The Race To Replace Harry Reid: The Optimist

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Danny Tarkanian exudes a quiet confidence on the campaign trail.

Despite consistently polling third - although sometimes a close third - in the Nevada GOP primary to select a candidate to challenge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Tarkanian told RTTNews he is optimistic entertin the final week.

His closing strategy, he said, is to employ the personal touch by hosting meet-and-greet events with voters - groups of as small as 10 to as many as 60 - to answer their questions, hear their concerns and make his case for their votes.

And it's a strategy he seems comfortable with, shaking hands with Veterans at a Memorial Day remembrance in Las Vegas, with seemingly warm handshakes one at a time as he worked his way through the assembled crowd.

"I believe this primary is going to come down to a few hundred votes, at most a thousand or two," he said. "We scheduled 25 meet and greets over the last three weeks of the campaign and I believe that's going to be the difference of my success."

He added, "The power of those meet and greets and the people that get out and talk to others will be the difference."

Tarkanian, who was one of the first to seek the Republican nomination to challenge Reid - whose approval numbers and polling performance have made him seem vulnerable and a top national GOP target for the last year - said he was seeking to challenge the "very dangerous path" he believes Reid is leading the state and the country.

"If he is not stopped soon, it's going to be too late to reverse," Tarkanian said. "I believe the country was looking for someone with the political philosophy that I have, which is basically limited government, lower taxes, self determination and personal responsibility that have made our country the greatest country in all of society."

He added, "Reid believes that with all the serious problems that are facing our country, government has to get more involved, government has the best solutions to our problems that if we use enough taxpayer dollars, government will find a solution. I think that's contrary to everything our country has been built upon. I believe that individuals have the best opportunity to solve these problems."

And although Reid has far outstripped Tarkanian and his other GOP opponents, Tarkanian said that he's confident that if he is the eventual Republican nominee, he'll be able to compete and get his message through.

"I raised $125,000 in five days from 3,000 contributors," he said. "That was 14 months out from the election. What do you think is going to happen when it's one on one and it's closer to the election."

Tarkanian said he believes he's shown he has the fortitude to go up against Reid in a race that will almost certainly devolve into attack adds being waged from either side, claiming that he lacks the vulnerabilities of his main GOP rivals, casino owner and former state party chairwoman Sue Lowden and former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, who has been endorsed by the Club for Growth and the Tea Party Express.

"If the economy picks up, he [Reid] is much less vulnerable, but is that going to happen? Absolutely not," Tarkanian said. "We have the worst unemployment rate in the history of the country in this state, worse than the Great Depression . . . This thing's not changing. We need a new direction."

He added, "Reid's going to come after me personally and I've got to be able to handle his attacks and respond back against him. I'm not going to be shy about going after him either. It's going to be a blow by blow battle."

But Tarkanian did fault Lowden and Angle for going after each other in what has become an increasingly heated war of advertisements, noting that while he doesn't have Lowden's personal finances or the reported $800,000 in outside aid behind Angle, the two women are spending a lot of their funds attacking each other.

And he also faulted them for their positions.

"Sue Lowden has a different political philosophy than I have that I don't think resonates with the voters," he said. "She came out and defended the first bailout, I'm firmly against that . . . Sue Lowden believes that Harry Reid has failed the state because he doesn't bring home enough federal spending back to the state . . . I think our country's spending too much money already. We need to cut these pork projects across the board."

He added, "Sue Lowden has a history of raising taxes and I believe we need a lower tax burden. Sue Lowden's been a big supporter of Harry Reid in the past, donating thousands of dollars on five different occasions . . . I think it's going to be hard for her to beat Sen. Reid in the general election when she's one of his big supporters."

And while Tarkanian said he believes he and Angle share a more common philosophy of governing, he argued that the state and country need a more positive approach.

"I've come up with ideas and solutions to the vast and serious problems that are facing our country. I have a solution-oriented campaign and she has more rhetoric, good catch lines," he said. "I think people in Nevada and across the country don't want to hear the Republican Party just be a party of no, they want ideas and solutions."

Tarkanian, though he has tried on several previous occasions to seek elective office, has never been elected, but he counts that as an asset rather than a detraction.

"The vast majority of people that I talk with and see across the country are tired of these long-time partisan politicians, people that are tied to the party establishment, that put the interest of the party ahead of the people," he said. "They want someone who is outside that influence, which I am."

The primary contest, Tarkanian predicted, will be a very close race, emphasizing his plan to meet with as many voters as he can before it is decided June 8.

"Every vote is going to count to the people of Nevada," he said. "If you care about not only who can beat Reid but who's going to be the best representative in Washington, D.C., and who has the values and beliefs that you have, I believe I'm that candidate."

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