She's Sharron Angle -- and don't call her Rand Paul. That's the message the Republican Party is hoping push about the new Tea Party-backed Nevada Republican Senate candidate. Though her victory may look a lot like Rand Paul's in Kentucky a few weeks ago, almost as soon as she won Tuesday night, GOP strategists sought to play down the similarities.
How will she avoid the pitfalls that have repeatedly consumed Rand Paul? Experience and wisdom, the GOP says.
Paul Kane of the Washington Post reports:
National Republican strategists contend that Angle does not seek the limelight of national cable TV and will not get tripped up into debates on her conservative views on national TV venues, in the manner that the GOP nominee for the Kentucky Senate seat did soon after his May 18 victory.
Angle is not necessarily the political novice that first-time candidate Rand Paul was -- she's run for some Nevada office during each of the last seven election cycles. And, despite her flair for dramatic flourish, "GOP operatives expect her to be more receptive to advice from Washington political experts now that she's the nominee," Kane reports.
Kane also points out that Angle was not hesitant to steer clear of media coverage in the aftermath of her acceptance speech on Tuesday night. (An Angle aide told reporters to stop peppering her with questions).
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's campaign, the one that Angle must face in November, would like nothing more than to paint Angle as the Rand Paul of Nevada.
"Sharon Angle is a Rand Paul-type candidate," Reid's campaign manager Brandon Hall told Talking Points Memo after Angle's victory. "In fact, I would say she's more extreme than Rand Paul."
A few of Angle's most controversial and outspoken policy initiatives are transforming Social Security, implementing a flat tax and eliminating the Department of Education, ideas that her supporters say make her more like Ronald Reagan than -- as some have suggested -- a candidate far too conservative for the mainstream.