Lowden Calls Reid Interference in Republican Primary “Unprecedented”

(Sean Whaley/Nevada News Bureau) – GOP U.S. Senate candidate Sue Lowden said today she is “very encouraged” by the exit polling results her campaign has seen from early voting as primary election day draws near.

She said in an interview on the Nevada NewsMakers television program that the results of a poll reported over the weekend in the Las Vegas Review-Journal showing Sharron Angle taking a commanding lead in the multi-candidate primary is several days old and included people who have not yet voted. The poll was conducted June 1 through 3.

“So we’ve been tracking those who have left their homes, the comforts of their homes, and gone to early vote and we’re very, very encouraged,” she said.

Lowden did not disclose what her tracking polls are showing, saying she didn’t have the information available.

“It’s different in every part of the state that we’ve been tracking,” she said. “But I can tell you we feel really good about those who have voted already.”

Lowden said voters should not be swayed by the ads running in the Senate race from outside groups, particularly those from the Patriot Majority PAC, which she said has links to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The political action committee, run by a former Reid campaign staffer, is running an ad in Nevada attacking Lowden’s record on taxes during her term in the state Senate in the 1990s.

“I do wish outside groups had stayed out of our race,” she said. “Harry Reid has clearly decided he doesn’t want me in November to defeat him; he thinks it’s easier to defeat me in June. I’m hoping that people see through it.”

While voters may be tired of negative campaigning, Lowden said GOP primary voters need to know that outside groups are trying to influence the results, including “Harry Reid friendlies who are doing that, trying to influence our Republican primary, like I’ve never seen before in this state.”

Lowden said questions raised about several incidents during her campaign, such as her suggestion that people barter with their doctors for care, were made issues by Reid to distract voters from his failures on jobs and the economy.

“They can’t find anything about me, so they make it up,” she said. “He’s going to do anything to protect his job to make sure he has a job in November. He doesn’t care about the tens of thousands of people who don’t have jobs in Nevada. He’s not talking about that.”

Lowden made similar remarks in an appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball this afternoon.