Lowden agrees to April 30 debate, launches new ad

U.S. Senate candidate Sue Lowden has agreed to a Republican primary debate set for April 30 and hosted by radio talk show host Heidi Harris.

Lowden's campaign insisted on Wednesday that she had never "pulled out" of the debate as alleged by her GOP opponent Danny Tarkanian, who turned up the heat on Lowden to participate by taking out a radio ad this week, accusing her of ducking the debate.

Instead, Lowden campaign manager Robert Uithoven said it was just a matter of clearing her schedule so she could appear.

"We never "pulled out" -- but it took time to change things on our schedule," Uithoven said in an e-mail to the Las Vegas Review-Journal Wednesday.

Other GOP Senate candidates confirmed for the April 30 debate hosted by Harris at The Orleans resort in Las Vegas include Tarkanian, Sharron Angle, John Chachas and Las Vegas Assemblyman Chad Christensen. Questions for the group are being submitted via kdwn.com, according to the station KDWN.

Lowden also launched a new radio and TV ad Wednesday, highlighting more of her background.

In it, a Vietnam war veteran notes that Lowden didn't protest the conflict but instead traveled to Vietnam with Bob Hope's USO show to support the troops.

The Lowden campaign didn't say how much the ad buy cost, but Uithoven said it would air statewide on cable TV and radio for a couple of weeks.