Nevada Republican Senate hopeful Sue Lowden hit incumbent Majority Leader Harry Reid hard on health care reform this morning at an American Spectator press breakfast. Lowden knocked Reid’s Senate draft bill, predicting that the attempted health care reform will be “his Waterloo.” Lowden premised her opposition to HarryCare on the grounds that it would include plans that pay for abortions and a tax on those who fail to purchase insurance that would unconstitutional. If elected in 2010 to replace Reid, Lowden stated, she would vote to repeal health care reform that looks like the current Senate bill if given the opportunity.
Lowden, a former Nevada state senator and chairman of the Nevada Republican Party, also claimed that in a large Republican primary field she is “Harry Reid’s greatest fear in the general,” because of her background as a state legislator and ability to fundraise. In explaining why Nevada voters seem in the polls to have become disenchanted with Reid, Lowden called Reid “not a charming guy” and “a bully,” and noted that he had failed to bring Nevada major pork projects like past important Democratic senators such as Lyndon B. Johnson for Texas or Robert Byrd in West Virginia.
Lowden faces a primary battle featuring a dozen potential challengers, including Danny Tarkanian, real estate businessman and son of legendary UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, and ex-assemblywoman Sharron Angle. Lowden, holding a narrow primary lead in recent polls, declined to contrast her policy positions with those of Tarkanian or Angle, choosing instead to highlight her own personal background as an advantage in a general election against Reid.