In an interview with ABC News, Scott Ashjian, the “Tea Party” candidate for Senate in Nevada, gave an interesting perspective on the two major candidates, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican nominee Sharron Angle. Although Ashjian repeatedly expressed his disdain for both candidates, it appears that he hates Reid slightly less than Angle.
Jonathan Karl repeatedly press Ashjian on which candidate he would favor if he had to choose between Reid or Angle. Ashjian answered:
I’ll make that decision when I get there. I think that as far as competence goes, or maybe, intellect goes, Harry Reid is probably a smarter person than Angle. Angle is, her claim to fame is 41 to Angle. That tells me that she has no ability to get a deal done, by any means. She, well you know, she’s approached me, trying to make deals. I wasn’t going for it, and then she came back and lied about it.
The meeting that Ashjian refers to here was one he had with Angle — and secretly taped and released to the media — in which she offered him access to top Senate Republicans if he dropped out of the race and she subsequently won. Angle then attempted some damage control, saying she would provide any Nevadan access to other Senators.
Some Republicans have speculated that Ashjian is a fake candidate intended to draw conservative votes away from Angle — which he has fervently denied — or that he could at least provide a spoiler effect, whatever his motivations are.
The TPM Poll Average for a strict two-way race gives Angle a lead of 48.5%-47.4%.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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