GOP Candidate Tarkanian: Sharron Angle has ‘Limited Base’; Loss to Reid Would be ‘Devastating’

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: In the race to take on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sharron Angle has some late momentum going into Tuesday’s GOP primary – despite polls showing her to be the weakest of the three main Republican candidates. Today on ABC/Washington Post “Top Line,” Danny Tarkanian – one of Angle’s rivals for the Republican nomination – said he fears that Angle won’t stand as strong of a chance as he or the third candidate, Sue Lowden, would against Reid. “Harry Reid's going to have a hard time winning any election in November. However, Sharron has a very strong and passionate base, but it's a much more limited base than either I or Sue would have,” said Tarkanian, R-Nev. “The problem with Sue's campaign in arguing that she's the most viable candidate against Reid is that we have seen how her campaign has handled the different attacks and scrutiny Reid's campaign has put forth against her these last two months. And her campaign has shown they're not prepared to run against Reid. I believe that I have the best chance to beat Reid in the general election…. I am the strongest candidate in that regard, and I believe I can stand up to Harry Reid and take the attacks he's going to throw at me.” Of the prospect of Republicans failing to defat Reid, Tarkanian said: “It would be devastating.  It would be absolutely devastating. But I really mean this — you know, our internal polls show that myself and Sharron Angle are in a dead heat, and Sue Lowden has dropped quite a bit a-ways. It's going to come down to the two of us. … I'm going to get the last bit of undecideds to vote my way, and I'm going to win this primary. And then I win this primary I fully believe that I'm going to beat Reid in the general election.” Tarkanian, the son of legendary UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, also disputed the notion that Angle is the “tea party candidate” in the race. “That's not necessarily the case,” he said. “She has the Tea Party Express, which is a California-based consulting group, that has come out and endorsed her and run a lot of TV time and radio time — upwards of a million dollars on them. However, the Tea Party of Nevada, the national tea party organization — they have come out and repudiated that endorsement and they have stayed neutral in the race. There's a lot of tea party people, supporters on my campaign, that are out there supporting me and getting other people to get behind my campaign and vote for me.” But Tarkanian distanced himself from controversial statements made by another tea party favorite, Senate candidate Rand Paul, R-Ky. “I certainly would not have agreed with the statement that the Civil Rights Act should not apply to private businesses. In fact, I was asked that question by Politico and I said absolutely, it should apply to it. Now Sue Lowden was on one of the debates with Jon Ralston and he asked her that comment and she wouldn't answer it. It's a simple answer: of course. We had racial discrimination in the private businesses, and all people in America should be treated equal.” Watch the interview with Danny Tarkanian HERE. For our “Post Politics” segment, we checked in with Dan Balz of The Washington Post on the latest revelation of the White House dangling a political appointment to shape a primary field – plus the raging debate over Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga’s near-perfect game. You can see our chat with Dan Balz HERE.