Club for Growth targets GOP candidate in Nevada Senate race

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Anti-tax group hits Nevada GOP candidate in ad

WASHINGTON — A powerful anti-tax group is airing television ads claiming one Republican candidate backed Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid for years while praising a tea party favorite as a fiscal conservative.

The Club for Growth Political Action Committee on Wednesday began a statewide ad buy in Nevada in support of Sharron Angle. The former state legislator has closed in on Sue Lowden in recent polls after Lowden suggested that the health care system worked better when patients could barter for treatment with livestock.

“Sharron Angle’s Nevada’s leading fiscal conservative: a commonsense fighter, always working to cut taxes for Nevada families and reduce government spending,” an announcer says in a 30-second ad. “And Sue Lowden? She voted to raise taxes, supported huge spending increases and backed Harry Reid for years.”

Nevada Republicans pick their candidate to face Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate, on June 8.

Maybe this will end the rumors that the White House is trying to push Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias out of the race to fill President Barack Obama’s seat in the Senate.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the former Chicago Public Schools CEO and a basketball buddy to Giannoulias, will be in Chicago on June 17 to campaign for the candidate. And two days later, White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina will appear at a Giannoulias fundraiser.

Democrats are worried about keeping the seat in Democratic hands after federal officials took over Giannoulias’ failed family bank. Republicans have seized on the failure and tried to paint Giannoulias as another fat-cat banker.

Giannoulias has worked to counter that image, as well as sniping from Washington officials who tried to recruit other candidates to face Republican Rep. Mark Kirk.

Sen. Roland Burris, an appointee to fill the balance of Obama’s term, decided against seeking election.

QUICK HITS:

— Democracy for America, a progressive advocacy organization founded by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, endorsed Ann McLane Kuster’s primary campaign against Katrina Swett. Both are seeking the Democratic nomination in the seat currently held by New Hampshire Rep. Paul Hodes, a Democrat running for Senate in November. Most recently, DFA endorsed Rep. Joe Sestak’s successful primary campaign against Arlen Specter in the Democratic Pennsylvania Senate primary.

— Republican Tim Pawlenty is headed to New Hampshire again, marking his third trip since he began positioning himself for a possible 2012 presidential run. The Minnesota governor is scheduled to speak to the Strafford County Republican Committee at an annual picnic in Dover on July 10.

— In Kansas, Senate candidate Todd Tiahrt is criticizing Republican rival Jerry Moran over tax issues in a new television ad, but there’s one problem. The blank tax forms pictured in the new ad? They’re from New York.

Associated Press writer Deanna Bellandi in Chicago contributed to this report.