Sharron Angle Winning Nevada Race With Joy Behar's Help

Joy Behar Insults Sharron Angle; Angle Sends Flowers (Updated)



Joy Behar has apologized. "The View" regular said she "really shouldn't have" insulted Sharron Angle, the Nevada GOP candidate for U.S. Senate, and went on to say that she meant the insult as a term of endearment. "I reserve that word for people that I know and love," said Behar, after which point she proceeded to call all of her co-hosts her word-that-rhymes-with-itches.

Joy Behar, CNN host and a regular on "The View," called Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle a word that rhymes with "itch" on "The View" on Tuesday and said that Angle could "go to Hell."

On Wednesday, the ladies of "The View" reconvened, except this time Behar announced that the Senate challenger from Nevada had taken a dig at her. "This morning, I get these flowers from Sharron Angle," says Behar before pulling the card from her bra. "It says, 'Joy, raised $150,000 online yesterday. Thanks for your help. Sincerely, Sharron Angle." Behar went on, claiming that the flowers were picked by illegal immigrants, and "they're not voting for you, [expletive]."

"You were so offensive to many people that they will raise money to whomever you disapprove of," host Barbara Walters responded. Walters admonished Behar, saying, "You can criticize as you do, it's your right...but I don't think you should tell anybody to go to Hell."

Behar walked her comments back slightly, but eventually took a final swipe at Angle: "Don't send me flowers, Sharron Angle. Put your money where your mouth is."


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Sources: ABC, CNN, Huffington POst, Mediaite, Washington Post, Youtube, Google Maps

Democrats Fight But Prepare For 2010 GOP Sweep: Obama's Low Ratings

Preston On Politics: Democrats Prepare For The Worst: Decision 2010


It has been said over and over again: The 2010 midterm is the anti-incumbent, anti-Washington and by virtue of their position in power, the anti-Democratic election.

A sputtering economy, 9.6 percent national unemployment rate, housing crisis and little hope for a quick turnaround on the jobs front has forced Democrats on the defense heading into November.

OK, that is an understatement.

Democrats are under siege all across the country and are in deep danger of losing control of the House and if a massive wave develops on November 2, perhaps even the Senate.

Fueled by a huge fundraising effort by the Republican Governors Association, the GOP is also in position to reclaim more than a half dozen governorships including in states that President Obama easily won in 2008 such as Iowa, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

The new CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation Polls offers data that shows Democrats running for Senate seats in four key states are in dire straits and a president with little juice to help propel them to victory.

In all four of these states: Alaska, Arkansas, Florida and Ohio, Obama's job approval rating ranges from a low of 33 percent (Arkansas) to a high of 42 percent (Ohio). The anti-Washington, thus anti-Democratic, theme shines like a bright neon sign in each of these races.

And the GOP's rubber stamp argument seems to be resonating with voters, whether it is true or not: Sending, say, Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln back to Washington means she will be a rubber stamp for Obama. Lincoln, who stuck to her centrist views and beat back a strong primary challenge from her political left earlier this year, is trailing her GOP opponent, Rep. John Boozman, by 14 points.

In Ohio, Democratic Senate nominee Lee Fisher is down 15 points to Republican Rob Portman. And in Florida, GOP Senate nominee Marco Rubio has a 26 point lead over Democrat Kendrick Meek in a three way race that also features Charlie Crist. Crist is running an independent bid for the Senate seat and trails Rubio by 14 points.

(The National Republican Senatorial Committee is also making the claim to West Virginia voters that the popular Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin would be a rubber stamp for Obama if elected to the Senate).

But the Democrats running for governor in three of four of these states surveyed by CNN/Time/ORC shows that these candidates are either competitive or leading in their individual races. Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has a 27-point lead over his GOP rival Jim Keet; Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is up one point over Republican opponent John Kasich; and in the race for Florida governor, Democrat Alex Sink trails Republican Rick Scott by three points, which is within the poll's 3.5 percent margin of error.

So, I think it is fair to say -- outside of Alaska -- that Democratic incumbents and candidates in these three states are not being stuck in the same category as their Democratic counterparts running for Senate. That is not to say the national mood is not having a negative affect on these Democrats, it just hasn't been devastating.

As for the CNN/Time/ORC Poll, I dug a little deeper into the survey and found these interesting data points:

Alaska: Lisa Murkowski obviously faces a difficult challenge in having her supporters correctly write-in her name on the ballot on November 2. The poll shows that Murkowski and GOP nominee Joe Miller are tied at 37 percent, with Democratic nominee Scott McAdams registering support at 23 percent. But when respondents were asked if they might choose another candidate if they think the write-in procedure is too complicated, 3 percent answered yes. So, take that 3 percent away from Murkowski's 37 percent and all of a sudden Miller is up three points. Murkowski is still within in the margin of error, but as CNN Polling Director Keating Holland noted "in a tight race, this might be the difference between winning and losing."

Murkowski's greatest support comes from Anchorage and the Panhandle, while Miller wins Fairbanks and the Anchorage area when you expand it beyond the city limits.

Arkansas: How troubling is this for Democrat Blanche Lincoln? She is losing the woman vote to Republican John Boozman by eight points. She performs strongest in the east, while Boozman wins every other region of the state.

Florida: Republican Marco Rubio is winning independents by four points over Charlie Crist, who is running an independent bid. Rubio's lead is within the 6 percent margin of error. Rubio is also winning every corner of the state except southern Florida/Miami area where Crist holds a modest lead over the Republican nominee and the Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek. In the governor's race, Democrat Alex Sink is losing every region to Republican Rick Scott, but is crushing him in the southern Florida/Miami area. Sink, too, has soft support with women. She leads Scott by five points with women voters, but that is within the 5 percent margin of error for that specific question.

Ohio: In the Senate contest, Democrat Lee Fisher is losing to Republican Rob Portman among men and woman and in every age category. Geographically, Fisher leads Portman in the Cleveland area by eight points, but that is within the 8.5 percent margin of error. Portman is winning in every other part of the state. As for the competitive governor's race, Ted Strickland is winning women, while John Kasich wins men.

Strickland has a 15-point lead over Kasich with voters who earn less than $50,000, while Kasich has an 11-point lead over Strickland with voters who earn more than $50,000. Kasich has an 11-point lead over Strickland with independents. As for geographic regions, Strickland is leading in the Cleveland area and the central part of the state (the latter is within the margin of error), while Kasich is carrying Cincinnati/Dayton and has a slight lead in Columbus. In the industrial north, the two candidates are dead even.


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Sources: CNN, MSNBC, Politico, Google Maps

Democrats Hope For Big 2010 Election Wins In West: CA, NV, WV

Early Vote A Bad Omen For Harry Reid

Early-voting numbers out of Nevada’s two biggest counties could spell trouble for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in his tough contest against Republican Sharron Angle.

In Reno’s Washoe County and Las Vegas’s Clark County, Republican turnout was disproportionately high over the first three voting days, according to local election officials. The two counties together make up 86 percent of the state’s voter population.

The sparsely populated counties outside Clark and Washoe, which have yet to report complete early-voting results, are strongly Republican.

Some 47 percent of early voters in the bellwether Washoe County so far have been Republicans, while 40 percent have been Democrats, according to the Washoe County Registrar. Nearly 11,000 people had voted in Washoe over the first three days of early voting, which began Saturday.

Voter registration in the county is evenly split, 39 percent to 39 percent. The disproportionate turnout is a concrete indication of the Republican enthusiasm that is expected to portend a nationwide GOP wave.

In Clark County, which is heavily Democratic, more Democrats than Republicans have voted, but Republicans are outperforming their share of the electorate.

Out of the nearly 47,000 votes cast in Clark County, 46 percent were Democrats, 39 percent Republicans, according to the Clark County Election Department. But while Democrats make up 46 percent of the county's registered voters, Republicans constitute just 33 percent.

Washoe County is home to Angle, a former Reno state legislator, whereas Reid's hometown of Searchlight is in Clark County.

Democrats disputed the notion that these numbers represented a boost for the GOP, noting that more Democrats than Republicans had gone to the polls overall in the two counties.

“Republicans have a small lead in terms of raw votes cast in Sharron Angle’s backyard and after a day in which Sarah Palin hosted a GOTV rally,” Reid spokesman Jon Summers said of the Washoe numbers. He added that focusing on Washoe “ignores that this is a statewide election.”

But the Democrats’ overall raw-vote advantage in Clark and Washoe is up against their likely deficit in the yet-uncounted rural counties and among independent voters, whom polls have shown heavily favoring Republicans this year.

"This makes for a pretty significant uphill battle for Democrats," Las Vegas-based Republican consultant Ryan Erwin said. "It's still early, but we're seeing that the enthusiasm gap is certainly real in Washoe County, especially when you factor in that Clark County Republicans are overperforming as well."

In the suburban Las Vegas-based 3rd Congressional District, where Democratic Rep. Dina Titus faces a challenge from Republican Joe Heck, the parties are nearly tied in early turnout despite Democrats' registration advantage. Early voters were 43 percent Democrats, 41 percent Republicans, while registration was 42 percent Democrats and 36 percent Republicans.

Reid's campaign sees its extensive get-out-the-vote infrastructure as crucial to the senator's prospects in a contest polls have shown to be deadlocked. Angle hopes the pro-GOP national climate and voters’ dislike for Reid will sweep her to the Senate.

Democrats said they are confident they are hitting their targets.

"The Democratic Party is feeling good about turnout," state party spokeswoman Phoebe Sweet said. "While we're taking no vote for granted, what we're seeing is on par with our expectations thus far."

Statewide, Democrats have an edge of about 60,000 registered voters more than Republicans, but that represents a decline from 2008, when their advantage was over 100,000.

The Democratic turnout machine that powered President Obama to a 12-percentage-point victory in Nevada was kept in place after the 2008 election to work for Reid's reelection this year. But early figures in the first few days of the 2008 voting strongly favored Democrats.

"Harry Reid has spent millions of dollars on the Nevada Democratic Party turnout machine, and it's really, really good," Erwin, the GOP consultant, said. "But with independents breaking heavily for Republicans, Democrats are going to have to overperform their registration advantage to win this year."

Nevada’s two-week early voting period, which tends to account for half or more of total election turnout, ends on Oct. 29.



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Sources: Politico, Zimbio, Youtube, Google Maps

Sharron Angle Wins 'Man Up" Debate: Hits Reid On Jobs & Wealth

Harry Reid, Sharron Angle Face-Off In Contentious Nevada Senate Debate

In Thursday night's hotly anticipated Nevada Senate debate, incumbent Sen. Harry Reid and his opponent Sharron Angle faced off for the first and last time in front of the cameras. They opposed each other on nearly every issue and traded personal barbs about the other's ethical credibility, "extreme" views, and - in one case - a candidate's masculinity.

"Man up, Harry Reid!" cried Angle in one of many impassioned efforts to distance herself from the man she has called a "career politician."

In an hour-long forum, hosted by the Nevada Broadcasters Association and moderated by Mitch Fox, candidates sparred over issues including illegal immigration, health care reform, abortion and Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Both Reid and Angle appeared at times uncomfortable and ill-prepared against the venue's brightly-lit green backdrop.

Angle was quick to attack the longtime Democratic Senator, accusing him of political careerism and emphasizing the differences represented by the two candidates.

"Tonight you will see the difference between Harry Reid and big government and Sharron Angle and limited, constitutional government," Angle stated in her opening remarks, adding, "I'm not a career politician... I was a teacher for 25 years... I live in a middle class neighborhood in Reno. Senator Reid lives in the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C."

Health care was a primary point of discussion throughout the debate and Reid accused Angle - who conceded she does not believe there are any medical conditions for which there should be any government-mandated health coverage - of holding "very extreme" views.

"My opponent doesn't like any insurance companies to have to do anything," Reid said, emphasizing the candidate's opposition to funding for mammograms and colonoscopies.

"America is a country of choices, not forcing people to buy things that they don't need," Angle said of so-called "Obamacare," invoking a theme she cited frequently throughout the night. "The solution is simple: We need to get the government out."

"Insurance companies ... don't do things out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it out of a profit motive and they have almost destroyed our economy," Reid fired back.

The candidates also differed on immigration, with Reid calling for "comprehensive reform" and Angle condemning his opposition to Arizona's controversial immigration legislation that was passed earlier this year.

"What we have here is an illegal alien problem and the solution is simple: secure the borders, enforce the laws," Angle said. "We should be supporting Arizona."

On economic issues, Angle reiterated her belief that job creation does not fall under the job description of a U.S. Senator: "Harry Reid: It's not your job to create jobs," she argued. "It's your job to create policies that create the confidence for the private sector to create those jobs."

Angle also pushed for extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, arguing that if they were not made permanent "we will experience the largest tax increase in the history of America."

"I personally am not in favor of giving billionaires tax cuts," Reid responded, before guaranteeing that he would not support an increase in taxes for middle class Americans.


Nevada currently suffers from the nation's highest unemployment rate, 14.4 percent, up nearly five percent from the national number. Thirteen-thousand Nevada homeowners received foreclosure notices in August alone, according to the Boston Globe.

Polls show the candidates locked in a dead heat: A recent study by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Nevada's 8NewsNow show Angle two points ahead of Reid, with 47 percent to his 45. Alternately, a Suffolk University poll released Wednesday shows Reid leading by three points, at 46 percent to 43 percent.

The two candidates have traded negligible leads in recent weeks, most of which fall within the respective polls' margins of sampling error. CBS currently rates the race a toss up.


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Sources: CBS News, C-Span, Youtube, Google Maps

Harry Reid Leads Sharron Angle By 3 Points: Angle's $14 M

Reid 46, Angle 43 In New Nevada U.S. Senate Poll


A new Poll indicates that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a three point advantage over Sharron Angle, his Republican challenger, in the Senate battle in Nevada.

According to a Suffolk University survey released Wednesday, 46 percent of likely voters in Nevada support Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate, with 43 percent backing Angle, the GOP nominee and a former state lawmaker who enjoys strong support by many Tea Party activists.
The other six candidates on the ballot are in the low single digits, with four percent saying they will vote for "none of these candidates," which is allowed in Nevada, and three percent undecided.

While Reid's three point margin is within the poll's sampling error, the Suffolk survey is one of only two recent polls to have Reid ahead. All other recent survey's conducted in October give Angle a single digit advantage over Reid.

The Suffolk University poll indicates that Angle holds a 22 point advantage over Reid among independent and non-partisan voters.

According to the poll, Nevadans are split on the job Reid's doing, with 49 percent saying they approve of how Reid is handling his duties as a senator, and 47 percent saying they disagree. But only 43 percent have a favorable opinion of the four-term senator, with 54 percent saying they see him in a negative light.

Forty-one percent of people questioned say they have a favorable opinion of Angle, with 52 percent saying they hold an unfavorable opinion of her.

Reid and Angle face off Thursday night in their first debate.

The Suffolk University poll was conducted October 8-11, with 500 likely voters in Nevada questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.




Angle Raises $14 Million Since July


The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza reports that Sharron Angle, the Tea Party-backed challenger to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada, raised a whopping $14 million between July and the end of September, an astonishing haul almost three times more than amounts raised by other high-profile Republican candidates in the same period of time.

From Cillizza:

Former Nevada state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle (R) raised an eye-popping $14 million between July 1 and Sept. 30 for her challenge to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D), a stunning number that far eclipses the cash-collection totals of other prominent candidates seeking Senate seats next month.

"Sharron Angle produced one of the most successful single quarters of fundraising in the nation's history for a U.S. Senate campaign," said Angle communications director Jarrod Agen. "This is a testament to the hatred of Harry Reid, the nation's disapproval of President Obama, and the unprecedented grassroots support for Sharron Angle."

Reid has not yet released his fundraising totals for the third quarter, but he raised about $14 million between January and June of 2010.

The race is extremely close. A recent CNN/Time poll showed Angle leading Reid 42 percent to 40 percent.


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Sources: CNN, Suffolk University, Youtube, Google Maps