Harry Reid ad bashes Sharron Angle on unemployment

Associated Press

Published Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010 | 10:12 a.m.

Updated Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010 | 1:27 p.m.

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled another TV ad on Tuesday using the words of Republican rival Sharron Angle against her.

The ad released in Nevada features an unemployed Las Vegas woman denouncing Angle's comment that entitlement programs like unemployment benefits have "spoiled" citizens and made them dependent on government.

"I'm not spoiled, and I don't want to be dependent on anybody," the woman, identified as Debra Harding, says in the ad. "If Sharron Angle doesn't get that, she should be out of work, not people like me."

The ad is the latest from Reid calling Angle too extreme on economic and social policies.

Reid, a powerful but unpopular incumbent seeking his fifth term, is in a tight race with Angle, an unpolished tea party favorite.

A statewide poll last week put the two candidates in a statistical tie with 5 percent of voters undecided and the election now 10 weeks away.

Both are focusing on Nevada's forlorn economy, where unemployment reached a record 14.3 percent in July, the highest in the country.

Angle said in a May television interview that entitlements "spoiled our citizenry."

She later said she meant government assistance programs discourage some unemployed workers from seeking paid jobs.

Angle spokesman Jarrod Agen on Tuesday blamed Nevada's economic troubles on Reid.