On a call with reporters this morning, RNC Chair Michael Steele called his new Senate nominee in Nevada, tea party favorite Sharron Angle, a “common sense” leader who’ll bring a “good, fresh look at the issues” to the race against Sen. Harry Reid (D).
“I feel good about what Sharron Angle will bring to the Senate,” Steele said. But, faced with a nominee most Democrats say makes Reid’s path to reelection a least a little easier, Steele said the election won’t be about Angle’s views — which even her rivals in the Republican primary said are too extreme to win a general election against Reid.
“We expect this election will be as much about Harry Reid and Barack Obama as anything else,” Steele said. He said the RNC is “fully-committed” to helping Angle win, and promised to bolster her shoestring campaign with national and state Republican resources “within the next 10 days.”
Asked about the criticisms of Angle as being too extreme for a general electorate in Nevada, Steele said that the fact that state Republicans chose her as their nominee last night proves she’s the “standard-bearer” for Nevada Republicans and the right woman to take the fight to one of the GOP’s top Senate targets this year.
“The fact that she won the primary tells you can win,” Steele said.
“What Angle brings to this race is going to be dynamic,” Steele said. “It’s energizing and reflective of the grassroots views across the country, and especially in Nevada.”
Steele was joined on the call by Nevada RNC member Robert List. He echoed Steele’s take on the political landscape in the state, and said that Nevadans are ready for a dramatic change.
List said the Nevada is “number one in foreclosures” and suffering under high unemployment. That combination means voters in the state are “deeply resentful about the spending” Reid and his Democratic allies in Congress have passed this year, List said. Enter Angle, he said, the right woman to turn Nevada’s frown upside down.
“Sharron is a populist,” List said. “She appeals to people from top to bottom.”
“Keep your eye on her,” he added. “She’s on fire.”
