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Angle's Divided House Aided Her Fall
Townhall.com ^ | December 20, 2010 | Guy Benson

Posted on 12/20/2010 4:42:16 AM PST by Kaslin

On the morning of November 2, 2010, Sharron Angle appeared well-positioned to become the next US Senator from the state of Nevada. Numerous polls showed her holding a modest, but steady, lead over one of the most powerful men in the country. Grassroots conservatives across the country gleefully regarded her campaign as reflective of the national mood and expected it to represent a signature win of the burgeoning Tea Party movement. Politicos and journalists marveled at her staggering third quarter fundraising haul of $14 million – a figure that ballooned to a grand total of $28 million by the campaign’s conclusion. As Nevadans cast their ballots that Tuesday morning, Team Angle projected a quiet confidence.

Some volunteers and local staffers were so confident, in fact, that they broke from traditional campaign protocol and abandoned their get-out-the-vote efforts several hours before polls closed. Some were so assured of Angle’s victory that preparing for the lavish victory party at the Venetian Hotel took precedence. But as the results trickled in, the gathering’s festive atmosphere turned increasingly grim. A stunned hush fell over the throng when the verdict came in: Sharron Angle had lost, and it wasn't even close.

How did this happen? In the immediate aftermath of Reid’s victory, Angle’s campaign staff grappled with the loss, cycling through the various stages of grief. Having reached the final point of acceptance, several conceded that Reid’s ground organization and overall strategy had been brilliant. The Reid operation’s execution -- aside from the candidate’s dreadful performance in the lone debate -- was virtually flawless. In the end, it may be that none of the potential GOP contenders in Nevada could have beaten Reid. His get-out-the-vote machine was top-notch, and his strategy was executed to perfection. According exit polls, 55 percent of Nevada voters disapproved of their senior senator’s job performance, yet he received over 50 percent of the roughly 700,000 votes cast.

Reid ran a great race, but another major problem plagued Team Angle: Competing factions and internal power struggles. For months, an open rift festered between two opposing camps, transforming the campaign into a model of dysfunction. On one side of the philosophical canyon were the candidate’s grassroots loyalists, who had catapulted Angle to her improbable primary victory. On the other was a small handful of professional Republican operatives who were hired to help run the general election effort. Former Angle staffers – nearly without exception – gave vent to myriad frustrations and grievances that accumulated over a period of four months. Although the campaign managed to maintain the public appearance of functionality and common purpose, behind the scenes, the campaign was at war with itself.

The tensions were reportedly caused by clashes between the professional operatives and campaign manager Terry Campbell, who did not return phone calls or answer email inquiries regarding this story. Each side harbored, and often demonstrated, outright contempt for the other. To the grassroots activists who “brought Sharron to the dance,” as an ex-campaign volunteer put it, the new consultants and directors were “arrogant” and “condescending.” To their detractors, the professional staffers were a clique of establishment types and hopelessly out of touch party elites. The professionals, in turn, developed a strong distaste for many of their counterparts. Angle’s political and ideological impulses frequently led her to side with the grassroots over the “elites.” In some of the ugliest disputes, each faction turned to two of the only campaign figures universally considered to be impartial voices of reason: Jerry Stacy, Angle’s Press Secretary, and Ted Angle, Sharron’s husband.

One episode that encapsulated this counterproductive tug-of-war was a spat over whether to allow a scheduled event with Sen. John McCain in late October to continue as planned. The grassroots campaign staff warned Angle that McCain's mere presence on the trail would cost her the conservative base. Some suggested that volunteers would quit. After initially supporting McCain’s visit, Angle was briefly persuaded to abandon the event. However, some of the GOP professionals called an emergency meeting to push Angle back into the rally with McCain, arguing that McCain's record as a decorated war hero would play well with the crucial independent voter demographic.

Longtime Angle team members believed this was proof that the hired guns were trying to 'moderate' their candidate's views. They instead floated a compromise: Angle and McCain would appear at the same event together, but not on stage at the same time. The grassroots feared that even a photograph of Angle with McCain would turn off the base. The veteran GOP operatives strongly dissented and ultimately prevailed. The rally happened, and the two appeared together as originally scheduled. But this was not the only time the factions clashed.

The candidate herself occasionally nipped conflict in the bud by making quick and unilateral decisions. She quietly put the kibosh on a low quality television ad produced by her grassroots supporters and regularly dismissed the advice of her professional advisers when they counseled her against attending town hall meetings and small, ad hoc rallies around the state.

Angle’s daily schedule was the subject of the campaign’s most ferocious battles. Her early supporters feared the “elites” were undercutting Angle’s knack for personal retail politics and trying to tamp down her strong conservative values. “They were trying to change who Sharron was in her heart and soul, but we knew that voters were tired of phoniness,” the former volunteer said. The professionals, meanwhile, worried that Angle’s instincts, coupled with the “unprofessional and undisciplined” people surrounding her, could lead to trouble if she deviated from the playbook.

Of particular concern was the habitual occurrence of midday scheduling changes being ordered by Campbell allies, with little or no warning. “They would call audibles at the last minute. This was a daily battle. What would end up happening was Sharron would show up at events, the media would be there, and she’d be ill prepared,” an aide complained. “On August 28, it was decided that she should attend a big Hispanic Expo, without telling us. She arrived with no Spanish language literature, no translator, no booth, and we got embarrassed in front of the Spanish language media. It was a disaster.”

Another avoidable misadventure was Angle’s infamous October appearance at Rancho High School in Las Vegas. Several “elites” adamantly lobbied against participating in the event, but the grassroots insisted upon her appearance. When a student asked a question about the ethnicity of some illegal immigrants portrayed in a campaign ad, Angle gave a rambling answer, at one point telling the predominantly Latino audience that some of them “look a little more Asian” than Hispanic.

The incident generated a torrent of negative media attention, which was especially damaging because of its timing. “At that point, I wanted to roll Sharron up in a carpet, put her in a bunker, and leave her there until the election was over,” the former aide said, half-jokingly. “Rancho happened the day after Sharron won the debate. That entire day, or even the whole week, should have been all about how Sharron did a fantastic job and soundly beat a man who debates on the Senate floor for a living. We felt we had accomplished what we needed to. People got to see that Sharron was not the extreme, crazy person that Harry Reid had been saying [she was]. In reality, she was just an honest, conservative, honest Nevadan who was upset with the direction of the country and the state. Instead of that being the focus, Sharron’s poorly phrased, but totally innocent, comments hijacked our narrative.”

Jerry Stacy, Angle’s well-respected Press Secretary, declined to discuss the campaign’s stumbles, or “take sides” in the messy conflict.. Instead, he sounded some of the few conciliatory notes in the hours of interviews conducted for this story. “I don't want to point fingers at anybody. Everyone worked hard. I don't want to pile on Terry [Campbell], or anyone else. It's counterproductive,” he said. “Ultimately, we all shared the same goal: trying to remove Harry Reid from office. All these guys were sincere in their desire to achieve that.” Both sides have echoed Stacy’s last statement, but pointed fingers at one another for failing to get the job done.

Amidst the blame game, Angle is plotting her next move. A well-informed source says Angle is seriously considering another run for statewide office. “Running for office gets in your blood,” the source said. “Sharron’s developed a huge donor list, she has lots of national connections, so there are several options she’s weighing.” This confidant wouldn’t say whether Angle has her eyes on John Ensign’s seat in 2012, but said she would likely make a decision about her future by “late spring.” Others dispute that any such explicit timetable exists, referencing post-election interviews in which Angle more vaguely mentions contemplating “lots of options.”

Following Reid’s deflating win, conservatives must ponder an unpleasant proposition: Could the debilitating ‘grassroots vs. establishment’ dynamic that poisoned the Angle operation replicate itself and wreak havoc on future Republican campaigns? Political activists and operators from across the Center-Right spectrum agreed that both establishment and Tea Party-aligned conservatives should view Angle’s loss as a cautionary tale.

“The establishment didn’t seem too excited about supporting Sharron Angle because she beat them,” said Brendan Steinhauser, the Director of Campaigns for FreedomWorks – a grassroots organization that organized the enormous 9/12/09 Tea Party rally in Washington, DC. “My colleagues in Nevada were disappointed to see some of the attitudes out there in Nevada. On the flip side, the grassroots were disorganized and unfocused on the ground. They clearly didn’t have what it took to defeat the Reid machine.” The “magic question,” according to Steinhauser, is how to foster cooperation among the varying conservative actors who may have stylistic and substantive differences, but ultimately seek to achieve the same goal.

“It’s a very delicate balance,” he explained, “and it starts with respect. At the end of the day, we’re allies in this fight. Smart political hands will embrace this new movement and thank newcomers for their hard work. People want to know that they’re valued and respected, not disdained. On the other hand, grassroots activists need to recognize that they don’t have all the answers and understand the value of professionalism. Sometimes, we all have to rely on professionals’ specialized knowledge to get a job done. You go to a mechanic to get your car fixed, right? The same applies to politics.”

A GOP strategist close to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and a number of prominent 2010 candidates, concurred with Steinhauser’s analysis, and offered an assessment of how best to construct an effective and balanced campaign team: “The big, national-level operatives don't always know what events are considered must-do, or what local folks are a must-befriend, because they haven't spent their lives focused on those things,” the strategist explained, before leveling an admonition to the other camp: “On the other hand, a lot of state-level operatives just lack the experience of working on the toughest, most scrutinized cut-and-thrust campaigns, like presidential efforts. A campaign that is run by the very best, smartest and most aggressive in-state operatives who have worked at high levels on races big and small, buttressed by grassroots folks and national-level folks, is probably the best formula.”


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: Nevada
KEYWORDS: itwasthefraudstupid; votefraud; voterfraud
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To: scooby321
No one can beat Harry in Nevada. SEIU, Casinos, Mexicans its a stacked deck.

That, and I think there's another dynamic at work, too. Considering the 14% unemployment rate, it seems voters -- though they knew the dems' policies damaged their state's economy -- allowed themselves to be convinced that only the entrenched and influential Reid could deliver for them. They no longer cared about fixing economic problems long-term. The short-term needs took over.

And that's a condition the dems have been very effective at creating: lowering peoples' hopes and expectations for the future and forcing them to grasp only for satisfaction of day-to-day needs. The result is a weaker, meeker and more submissive population that no longer believes in itself and merely gazes upward to Big Government as the giver of all that is good.

Why else would the Regime now stress that double-digit unemployment is the "new normal?"

41 posted on 12/20/2010 7:15:16 AM PST by ScottinVA (The West needs to act NOW to aggressively treat its metastasizing islaminoma!)
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To: Kaslin

That Campbell was a DISASTER.

The days before the election there was NO ground team getting people to the polls but Campbell was busy planning the victory party.

Angle was warned by many locals that this clown was screwing up and ignoring the ground game and she ignored them.


42 posted on 12/20/2010 7:15:16 AM PST by ncalburt (Get Even on Election Day)
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To: Brices Crossroads
Great insight, BC. Sarah Palin needs no strategists to tell her what to do. She will, however, need campaign "mechanics", lots of them, on the ground in the states.

I hope she's reading resumes over the holidays...LOL.

43 posted on 12/20/2010 7:16:22 AM PST by Al B. (Sarah Palin: "Buck up or stay in the truck.")
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To: Kaslin

Both Ken Buck in Colorado and Sharron Angle managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Both were privates the Tea Party promoted to instant Generals, and both thought they were smarter than they were. Both thought they could spar with the professional press, and both were eaten up and spit out alive.

Neither listened to the professionals. All that they or any conservative candidate had to due was keep on message and keep their mouths shut to deliberately divisive questions. Neither had the discipline to do that.

All any conservative had to do was answer ANY question with one of the following:

1. Cut taxes, cut spending, and cut the deficit.

2. Stop illegal immigration.

3. Support the military.

4. Support strong and effective efforts against terrorists.

5. Repeal Obamacare and replace it with a simple package of true reform.

Scott Brown did this and won in a liberal state. Any GOP candidate could have done the same, but most of the Tea Party candidates weren’t smart enough to keep their mouths shut and stay on message. Sharon Angle, Ken Buck, and Joe Miller obviously liked to listen to themselves cast pearls before swine rather keep their mouths shut and get elected.


44 posted on 12/20/2010 7:32:44 AM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Made from the right stuff!)
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To: Eccl 10:2
A candidate needs to have stock answers / talking points to the ten or twelve major issues, and certainly immigration is one of them. You steer the question to the talking point, and say what YOU want to say, and not necessarily answer the specific question. This one is on Angle. Bad mistake.

And this is what the professionals should have targeted, rather than randomly shifting her schedule which seems more a tactic to get her disoriented rather than a tactic for winning. The comment about sending her to events without preparation seems telling - it sounds very unprofessional, so if these were professionals, the implication is that it was premeditated.

45 posted on 12/20/2010 7:33:24 AM PST by slowhandluke (It's hard to be cynical enough in this age.)
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To: This Just In
I've got to agree about the moronic status of the comparison of political professionals to mechanics.

The proportion of honest mechanics isn't what it should be, but it's way ahead of the proportion of honest political consultants. While a mechanic might do unnecessary fixes, they don't hope you crash after they've fixed something.

What we've seen clearly is that somebody who worked for Mitt or Huck tend to always work for Mitt or Huck, and not necessarily for the candidate currently paying their fees.

46 posted on 12/20/2010 7:41:07 AM PST by slowhandluke (It's hard to be cynical enough in this age.)
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To: Kaslin

Another Nicolle Wallace moment in the 2010 campaign? These political operatives who are practically bred inside the beltway are not to be trusted.


47 posted on 12/20/2010 7:41:38 AM PST by pepperdog (Why are Democrats Afraid of a Voter ID Law?)
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To: Kaslin
There is tremendous truth to the following: “In the end, it may be that none of the potential GOP contenders in Nevada could have beaten Reid. His get-out-the-vote machine was top-notch, and his strategy was executed to perfection.”

More people in Nevada dislike (or maybe should I say “hate”) Reid than like or love him. However, his get-out-the-vote machine was overwhelming. Republicans do not even have a machine. And I don't think we ever will. We have no groups of people such as the Democrats have that we can literally harass and put the fear of the loss of their job over their heads to force them to get out and vote. (If we even tried that Republicans would leave in droves or remain home on voting day.)

A huge factor in the election was the union vote. The unions were very active in busing the workers to the polls. The union reps were there checking the vote registries at the poll sites to find out who had not voted. Then those people were contacted and picked up and taken to the polls. I heard that unions employees had to bring proof back to work that they had voted or they would be in trouble.

If you look at the stats for the whole state, Reid won in the counties with the major union presence: Clark & Washoe. All the Reid campaign had to do was concentrate their efforts on the these counties. It was close in a couple other counties, but in the rest of the counties Angle won by huge margins:
Sharon Angle's Vote Total by County
Eureka County 69%
Esmeralda County 67.5%
Lincoln County 67.3%
White Pine County 67.3%
Elko County 63.5%
Churchill County 63.4%
Lander County 63.2%
Lyon County 59.9%
Douglas County 59 8.%
Humboldt County 56.9%
Nye County 54.3%
Pershing County 52.7%
Storey County 52.7%
Carson City 48%
Washoe County 44.9%
Mineral County 43.2%
Clark County 41.3%

Add to the union support, the RINO support, the illegal alien support, and voter fraud that surely took place because their is virtually no proof of citizenship or ID needed to obtain a voter registration in Nevada, it made it hard for Angle to win.

As for Angle appearing “crazy” that was the message from Reid from the very beginning. She was “crazy” and “extreme” for believing in conservative values. Much of what she said was twisted and misquoted by Reid and his campaign. She was definitely not a slickly packaged politician.

48 posted on 12/20/2010 7:47:52 AM PST by Nevadan
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To: pistolpetestoys

As soon as I saw that the SEIU was maintaining the voting machines in Clark County,I knew the fix was in.You don’t go into election day down 4 points and win by 6 without massive fraud.”

As a Nevada voter, That is the main reason I think Reid won.

Also- Clark County is a source of many illegals who vote. ACORN is still VERY active there. Darrell Issa may think that ACORN is gone, but they are not. They have changed their name in many states.


49 posted on 12/20/2010 8:30:32 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: sickoflibs

The word around NV after this incident was that she was ‘crazy’.””

Reid’s camp were calling Sharron crazy from the first jump.


50 posted on 12/20/2010 8:31:45 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: sickoflibs

I prefer Angle’s “craziness” to Reid’s corrupt tyranny.


51 posted on 12/20/2010 8:36:13 AM PST by windsorknot
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To: windsorknot

Since Reid’s definition of crazy is anyone who believes what the vast majority of freepers believe, I agree!


52 posted on 12/20/2010 8:39:48 AM PST by Nevadan
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To: windsorknot
Reid's water-boys on FR (upthread) often repeat the accusation that she was “crazy”.

The only crazies were those who voted for a Democrat who gave them 14% unemployment, and are turning NV into a Third-World failed state like CA.

53 posted on 12/20/2010 8:48:08 AM PST by roses of sharon (I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13)
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To: ridesthemiles
RE :”The word around NV after this incident was that she was ‘crazy’.””Reid’s camp were calling Sharron crazy from the first jump.

The lesson to learn ?? If your opposition is calling you crazy from day 'one' then don't record him a campaign commercial (in a school) that looks like it is really true just after you surprise everyone by doing well in the debate.

54 posted on 12/20/2010 8:53:15 AM PST by sickoflibs ("It's not the taxes, the redistribution is the federal spending=tax delayed")
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To: Carley
Reid ran a great race??????????????????

He came from behind (if we believe the polls) and beat the living crap out of Sharron Angle.

Yes, he was a terrible candidate. But his campaign ran a great, focused race that concentrated on the fundamentals.

Meanwhile, as the article points out, Angle's campaign was foundering in ideological thumb-twiddling.

55 posted on 12/20/2010 9:25:11 AM PST by r9etb
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To: sickoflibs; stephenjohnbanker; DoughtyOne; Liz
This is the one that really killed her, and as the author says it reversed what she had gained from beating Reid in the debate. The word around NV after this incident was that she was ‘crazy’.

It certainly was unnecessary for Angle to say they looked Asian. Tea Party candidates who are rookies on the national stage (and not gifted like Reagan) need training to avoid stepping into traps. It's a shame, because then they become more like their opponents.

However, what she was trying to say ("What we know, what we know about ourselves is that we are a melting pot in this country. My grandchildren are evidence of that. I'm evidence of that.") made a lot of sense. But the race-baiting media (including some on Fox) and special interests keep telling them that they are Mexicans first.

- Juan Hernandez, McCain Hispanic Outreach Director

56 posted on 12/20/2010 9:41:57 AM PST by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas (Lt. Col. Ralph Peters: Obama is the dog who caught the fire truck!)
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To: windsorknot
RE :”I prefer Angle’s “craziness” to Reid’s corrupt tyranny.

Don't forget Reid's role (big push) in ending DADT, you have to wonder what all those Hispanics that came out to save him think about that.

Unfortunately there is a limit to what us supporters can accomplish in districts where we are in the minority and the candidate gives the Democrats even more ammunition. Sadly, it looked like Angle's campaign had really turned things around and might still win.

57 posted on 12/20/2010 9:48:04 AM PST by sickoflibs ("It's not the taxes, the redistribution is the federal spending=tax delayed")
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To: ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas; stephenjohnbanker; DoughtyOne

She was trying to avoid the kid’s question with that answer, but it backfired. She wasnt prepared for it. It was the same question an illegal’s kid asked Obama in a MD school so she shouldnt have been surprised by it.

The only Asians in NV are visitors in the casinos.


58 posted on 12/20/2010 10:11:24 AM PST by sickoflibs ("It's not the taxes, the redistribution is the federal spending=tax delayed")
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To: Kaslin

This is a very interesting piece. I came away from it with the conclusion that Angle didn’t do a good enough job “quarterbacking” the two campaign factions, or at least placing somebody clearly at the top of the food chain to make final decisions on her behalf. You can’t go through an entire campaign with two factions butting heads. It’s an indication that nobody was in charge. That’s ridiculous.


59 posted on 12/20/2010 10:21:42 AM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: Kaslin
(Art., quoting Brendan Steinhauser)

“It’s a very delicate balance,” he explained, “and it starts with respect. ....You go to a mechanic to get your car fixed, right? The same applies to politics.”

Respect was nonexistent with the "pros" -- typical establishment characters, arrogant and self-serving.

Remember, you can't be "establishment" and still be "conservative". It's like being a "nice *sshole". It's an oxymoron.

And the difference between political operatives and car mechanics is, if you take your car to the shop, you get it back -- the mechanic doesn't end up owning your car and the truth. "His car? What do you mean? It's always been my car ....."

60 posted on 12/20/2010 12:46:06 PM PST by lentulusgracchus
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