Chuck Muth: Checking in on Nevada's Senate race

With just over eight weeks to go before Nevada's primary election, let's check in on the U.S. Senate race against Harry Reid, disclosing first that I've contributed to Danny Tarkanian, Sharron Angle and Sue Lowden's campaigns.

Garn Mabey's candidacy is a bad April Fool's day joke. Bill Parson is a solid constitutionalist but not viable. And Chad Christensen appears to believe the Mormon vote is his path to victory. Not likely.

John Chachas is a wealthy New Yorker who keeps telling everybody what great credentials he has to be a U.S. Senator. But instead of running for one of the two open U.S. Senate seats in his home state, he opted for commuting to his birthplace, trying to buy one on the cheap.

Chachas and his family don't live here. He doesn't work here. He doesn't shop here. His kids don't go to school here. And if he loses the primary, I bet he'll leave here, never to be seen or heard from again. Stick a fork in him.

If it's true that slow and steady wins the race, Sharron Angle would win this one by a "hare." But while Angle is arguably the most conservative candidate in the race, this is not about who's the most conservative candidate in the race. When Republican primary voters go to the polls in June, the big question will be, "Who has the best chance to beat Reid in November?" And if the race didn't include Clark County, Angle might credibly be the answer. But it does, so she probably isn't.

If distorting your opponent's record, twisting her words and generally running a dishonest, scorched-earth negative campaign in violation of Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment is what you're looking for in a Republican candidate, Danny Tarkanian is your guy (visit www.tarktales

.com). But when push comes to shove, I don't believe GOP primary voters will reward that sort of bad-boy behavior.

Which brings us to Sue Lowden.

Lowden's not as conservative as Angle, or a constitutionalist like Parson. She's not Mormon like Christensen. She hasn't put up a million dollars like Chachas. And she hasn't been willing to "go rogue" like Tarkanian.

But Lowden's more than conservative enough and can raise the money to be competitive in the general election. And although she's opted not to sink into a primary muck fight with a fellow Republican, she's no shrinking violet either. She will give as good as she gets in a race against Reid.

Sue Lowden is the Nevada conservative who can win in November. And if that's what Republican primary voters are looking for on June 8, that's who they'll nominate.

• Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a non-profit public policy grassroots advocacy organization. He may be reached at chuck@

citizenoutreach.com.