(Eric Odom) – The Nevada News Platoon website does not officially launch until April 1st, but since it’s all set up and ready to roll, I thought I might go ahead and write a few posts.
In this particular post, I hope to provoke some thought about the GOP Primary for U.S. Senate in Nevada. Specifically, Sharron Angle’s bid for the the chance to challenge Harry Reid in the general election.
First, and for full disclaimer, I did some contract work for Sharron Angle when she ran for Congress in 2006. Also, I want to be clear here and say that this post is in no way an endorsement (not that my endorsement really matters anyway); Rather, my questions and comments here are more based on curiosity.
Back in 2006, the conservative activists I worked with were begging, I mean literally pleading with Nevadans to consider the two clear conservative choices. The first was Sharron Angle for Congress, the second was Bob Beers for Governor.
We warned Nevadans all over the state that Jim Gibbons was going to be trouble. Bob Beers was intelligent, articulate, and he had coherent plans to tackle many of Nevada’s budget problems.
Jim Gibbons on the other hand was playing the establishment game. Gibbons repeated carefully crafted talking points and claimed a violation of the “11th commandment” any time Bob Beers challenged him on a stance or issue.
Yet, in the end, most Nevada Republicans sided with the establishment pick and sent Jim Gibbons to Carson City.
Do we need to discuss how well that choice worked out?
Didn’t think so.
Then there was the CD2 Primary. The Club for Growth came in and gave establishment pick Dean Heller (who at the time was Secretary of State) a huge run for his money by endorsing Sharron Angle.
Now I’ve heard many Nevadans claim that Dean Heller has handled CD2 well since being elected. But, to be fair, ANYONE who represents CD2 has to do so from a conservative view. CD2 is probably one of the most conservative districts in the country!
Sharron Angle, though, would have been a MUCH better Representative in Congress. Angle was a true conservative tax fighter in the Nevada legislature, and I have no doubt she would have been a ball buster in Congress, fighting big government in a much more aggressive way.
But, as in the case of Jim Gibbons, the Nevada GOP establishment opted Dean Heller and gave him about 400 more votes than Angle.
There were a couple of other races where good conservatives were beat as well, but these two really stand out.
Right now we have a three way race in the Senate Primary. There is Danny Tarkanian, Sue Lowden and Sharron Angle.
I know, there are about 150,000 other candidates in the race as well, but you can’t argue that these three are probably front runners at the moment.
Now for the record, I think both Sue Lowden and Danny Tarkanian would probably govern from a fairly conservative position. I can honestly say I can’t imagine either of the two doing a poor job of representing Nevada.
But, in my opinion, Sharron Angle would be an absolute conservative rock star. I don’t say this to suggest the other two would not be, but with them I just don’t know for sure. But with Angle I DO know for certain!
Nevadans should take a very close look at the candidates for Senate in the GOP primary. I’m not sure who would be the best choice, but I do know that we’ve elected a few folks that have completely let us down, and I hope we don’t do it again.
These times are far too important to make the same mistakes again.
My two…
(Mr. Odom is the publisher of the soon-to-launch Nevada News Platoon)
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