Obama Pushes Harry Reid in Fierce Battle Against Sharron Angle
Updated 5:27 p.m. Eastern Time
At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas today, President Obama asked Nevada voters to show up at the polls for embattled Nevada Democratic senator and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is in the midst of an increasingly nasty reelection battle against GOP challenger Sharron Angle.
Noting Reid's past as a boxer - one who wasn't the fastest or hardest-hitting but who knew how to take and throw a punch - Mr. Obama said Reid is willing to fight for his state and the country.
"Harry Reid became a pretty good boxer because he would simply outlast his opponents. He had a stronger will," the president said. "I think that tells you something about the kind of person he is, the kind of senator he is, the kind of Senate Majority Leader he is. He's a fighter, and you should never bet against him. And that's just what we need right now. That's what Nevada needs right now. That's what Nevada needs, is somebody who's going to fight for the people of Nevada and for the American people. "
The Nevada Senate is indeed a fight, one of the most closely-watched in the nation. It pits Reid, a relatively unpopular longtime Democratic senator seen by many as out of touch with his constituents, against Angle, a Tea Party-backed insurgent whose positions and avoidance of mainstream media interviews have raised eyebrows.
Angle has twice accused Reid, who is seeking his fifth term, of trying to "hit the girl" - a reference to her gender that may not sit well with some of her supporters. In just the last 24 hours, she has been criticized by Democrats for calling the $20 billion BP compensation fund a "slush fund" (she later walked back the comment) and for suggesting rape victims forgo abortions and turn lemons into lemonade.
Democrats have also used Angle's comment that "as your U.S. senator I am not in the business of creating jobs" to hit back against her first ad, which attacks Reid over Nevada's 14 percent unemployment rate.
Indeed, the economy is the focus of the campaign, with both sides trying to cast the opponent as a failure when it comes to jobs. Republicans are using Mr. Obama's visit to cast him and Reid as two peas in a pod on the issue: In a new Republican National Committee television ad, a narrator says, "It took thousands of men to erect Hoover dam and build modern Nevada. But it only took two men to help tear down its economy. Barack Obama and Harry Reid."
Today's visit was Mr. Obama's third to Nevada since taking office, according to CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller - the president did two fundraisers for Reid in May of last year and a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in February.
White House spokesman Bill Burton insisted that the president's speech today was "official" (which means taxpayers would foot the bill) as opposed to political. (In addition to pushing Reid, the president also called on Congress to expand a clean energy tax credit.)
"He just really likes Harry Reid," Burton said by way of explanation.
As CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante reports, Mr. Obama raised almost $1 million for Reid at a campaign event last night; there he said Angle "favors an approach more extreme than the Republicans we got in Washington," adding, "that's saying something."