Reid Opponent: Vote for Me Because Reagan Would Have Wanted You To

Danny Tarkanian, one of the GOP challengers who’s leading Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in the polls, has put together a web video that remembers Ronald Reagan’s 1986 campaign appearance to stump against Reid, and frames the Tarkanian bid as “Reagan’s last campaign.” I don’t usually pay much attention to web videos not backed by ad buys, but this might set a new standard in Reagan worship on the right. At the very least, it’s the most cloying “win one for the Gipper” video since 2006 West Virginia Senate candidate John Raese recycled a 1986 ad that Reagan had cut for him.

Two notes. One, the video inaccurately states that Reid “first ran” for the Senate in 1986. He ran in the Democratic landslide year of 1974, but lost narrowly. Two, Republicans actually lost the Senate in 1986.

Here’s the press release, which Tarkanian sent out on WorldNetDaily’s email list.

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Dear fellow conservative,

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Glenn Beck has identified our campaign as the Tea Party campaign that can win in Nevada. Why? Because I’m a true conservative, and in the latest poll, I’m crushing Harry Reid by 14 points.

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The American Spectator called me “Harry Reid’s Armenian Nightmare.” Why? Because I’m a true conservative, and in the latest poll, I’m crushing Harry Reid by 14 points.

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I’m writing because I need your help – to defeat the establishment in my Republican primary, and then to finish Ronald Reagan’s last campaign mission — to DEFEAT HARRY REID.

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I want to put the defeat of Harry Reid in proper historical perspective, so I’m releasing a video about a single, critical day: November 3, 1986. It was the last day… of Reagan’s “last campaign.”

Maybe you remember where you were that day. You see, in 1986, Harry Reid first ran for the U.S. Senate, and on that fateful November day, President Ronald Reagan came to Las Vegas to him.

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Ronald Reagan always knew Harry Reid was a danger to our nation. He told us Harry Reid was a tax and spend liberal. He told us that he opposed a balanced budget.

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It took 24 years, but now we’re only months away from achieving one of Ronald Reagan’s final campaign goals: defeating Harry Reid.

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But I need your help today. You see, I’m locked in a pitched battle for the conservative soul of the Republican party against a wealthy liberal establishment Republican who is trying to buy the primary with a million dollars.

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My Republican opponent just doesn’t get it. Before running for Senate, she was a regular contributor to Harry Reid’s campaigns, and she actually called Harry Reid a “Reagan Democrat.” Even today, she defends Harry Reid’s vote for the bailouts, saying she might have voted the same way herself. With that attitude, you could argue it’s just as important to defeat her as it is to defeat Harry Reid.

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The fact is, we are on the brink of finishing the job Ronald Reagan started on that fateful November day, but it will be a hollow victory indeed if we replace Harry Reid with an establishment Republican who defends the bailouts and the tax and spend establishment agenda of Harry Reid.

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Let me be blunt. If you are interested in merely changing the name of Nevada’s Senator, I am not your candidate. If you are interested in standing for something – or fighting for a return to the conservative, Constitutional values that made this country great, then I want your help – I your help NOW in this primary.

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Don’t let a wealthy Republican bailouts apologist buy the Nevada primary, and don’t let Harry Reid’s left wing lobbyist money deny us a conservative victory in Nevada.