On the campaign trail in rural Nevada from her base in Reno, Sharron Angle proudly embraces her conservative credentials as the route she's charted in her effort to win the GOP nomination to challenge Sen. Harry Reid.
From a start in single digits in the polls, Angle has rocketed to second place, within striking distance of establishment frontrunner Sue Lowden, a former chairwoman of the state Republican Party.
Angle's rise was propelled by missteps made by Lowden, as well as a raft of endorsements by conservative groups, including the Tea Party Express, a national organization seeking to channel the sometimes diffuse efforts of activists around the country.
She's also won the backing of the anti-tax Club for Growth, which has previously endorsed the primary challenges the former assemblywoman has run against other Nevada Republicans.
Angle declined a request for an interview with RTTNews, and also avoided other national media outlets last week, but in responding to a series of questions via email, Angle told RTTNews that she'd received the endorsement of more than 33 other conservative associations and prominent individuals.
"I have the battle-tested proven conservative record that Nevadans can trust," she said. "I have voted 'no' over 100 times on tax and fee increases, poor public policy and unconstitutional bills."
She added, "This 'coalition of the willing' [of supporters] will bring voters from across party lines- Republicans, Democrats and Independents- to express their extreme displeasure with Harry Reid at the ballot box on November 2."
Angle said she is cautiously optimistic about her prospects of victory in the June 8 primary, sticking with a strategy she adopted since filing her candidacy in April 2009.
"We have the right message for Nevada and America of lower taxes, less government regulation, more individual freedom and stop the spending," she said. "We have the right Angle to defeat Harry Reid."
Focusing her criticism on Reid, Angle said she would take aim at Reid's history of deal-making, tax and spend patterns and "flip-flopping on issues."
"He will try to use a negative campaign against me to take the voters eyes off his own shortcomings," she said. "Voters are interested in truth not in smear campaigns. They are concerned about keeping their jobs and staying in their homes."
She added, "They know they can trust me. Even my detractors have said I'm consistent, I don't do back-room deals, and they know where I stand."
Angle also brushed aside her severe fundraising disadvantage against Reid. According to Federal Election Commission reports through May 19, Angle had raised $1.25 million, but also spent $1.1 million on her primary battle with Lowden.
Reid, who does not face a primary challenge, raised $12.4 million and spent $6.6 million, leaving him with $9.1 million on hand over the same period, including funds carried over from previous election cycles.
"Harry Reid has said he needs $25 million to win re-election and I need 1 million conservatives with $25," Angle said. "I have been reaching out across the nation to those conservatives and they have been responding."
Noting the attack ads against her from the Lowden campaign that dominate the local airwaves in Las Vegas, Angle said she expected them to be just as ineffective as she believes Reid's ultimate attacks will be should she win the nomination.
"I am running a clean campaign with a message that resonates with Nevada voters," she said. "They trust me to go to Washington DC to pay back on the deficit; cut back on the spending by not funding and repealing unconstitutional Obamacare and other departments and agencies; and take back our country by auditing the FED, liquidating Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, abolishing the IRS code, securing the borders and enforcing the law."
She added, "Desperate people do desperate things. Sue Lowden is desperate to win and cannot win on her own merits. Harry Reid will be desperate to win and understands that he cannot win on his own merits."
Angle can claim to run a clean primary campaign, but to a degree that's because her allies in the Tea Party Express and Club for Growth have hundreds of thousands of dollars in ads airing on her behalf attacking Lowden's record. By law, such independent expenditures cannot be coordinated with the campaign.
"They are freely contributing to the defeat of Harry Reid," she said. "I welcome their participation in a campaign that has attracted nationwide attention. Each group and individual brings a unique and powerful position. They are all valuable in the work toward a common goal and focus."
She added, "The Tea Party Express and the Club for Growth are incredible assets to this common goal of replacing Harry Reid with a true conservative."
And while some in Nevada have expressed concern that Angle's positions - including calling for the abolition of the U.S. Department of Education on her campaign Web site and reports that she favors repealing the federal income tax - are too extreme, Angle herself dismisses those critics.
"Electability is always the last attack of the establishment politics as usual crowd," she said. "The voters have proven across the nation that conservative, Reagan views are not extreme but mainstream. Independent voters and crossover Democrats welcome a fresh voice of common sense from their ranks."
She added, "This is not about party politics. This is about the future of our nation, our Constitution, our children and our grandchildren."
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