Sharron Angle aims to become first female senator from Nevada

Sharron Angle would make history as the first female U.S. senator representing Nevada if she were to beat incumbent Sen. Harry Reid in an election that's one for the record books.

Angle's gender both hurts and helps her, said political analysts and former groundbreaking female officeholders who agreed on one thing: Picking up more votes from women may make the difference between winning and losing for the former Reno assemblywoman.

"Gender still matters," said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor of the Cook Political Report.

Angle is a staunch conservative, something that tends to turn off female voters, pollsters say. But disgust with the male-dominated Senate club, run by Democratic leader Reid, could open the door for more women to win .

Duffy said Angle has the potential to win, even without a majority of female votes; but she needs to close the gap with Reid, including by gaining support from more women not aligned with either party.

"She still has a way to go before voters, and especially independents, know her well," said Duffy, adding that Angle's conservative views still may "turn off many women."

For now, Angle has an edge among independents, 41 percent to 37 percent for Reid, according to a June 1-3 Mason-Dixon poll for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Duffy said Angle needs to make a big push for those voters to make up ground against Reid, who now has far more female backing.

Angle won support from only 38 percent of female voters compared with 45 percent for Reid. Among men, however, she was running very strong, gaining 50 percent of their support compared with 37 percent for Reid.

The gender gap

This gender gap has been around for at least three decades, with Republican candidates getting more support from men, primarily on fiscal issues, and Democratic candidates running much stronger among women, mostly on social issues, said Mason-Dixon pollster Brad Coker.

A political twist this year that could help Angle is that both men and women may be driven largely by angst over the bad economy, Coker said.

In Nevada, the economic pain has been deep and lasting, with record high unemployment, home foreclosure and bankruptcy rates.

"It will be interesting to see if Angle can cut into Reid's female base," Coker said. "I think male opposition to Reid is pretty hard-core, largely driven by economic issues (jobs, taxes and spending). Women will also largely vote on pocketbook issues this year, but could be more receptive to Reid's efforts to paint Angle as too conservative on noneconomic issues."

In her campaign, Angle has argued for smaller government and less regulation, less spending, and less taxes, a free enterprise stance that appeals to the anti-big government Tea Party movement supporting her as well as other conservatives, libertarians and many independents.

Meanwhile, Reid is leading President Barack Obama's efforts to expand government by requiring Americans to have health insurance and bailing out banks and major industries with the goal of avoiding a deeper recession, initiatives a majority of Nevadans don't like, according to pollsters.

Both Reid and Angle are against abortion and for gun rights, making those two issues potentially moot in the contest that otherwise offers voters a stark contrast: The Democratic incumbent believes government should help people more, and Angle thinks it should get out of the way.

Breaking the barrier

Angle, 60, broke her first historical barrier when she won the June 8 Republican primary. She became the only GOP woman in the state's 146-year history to make the general election ballot for U.S. Senate.

She is only the third female to get this close to competing for the powerful Nevada job.

Anne Martin, an independent who lost in four-way races for the Senate in 1918 and 1920, was the first female to get on the general election ballot. She was part of the suffrage movement to win women the constitutional right to vote, beginning in 1914 in Nevada and 1920 nationwide.

Mary Gojack, a Democrat who served several terms in the Nevada Assembly and Senate, lost the U.S. Senate race to Republican Paul Laxalt in 1980.

Gojack had pushed strongly for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in an era when women promoted their gender as a path to political office.

In 1982, Gojack lost to Barbara Vucanovich for the newly created Second Congressional District seat in the House. Vucanovich thus became the first female from Nevada to win federal office.

Vucanovich, who retired in 1997, considered running against Reid in 1986 when he first won his Senate seat, moving up from the House. But she said GOP leaders suggested she step aside for Jim Santini, a Democrat who switched to the Republican Party at the last minute, a move that hurt him.

"Laxalt was supporting Jim Santini and I thought, 'I'm not going to fight that,' " said the 89-year-old Vucanovich. "Obviously, Senator Reid has done a lot of things for Nevada, although I do not support him because of his policies."

Vucanovich, an old-school politician who believes in reaching across party lines, said she and Reid worked together on wilderness and water issues important to Nevadans, but voted differently on other fiscal and social issues that divided the country's two major political parties then and now.

During the recent GOP primary, Vucanovich endorsed Sue Lowden, the former state Republican Party chairwoman who was the establishment pick but lost badly to Angle, the Tea Party favorite.

Vucanovich, a well-respected GOP matriarch, said she isn't sure she'll vote for Angle on Nov. 2.

Vucanovich said it's not because of Angle's conservative views but because of her record of not compromising as a lawmaker. Angle often was the lone "no" vote, refusing to go along with moderate GOP leaders.

"She's very rigid and I have a little bit of trouble understanding her positions," Vucanovich said. "So I'm not out there waving the flag. She's a very difficult person. She's very positive in her own way, but when you're elected you have to work for everybody."

What about making history by putting a woman in the U.S. Senate?

"I'd love to see a woman from Nevada in the Senate," said Vucanovich, who added that she won't vote for Reid but must think "long and hard" before deciding whether to throw her support behind Angle or choose none of the candidates. "I just don't know if Sharron can beat Harry."

Vucanovich's daughter, former state Treasurer Patty Cafferata, also backed Lowden. But Cafferata represents GOP stalwarts who argue that all Republicans must get actively behind Angle as the GOP nominee if they want to defeat Reid, even though Angle may not be their first pick.

'Dumping the guys'

Cafferata, the first woman to win one of Nevada's top constitutional offices, believes Angle and other female candidates have an edge in 2010 because voters are angry at incumbents amid stories of corruption, backroom legislative deal-making and sexual affairs.

"People are tired of the politicians, and they are just dumping the guys and voting for women," Cafferata said, pointing to several races across the country, "People are mad and they think we need to clean house."

In South Carolina, state lawmaker Nikki Haley, a rising GOP star, Tea Party pick and Indian-American, is running for governor on an anti-establishment platform.

To win in November, Angle will have to run the electoral table, picking up more female votes and independents while solidifying support from conservative and moderate wings of the GOP.

"The challenger's party is split," said Guy Rocha, a Nevada historian. "Angle has to get the Nevada Republican Party to rally around her campaign. If she can't, I don't think there are enough disgruntled Democrats or independents to make up the difference she needs to carry the state."

Nationally, women didn't make many inroads in the U.S. Senate until after the divisive Clarence Thomas hearings. Thomas won a spot on the U.S. Supreme Court despite allegations of sexual harassment from Anita Hill, an attorney who worked for him. In the elections that followed in 1992, known as the "year of the woman," five females were elected to the U.S. Senate, all Democrats.

Now, 17 of the 100 U.S. senators are women, including 13 Democrats and four Republicans.

Cafferata thinks Nevadans are ready to send a woman to the Senate after seeing females from other states achieve high legislative positions. But she acknowledges that replacing the most powerful man in the Senate with a freshman female would be a leap of faith.

"I said when I ran for governor and lost that I thought voters weren't ready to put a woman in charge of the state," Cafferata said of her 1986 bid. "But things have changed, and there's a difference between serving as a legislator and being basically the chief or CEO as governor."

Nevada hasn't had a female governor yet, although a few women have made a run at the job, including U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, who currently seeks re-election to Congress.

Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.

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Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. FredR Jun. 28, 2010 | 1:34 p.m. Report Abuse

   Reid is TOAST. With record unemployment of American citizens and hordes of illegal aliens invading our country, Reid has been on the wrong side every time.
   
   The same weekend that 1200 Arizonans attended a funeral for a rancher murdered by illegal alien drug smugglers, good old Harry was leading a rally of illegal aliens and their supporters in Las Vegas, promising them swift
   action on "amnesty" ("Comprehensive Immigration Reform" for liberals and
   McCain). Wrong side, Harry.
   
   And when it comes time to lead the Senate -- remember these numbers: 407 to 2.
   
   Why are they important? They demonstrate how out of touch Reid is with America, how he is courting votes of future "legalized" illegal aliens, and how he is punishing American citizen workers. 407 to 2. Remember these
   numbers: 407 to 2.
   
   In February, 2009, the House passed an amendment, 407 to 2 (!!), that required all the billions or trillions (hard to keep the comma in the right place these
   days!) of federal stimulus money (i. e. American taxpayers' hard-earned
   dollars) to be spent on contracts with companies that used E-verify, to ensure that all those $$$$ would eventually go to American citizens.
   
   What did the majority leader of the Senate do? He ignored the wishes of the American people, as expressed through their elected representatives by an overwhelming 407 to 2 vote, and BLOCKED all attempts to have a vote on a similar amendment, SA 239, in the Senate.
   
   Result: Billions of our taxes intentionally spent on jobs for ILLEGAL ALIENS.
   
   You can thank Harry (TOAST) Reid in November by remembering these numbers: 407 to 2.

2. Justin.Barasky Jun. 28, 2010 | 11:47 a.m. Report Abuse

   RGJ fact-checks Angle’s jobs claims, calls her desperate attacks on Reid “untrue” http://bit.ly/bbxmVb
   
   Sharron Angle wants to ban alcohol in Las Vegas and Reno http://bit.ly/9WvJhn

3. Hater Jun. 28, 2010 | 10:18 a.m. Report Abuse

   Sharon Angle, did the tea party run out of human beings?

4. marc Jun. 28, 2010 | 9:30 a.m. Report Abuse

   Funny what Reid's minions would say just to destroy their master's political opponent. I guess soon they would say Angle would like to get rid of Congress/Senate and even the whole government. Then somebody would come up and say he had an affair with Angle. They would get the voters away from the real issues that REID has DONE NOTHING for Nevadans in his 24 years in the Senate. HIGHEST UNEMPLOYMENT, HIGHEST FORECLOSURES, LOWEST IN STIMULUS MONEY, BOTTOM IN EDUCATION RANKING, LAST STATE IN OVERALL RECOVERY RATE, and latest is LAST STATE IN RECOVERY IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY.

5. steven.alexander Jun. 28, 2010 | 9:01 a.m. Report Abuse

   Michael: Well said! Let me say on behalf of all Nevadans that it IS time for Sharon to say EXACTLY WHAT SHE THINKS. I mean, what is she ASHAMED of being who she is? Let her come out and tell the world, or at least Nevada, that she WANTS to get rid of Social Security, that she WANTS to get rid of PUBLIC EDUCATION, that she WANTS to get rid of the EPA, FDA, USDA, OSHA, BLM, and every other government agency that you can think of, LET HER SCREAM IT FROM THE HIGHEST ROOFTOP. Then, we can find out where the American public stands. What, is she AFRAID?

6. Dirty Harry Jun. 28, 2010 | 1:25 a.m. Report Abuse

   Michael1 --- Well said! I agree with you 100%. Democrats are running scared, and all they can do spread fear and lies. Sharron will defeat Harry in November, and this state will be better off because of it.

7. foster.cool Jun. 28, 2010 | 12:51 a.m. Report Abuse

   Mortgage Loan Modification is the only solution to save your home and stop foreclosure. Some 650,000 troubled borrowers have been put into trial loan modifications under the president's foreclosure rescue plan, the Treasury Department said Tuesday. That number represents only 20% of eligible homeowners. Mortgage Home Modification Program is the solution to save your house and stop foreclosure process Use this free tool to see if you qualify for loan modification http://bit.ly/b8C0iS

8. Michael1 Jun. 27, 2010 | 10:37 p.m. Report Abuse

   Hardcore liberal Harry Reid supporters were never going to vote for Angle anyway. They also wouldn't have voted for Lowden or Tarkanian.
   
   Sharron, don't become a "moderate" to try to win their votes. Remain true to your conservative principles, and let your PR team (the same team Scott Brown used in Massachusetts) do the rest.
   
   Don't apologize for anything you have said. Social Security SHOULD be changed or eliminated. The Department of Education SHOULD be eliminated.
   
   The talking points that infuriate the liberals energize your supporters!
   
   Michael

9. Joe Friday Jun. 27, 2010 | 10:09 p.m. Report Abuse

   Sharron Angle seems to be one of the few who realize the sad fraud of Social Security and has the guts to speak the truth. If a private insurance company did what the federal government does the management would be put in prison. Hopefully she will be elected and start a movement to replace Social Security with private retirement accounts that people own and have control over.

10. steven.alexander Jun. 27, 2010 | 9:11 p.m. Report Abuse

    What's your angle Sharon? You've been a career politician feeding at the public trough your entire adult life, along with your husband. You've never created a single job, at least other than your own. You apparently believe that it is the business of American to stay out of the business of large oil companies who pollute our waters, and destroy our jobs, least ways until its time to clean up their mess anyway. You think that old people should REALLY be placed on death panels and removed from all "welfare" otherwise known as social security to the rabid right wing politicians in this country. Tell you what Sharon, try this on for your next angle; stop trying to turn this country into Somalia. Take your government pension paid for by the rest of us, and just head out to wherever it is that old Scientologists go these days.

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