Is Harry Reid the luckiest man in Nevada?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Maybe so. Facing unpopularity and a touch re-election fight, it looked like he was done... until the Republicans breathed life back into his political career:

After years of maneuvering, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid got the race he wanted.

Sharron Angle, a former Reno assemblywoman and Tea Party favorite, emerged from Tuesday’s Republican primary, lifted to a landslide by a solid base of conservative supporters but carrying political baggage that experts say gives the embattled Reid a new lease on political life.

Known as a staunch conservative, Angle now faces the challenge of appealing to the broader electorate, a task made difficult by her rigid ideology — she supports phasing out Social Security and dismantling the Education Department.

Even by Republican standards, Angle is a wacko, and Jonathan Chait already has three posts up detailing just how crazy she is -- see here, here, and here.

In the third post, via David Frum:

In the early years of [the 2000s], there were efforts in the Four Corners states to place Scientology front group programs into prisons at taxpayer’s expense. Sharron Angle, a Nevada legislator, worked very hard to convince her fellows on the legislature that a Scientology front group called Second Chance would be a good program for Nevada prisons.

That's right, she's a teabagger with connections to Scientology.

And in the first post, some helpful perspective:

How crazy is Angle? Glenn Beck -- Glenn Beck! -- warned against her. She is at least somewhat tied to the militia movement. Moreover, she has undergone little scrutiny, and it's a good bet that more will produce of further radical views. Her nomination is just a staggering failure of the party establishment.

Yes, we're bound to get more and more, as we watch the Republicans commit political suicide. I would just advise Reid not to sit down. He's obviously got a massive horseshoe up his ass.