Race of the day: Harry Reid tries to keep his job

The most powerful man in the U.S. Senate is locked in a dead heat with Tea Party upstart Sharron Angle in the nation's highest-profile midterm contest

Name & Party:

Image removed.

Harry Reid

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Image removed.

REPUBLICAN

Sharron Angle

Basic Info:

Majority Leader in U.S. Senate

Age: 70

Former Nevada Assembly member

Age: 61

Issues:

  • Anti-abortion except rape and incest
  • Voted for health-care bill
  • Wants to expand Head Start program
  • Supported failed climate bill in Senate
  • Opposes abortion in all circumstances
  • Wants to repeal "Obamacare"
  • Wants to abolish Dept. of Education
  • Doesn't believe in "man-caused global warming"

Polling At:45%46%Campaign Chest:$4 million$4 millionKey Quote:"Have we done enough? Of course not.""Government isn't what our founding fathers put into the Constitution."Petty Controversy:Commented in '08 that Barack Obama was "light skinned, with no Negro dialect unless he wants to have one."Tried to convince a Tea Party candidate to drop out of the race by suggesting she'd use her post-election D.C. "juice" to help him outWild card:Nevada has a 14.4% unemployment rate -- the highest in the nation

Dueling Ads:"Wild": Reid accuses Angle of having a fringe political agenda that includes doing away with Social Security"Please Stop": Angle says that Reid's tenure as Senate Majority Leader has been a disaster for Nevada

Harry Reid's "Wild":

Sharron Angle's "Please Stop":