It was around this time last year that Sharron Angle’s U.S. Senate campaign – thanks in part to the out-of-state Tea Party Express teaming up with Harry Reid’s supporters to boost her candidacy – began to take off. And by the time early voting began, it was pretty clear that Angle was definitely in a position to win the GOP primary.
As such, the Sue Lowden campaign prepared a brutally honest mailer to be dropped on the final weekend before Election Day which asked in the first sentence, “Can Sharron Angle beat Harry Reid in November.”
The letter then laid out a solid, historical argument for why Angle, among the other top candidates, couldn’t, ending with this appeal directly from Lowden:
“So if you can’t vote for me – though I certainly hope you will and I’m asking for your vote – at least vote for someone who can beat Harry in November. Because after all, that’s what this election is all about.”
As we all regretfully know now, Lowden’s assessment was, in the immortal words of Mona Lisa Vito in My Cousin Vinny, dead-on balls accurate. Now for the rest of the story….
That letter never went out.
It was approved… printed… inserted in envelopes…. addressed…. stamped… and sitting on the post office loading dock… when Sue pulled it.
At the last minute Lowden opted to do what was in the best interest of the GOP, not necessarily what was in her own personal best interest. Ever the “good party soldier,” Lowden knew the letter, should Angle prevail, would be used very effectively against the party’s nominee in November.
So she yanked it.
Yes, the letter was a “Hail Mary.” And yes, judging from the results of the primary election, it certainly wouldn’t have changed the overall result. But yes, the same arguments used in the letter back then still apply today in light of Angle’s latest political quest to win…something.
Just as Sharron Angle was probably the only candidate who could have lost to Harry Reid last year, many Republicans have come to the conclusion that Angle is now the only Republican who could possibly lose the Second Congressional District seat to the Democrats.
But will enough of them wake up in time? Time will tell. But remember, Republicans never blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity.
