 1981 attempted car bombing against him that police called an attempted homicide.
Reid, who faces no serious challenge within his party in his bid for a fifth term, stands to benefit if the GOP sniping continues and Republican candidates beat up on each other in the primary, analysts said.
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The local "NEWSTALK?" station is actively working against "Paulian" candidates in the Senate election, (like it's their election.) I already saw Ron Paul people show up at some of their remote broadcasts....this could be interesting, do a remote broadcast and have a gaggle of Paul People show up with signs.
That's happened with hate-talker Sean Insannity, the Paul People chased him off the streets of New Hampshire.
you just have to love the stupid pathetic lying republican party...
these accusations against sue "i'm an air head with skeletons in my closet and no qualifications whatsoever to be a us senator kind of like sarah "dumb as a bag of rocks" palin" lowden are serious...
very serious...
and what does the national representative for the stupid pathetic lying republican party do for those who are ticked off...
she expresses her hope that they will "settle down"...
you heard her ron paul supporters...
"settle down"!!!
Louden is an intelligint woman. Harry Reid is a fool.
There she sits with Joey, Alan, Oscar, ET AL, does she really benefit from bringing up the 70s and 80s???
If she's so smart, why would she stand by Gibbons and Enswigne?? Gibbons is at 14%
The "Tan Man" John is lower than Reid.
The local dittohead station is under strict orders to block any Paul people anyway they can.
In a three way race a strong libertarian candidate might have a chance for Senate.
It's time for Harry to go. He meets the true definition of a politician- "one who will lie, steal and cheat to get re-elected." A true LOOTER.
Who's right? I think Profs. Damore & Lokken are right. That R-J "poll" is old, and R-J "polls" are never really accurate. Miss Sue Low-down may not even survive the primary, especially with the Ron Paul people working AGAINST her.
And any way, Harry Reid will survive another election as always. I'm sure his team is having a good laugh at all the chaos on the GOP side. The GOoPers always whine about him, but that's just because he's been good for Nevada working families. ;-)
This nonsense that Sue Lowden is the "frontrunner" seems laughable to me.
The election machine hasn't even been warmed up yet. Wait til' she has to SPEAK and ARTICULATE her positions... and debate! That could be some wildly entertaining viewing. I would also wager that the democratic party has some verrry interesting background to work with as they dissect Ms. Lowden's past. I would say she is facing some rather looooong odds as we sit here today, regardless of what some old poll in the RJ tells you. mred might be right... A strong 3rd party candidate could wreak havock.
look at the similarities between...
sue "i'm an air head with skeletons in my closet and no qualifications whatsoever to be a us senator" lowden...
and...
sarah "dumb as a bag of rocks" palin...
both were beauty contestants...
both were in tv...
both were/are horrifically unqualified for the offices they sought/seek...
both are disliked by the enlightened (intelligent) faction of the stupid pathetic lying republican party...
both provide inspiration for the phrase "stupid pathetic lying republican party"!!!
This is what primaries are all about. harry Reid has only one thing to worry about and its not who in the Republican nominee, it is the total anger of the voters against him and Pelosi.
gmag & birdie-
Again, I wonder if Miss Low-down will even survive the GOP primary. The Ron Paul people actually see through her lies, and they're already spending money against her. It will be fun to perhaps start a countdown clock until she drops out.
Reid really got lucky this year. ;-)
Sue Lowden intelligent? She is a gold digging lounge lizard who married Paul Lowden the Buffalo crime families front man at the Sahara. Sue Lowden an executive at the Sahara? Get real.
Well, I think considering how she led the Nevada GOP into the ground says everything anyone needs to know about Lowden.
In a state where even Jim Gibbons could get elected, Republicans should have no problems... but Lowden led them to a catastrophic loss in 2008.
Given the wingnut hatred for Reid, a 10 point spread one year out is really bad news for Lowden and the Republicans. With Reid's war chest of millions, Lowden has virtually no shot at winning in 2010.
i wonder if there is a law that sue "i'm an air head with skeletons in my closet and no qualifications whatsoever to be a us senator" lowden broke at the convention???
hmmm???
but then again...
even if there was...
attorney general catherine cortez masto is a joke...
a real clown...
just conider how ridiculous the pathetic medical board made her look with regard to their pathetic emergency regulation regarding medical assistants...
wow wee...
they made her look like the buffoon she is!!!
I voted and donated to Ron Paul because he was the only politician that made any sense. Before we went to war in Iraq, he was one of the few Republicans who asked, Why? This interview before the war is nothing short of prophetic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EywYDhPe... Ron Paul said what we were heading for a financial meltdown years before the 1st stimulus, and he was right again.
The MSM works for the elites who control both parties. Lowden is part of the Neocon - Right team which is no better than the liberals at the end of the day. Just look at the records, clinton was deemed much more conservative than Bush in ACTIONS (legislation). http://www.cato.org/research/articles/de... Forget the words! Talk ain't sh-t! Look at what these neocon fools are doing, have done, to destroy the conservative movement! Tark is my choice at the current time because he is an non-connected DC OUTSIDER! We must elect non DC people who represent the desires of the conservative majority in this county or the US is done as a democracy in our lifetime.
I love this quote from the link above which chimes in on health care and climate change: "Yet making government bigger is not a recipe for economic growth. After all, there is a reason why Hong Kong grows so fast and France is an economic basket case. But you can't tell that to the Bush administration."
Thus, it can be said the libs agenda is to kill economic growth and destroy the middle class, create a society of super rich with the masses being mostly poor as they are in Mexico and other elitist countries. What does this have to do with Ms Lowden? Everything! She fought to "shut up" Ron Paul and make him a non-factor last election. Payback time! First we take on the neocon Rep establishment, then Reid. Both are ripe for destruction!
Lowden will fail to win the primary and her backers will still get behind Tarkanian.
Reid is a missile-locked bogey. Even if he dodges the shot, he will be a man despised by half his electorate and without a mandate.
At 57, Sue Lowden is HOT!!!
Burrito: down boy!
There's only one true conservative in this race - Sharron Angle from Reno. Angle spent 8 years in the Assembly and, unlike Lowden and Tark. actually has a record that will prove her credentials as a bonafide conservative.
Burrito is one who diffidently puts principles before party loyalties.
People need to unite to defeat our present senator. We deserve much better than a Harry Reid or his son. I believe Steve Wynn and the others should reconsider. Nevada can do much better than the same ole crotchety old career politician Harry Reid. He's continually ignores his constituents and feels all he has to do is raise money and run ads to make people forget and somehow like him. Let's show him and politicians like him that it's not going to fly here in this state. Tarkanian or Lowden, either would be fresh direction for our state.
As much as I dislike the Kenyan Marxist's minion, "Lefty" Reid, for his socialist agenda, I don't think Mrs. Lowden can unseat him in 2010. No one can. He's still riding on his hero's ( Barry Hussein) coat tail popularity left over from the 06 and 08 elections wherein the democrats poked the American voter's eyes. Only when their super deficits ruin markets and cause double digit inflation, and double digit unemployment, and double digit interest rates ala Jimmy Carter, will the voter welcome the GOP or the Independent party back into its fold.