Comments (12) | Add a comment
John L. Smith
Lowden's loss: biggest political flop since '99 LV mayoral race
Tools
More Columns
More Blogs
Updated: Jun. 11, 2010 | 7:49 a.m.
Granted, sifting through the ashes of Sue Lowden's calamitous run for U.S. Senate isn't easy. There's so much charred wreckage it's hard to know where to start, and this duty is probably best left to the experts.
Because the cast of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" is unavailable, I'll take a shot at this mess.
Contrary to rampant rumor, this wasn't the biggest collapse since the '29 stock market. It was, however, the greatest political crash since heavily favored Arnie Adamsen was trounced by unrepentant mob lawyer Oscar Goodman in the 1999 Las Vegas mayor's race.
Well-funded campaigns don't come unglued by themselves. Sometimes outside forces, such as vicious advertising campaigns or compelling opposition research, cripple them. There was some of that in Lowden's case.
But while Lowden's loyalists have whined that mean primary challenger Danny Tarkanian and the terrible friends of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were pitbulls to Lowden's poodle, the fact is she provided them with far too much material. (Come to think of it, she also provided Letterman and Leno with too much material. But I digress.)
She wasn't shy about slamming both men. She even took after eventual primary victor Sharron Angle with a bruising attack ad trying to link the devout Baptist to the Church of Scientology. That poodle had teeth.
An analysis of the campaign's failure begins with the candidate. Most political pundits were too polite to admit it, but Lowden rarely seemed comfortable discussing the issues beyond her talking points. And throw in a variable, such as her opinion of Rand Paul's comment on the Civil Rights Act, and you could see the panic lights go off.
I noticed it months ago in a Review-Journal editorial board meeting when Lowden stepped into a rhetorical bog by stating and restating that the threat of terrorism on American airlines made her afraid to fly commercially. It was the perfect moment for Lowden's campaign manager Robert Uithoven to step up and clarify his candidate's concerns and poor word choice. Instead, he remained silent. It wouldn't be the last time.
Forget for a moment that if President Barack Obama had said such nonsense, he would have been filleted by the conservative press and bashed by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. As we were to discover, that kind of talk was just Sue being Sue.
Then came the "chickens for checkups" episode in which Lowden reminded everyone that a good way to approach the complex health care reform debate was to "barter" with your doctor because in the "old days" people commonly traded a chicken for medical help. The comment not only made Lowden a laughingstock and provided late-night comedians with feathery fodder, but also exposed the flaws in her retail game and her campaign management.
The chickens-for-checkups gaffe could have been resolved by the candidate. It was dumb and made her appear out of touch. It should have been fixed by the campaign manager. But it wasn't.
That means Uithoven either didn't spot the danger or couldn't manage his candidate. I suspect the latter.
Despite Lowden's career as a television reporter and reputation as a professional communicator, she rarely appeared smooth on camera. Her message always sounded rehearsed.
At a time Nevada Republicans were looking for a candidate standing to the right of center, the ink was still drying on Lowden's conservative credentials.
Lowden's diehards say she was the best candidate to go up against Majority Leader Reid, but that hadn't been true for months. Lowden's campaign began to unravel well before it showed in the Review-Journal's polls.
Finally, those starving for symbolism will note Lowden's election-night gathering took place at the upscale View 215. She is, after all, a wealthy casino executive.
Meanwhile, sensible-shoes conservative Sharron Angle mixed with the hoi polloi at The Orleans.
Forget the crime-scene tape. This one was self-inflicted.
Have an item for the Bard of the Boulevard? E-mail comments and contributions to Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.
Comments
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The Review-Journal does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please use the Report Abuse button.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 24 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
In my neighborhood, the more expensive & grandiose the house, the more likely you were to see a big "Lowden" lawn sign out front. It's just too tempting to make some "too bad for you country-club Republicans" remark to my dear sweet neighbors, isn't it ...
Boy Michael, you sure are a huge cheerleader for the biggest loser in the Senate. Harry "the war is lost", "smelly people" Reid is going to lose in November. I guess he will add to the unemployment total, but at least he'll get 99 months of unemployment while he looks for another job in Searchlight!?
The day Harry Reid accepted the position of Speaker of the House, he no longer represented Nevada. Put the man who lost his way out to pasture. It's time for him to go to that big political consultant office of his choice.
@justthefacts You have it backwards when it comes to me. I have nothing against Reid personally. I kind of like his meek non-charasmatic personality type. It's the issues I strongly disagree with him on. Also I have no problem replacing the most powerful person in the Senate with a novice. If the powerful one has a political agenda you disagree with you are better off the with the novice.
Yes Lowden's campaign did implode. The chicken comment was her jump the shark moment and she was never able to recover. But everything worked out for the best. It's almost as if there was divine intervention for Lowden to make the chicken comment. Now we have a real conservative in Sharron Angle. The voters will have a clear choice in November...two totally different visions of America.
Anyone with common sense knows that many of the attacks on Harry are based on the fact that people don't like him, personally. Those same folks will deny that he has documented accomplishments for this State in terms of obtaining funding and the Yucca Mountain fight. It would be imbicilec to lose his clout for a political novice that would be relegated to the most insignificant of committees. Vote based on his proven record and not his personality, the likes of which many are purely speculating about.
Sue Lowden also can't escape the fact that she's just a front for the man behind the curtain, her husband Paul.
Ms. Buck, may I correct you on two fronts? First, if Harry Reid is old at 70, I would not consider Sharron Angle a candidate for going to the prom at age 60. If you mean we should have someone in Washington with absolutely no connections to or knowledge of Congress and its ways, fine, but I hope you enjoy the nuclear waste dump and efforts to eliminate Social Security and Medicare, not to mention no additional federal money coming Nevada's way (Senator Reid would be glad to show you a list of the projects and funding he has brought to Nevada, but you would have to talk with him, since the R-J won't print it).
The other correction is that Barack Obama has said nothing to hurt tourism in Nevada. He made two comments. One said that businesses shouldn't spend stimulus money on a Super Bowl party or a trip to Las Vegas. Given your feelings about Reid, I suspect you would not want a welfare recipient buying snack food or beer, so why would you want a recipient of stimulus money having a party? The other comment was that people are saving for college and other things instead of coming to Las Vegas. While that actually may be the wrong economic approach in times like these, doesn't that make sense? The reaction from our leaders, including Senator Reid, was the problem--they overreacted, and they should not have. I do not say that to defend the President, but I do think accuracy should count for something.
Harry Reid is an old man now. We need some fresh, new blood in Washington.
When deciding whether to vote for Sharron Angle or Harry Reid, remember THIS,
It was Harry Reid who, personally, approached Barack Obama and talked him into running for President.
And we all know how Barack Obama has helped tourism in Nevada. (***rolls eyes***)