In response to a recent interview I did with conservative talk-show host Dan Mason on KOH radio in Reno, Sen. “DC Dean” Heller’s panicked, inside-the-beltway communications team went into full “Tasmanian devil” spin mode, including a pair of political whoppers.
1) “Danny Tarkanian endorsed many key items from Sen. Dean Heller’s agenda.”
Actually, I endorsed many key items from President TRUMP’s agenda – an agenda Mr. Heller only recently began embracing after I announced I was running against him in next year’s GOP primary. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, DC Dean only saw the light after we made him feel the heat.
2) “Danny Tarkanian isn’t in this race because he disagrees with Dean Heller on policy.”
Actually, the exact opposite is true. I’m ONLY in this race because I disagree with DC Dean on a number of important policies. They include…
- His opposition to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential race
- His vote AGAINST repealing ObamaCare in July
- His opposition to the president’s pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio
- His support for the Gang of 8 amnesty bill
- His support for citizenship for illegal immigrants
- His support for taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood
- His support for same-day voter registration
- His embarrassing 55% conservative rating with Heritage Action
- His pitiful 61% “Liberty Score” on Conservative Review
- His paltry 71% American Conservative Union rating
- His measly 76% lifetime rating with FreedomWorks
- His anemic 77% score with Club for Growth
- His flip-flop on (fill in the blank; there are so many)
The bottom line is there are three main reasons I’m running to repeal and replace DC Dean Heller in next June’s Republican primary…
1.) The President can’t depend on him
2.) Republicans, and especially conservatives, can’t trust him
3.) He can’t win in November
Heller’s membership in the silly “No Labels Coalition” has gained him absolutely zero support among Democrats in Nevada…while his #NeverTrump position that helped Hillary carry Nevada has permanently turned many Trump supporters into #NeverHellers. And since he won re-election in 2012 against a terribly flawed opponent by only 1 percent, he has no room for error.
That’s why Heller is universally pegged as the single most vulnerable Republican U.S. senator up for re-election next year. His cynical and insincere born-again conversion into a Trump-supporting Republican will fool some people – but nowhere near enough to get re-elected in the general.
“The problem for Republicans is clear,” wrote Frank Cannon in The Hill after the GOP establishment lost the Alabama Senate seat this month. “It’s the turnout, stupid. The GOP should be seeking to engage its base, not deflate it.”
If the Republican establishment wants to avoid losing yet another seat in the Senate, it needs to wake up, listen to and engage its base in Nevada, and throw Heller under the bus the same way Heller threw Trump under the bus. Otherwise, kiss Nevada good-bye for the GOP.
DC Dean…can’t…win. Politically, he’s dead senator running. And he’s kryptonite to the GOP’s Senate majority. Time for Mitch McConnell to wake up and smell the Maxwell House dark roast.