Kelly Anderson Wright

RENO – Four Nevada Senate hopefuls lit fires under their fundraising efforts, significantly increasing visibility with Silver State voters as they head into February.

Incumbent Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spent the $2 million he raised in the fourth quarter of 2009 on a 3-month advertising frenzy to improve his image with Nevadans, according to recent campaign records.

Not looking up.

Republican front-runner Danny Tarkanian raised about $650,000 last year, with half coming in the final quarter, as his popularity increased. Tarkanian received free national PR during FOX’s Glenn Beck program in January.

Beck named Tarkanian as the leading Republican to unseat Reid, praised him as “a Tea Party radical and patriot,” and read a conservative quote of Tarkanian’s to more than 3 million national viewers.

Republican challenger Sue Lowden, running neck and neck with Tarkanian, raised about $800,000 in the last quarter of 2009. Lowden plans to dip into her personal fortune, valued at more than $50 million, to match donations she receives in the first three months of 2010. She has launched a wide reaching ad campaign on TV, radio, print and the net, that focuses on her immigrant heritage, hard-work ethic and commitment to jobs. “My job is to help you keep your job,” her radio ad campaign touts.

Fellow Republican Sharron Angle reported major upticks in her fourth-quarter fundraising that exceeded her last two quarters combined. Angle raised $368,941 for the quarter ending December 31, bringing her total raised to $582,941. The most conservative of the bunch, Angle received a key endorsement from Citizens United, a nonprofit conservative grassroots organization dedicated to giving government control back to citizens.

It was Citizens United who brought the case that caused the United States Supreme Court to strike down the McCain-Feingold Act as an unconstitutional restraint of free speech, in the form of corporate campaign contributions.

From October through December 2009, the Reid campaign spent an average of $22,000 a day, nearly all of the $2 million in donations he collected during the same period, his weakest fund-raising quarter of 2009.

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Reid’s campaign coffers ended the year with an $8.69 million balance, much more than any candidate running against him has raised so far. Reid said his fundraising efforts are “a clear indication that the campaign will have the resources to win in November.”

Reid may have the money, but that doesn’t mean Nevadans will elect him for a fifth term. According to a survey conducted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Reid’s $2 million advertising blitzkrieg didn’t change Nevada voters. After three months of ads, Reid’s approval ratings didn’t move a single percentage point: just 38 percent of voters had a favorable opinion of Reid.

Repeated polls during the same time period showed that any of the Republican front-runners (Tarkanian, Lowden and Angle) would beat Reid easily, if the election was held today.

Eleven Republicans seek the party’s nomination to face Reid, including front runners Danny Tarkanian, Sue Lowden and Sharron Angle. Tarkanian is a Las Vegas lawyer, business owner and basketball star, as well as the son of former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian. Sue Lowden is a former state senator and the ex-chair of the Nevada Republican Party. Sharron Angle, the most conservative of the bunch, served eight years in the Nevada State Legislature.

Reid’s wide money margin over his opponents is misleading, since the RNC will not flood Nevada with money until the GOP nominee is selected in June.

Harry’s fortunes may not be enough to erase his misfortunes, which continue to haunt him and Nevadans. If poll numbers continue as they have for the past year, Nevadans may be ready to retire their powerful yet embarrassing senator in November.

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