Harry Reid uses Sharron Angle to blast Sharron Angle
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/08/23/art.reidad.0823.reid.jpg caption ="Sen. Harry Reid released a new ad on Monday."](CNN) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Monday released a new television ad in which he takes credit for securing education funding for his cash-strapped state and slams his opponent for her hard-line views on the Department of Education.
On August 10, Reid voted in favor of a bill that provided emergency funding to prevent teacher layoffs; President Obama signed the bill on August 11.
The ad uses Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle's own words to criticize her position on education. Angle told a Nevada radio station in May that she wants to "go through to the elimination" of the Department of Education because "it's not the federal government's job to provide education for our children."
That's "just too extreme," according to the new 30-second spot.
"Angle's radical plans to eliminate the Department of Education would cost Nevada college students more than $500 million in financial aid like Pell grants, and hundreds of millions for our state's elementary and secondary schools – all at a time when our students can least afford such draconian cuts," Reid campaign spokesman Kelly Steele said in a statement.
The race between Reid and Angle is in a statistical dead heat, according to the latest Mason-Dixon poll conducted for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Reid leads Angle by a 46-44 percent margin, with 5 percent of voters saying they are undecided. The poll's sampling error is 4 points.
Angle's campaign responded to Reid's ad Monday night, calling it a distraction.
"Senator Harry Reid has no solutions to the problems facing the nation and his disgraceful ads show how desperate he has become," Angle spokesman Jerry Stacy told CNN in a statement. "Senator Reid is too afraid to talk about his own record, so he tries to distract Nevadans from the real issues."
"Senator Reid’s home state leads the nation in unemployment, housing foreclosures, and bankruptcies, and Harry Reid is trying to hide his responsibility – but the voters are smarter than that. Nevadans know that Harry Reid’s policies and lack of real solutions caused these crises, and his ads are not fooling anyone," Stacy added.
(Updated at 7:00 p.m. ET with Angle campaign response)
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It's not that hard to use the Tea Party candidates own words against them
Against public schools, against civil rights, pro 2nd amendment solutions (shooting guns at feds is patriotic if you're a Republican, but treason if you're a Democrat, dontcha know?
Ronald Reagan also called for elimination of the DOE. He was also
labelled "an extremist" by Democrats. The DOE was created by
Jimmy Carter as a reward for the teacher's unions who got him elected
in 1976. Pell grants, moreover, were created by Sen. Claiborne Pell
20 years before Carter created the DOE. Reid is lying. He demonizes
Angle to distract us from his own failed record.
Sharon Angle deserves to reminded–again and again–of the dumb, irresponsible, indefensible positions she has staked out in her search for the soul of the Tea Party. Come November 2, responsible Nevada voters will reject Angle and the tower of empty, hot air she left behind.
Where has this lady been all her life? Can she not thank the government/teacherswho ran/run the schools SHE went to? How does she expect children to get an education if the system is not run the way it is? Fend for yourself? If you get the states in on funding their own education systems, we will have people moving to the best states. Does she want to run people out of hers? So insane! People are getting dumber, not more intelligent! We need answers, not NO,NO,NO dam it!...Beau Colby
Reality check , thosw billions did NOT go to teachers ! It's being hoarded by the unions and schools for later slush funds !
Ms Angle,
Give it up. This is not at all what you expected it to be like, is it? Aren't you just being pulled along a bit by the extreme radicals, being used by them to push _their_ views, and let you take the hit when the time comes?
Sharron: Do you not understand how you are being used?
Sharron Angle must be Defeated in Nov.She is Bad News for America!
I simply do not know why people even think that this woman is a viable senate candidate against Harry Reid. If Sharron Angle wins, the Nevadans are doomed, especially with their other senator being employee-spouse-snatcher John Ensign. May God help Nevada.
Man what's wrong with Nevada. I may not like Harry Reid but it's too easy to tell that this woman is a crackpot.
I thought that no one could top Palin for being inept and laughable but this one is even better.
the elimination from politics for the nevada hag....Tuesday......she is really SICK