Political journalist Jon Ralston this weekend got his hands on a 38-minute recording of a recent meeting between Sharron Angle and Scott Ashjian, the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate who could potentially siphon votes from Angle.

During the exchange, Angle said, “I’m not sure I can win” if Ashjian remains in the race and tried her utmost to convince him to withdraw his candidacy and support her.

The conversation began with Ashjian complaining that the Tea Party Express “destroyed” him in the press. He requested and said his support for Angle hinged on a “public apology” from that group.

Angle did not promise to deliver the apology, but used other means to try to convince Ashjian to drop out of the race.

She agreed with Ashjian’s characterization of a GOP establishment that has lost its way and sympathized with his trials and tribulations since announcing his candidacy. The meeting included plenty of mutual commiseration that Republicans have “lost their standard, they’ve lost their principle.”

Angle’s strategic view diverged from Ashjian’s, though, as she tried to convince him that it is better “to work from within” the party than to run as a third party candidate.

Angle told Ashjian she was “pragmatic enough to know…that third parties can’t get traction.” She also described how she set about bringing herself up within the Republican ranks to the point that “they have to support me.”

“It’s me or Reid,” Angle said, as she tried to persuade Ashjian to bow out.

Angle at one point enlisted the David and Goliath metaphor to describe how she she believes can best beat Reid. “That is exactly where I am at right now, trying to get them to leave me alone long enough to get my sling and go after this guy,” said Angle, going on to talk about “character and principle” and the essence of an America that is “tired of politics as usual.”

In the end, though, Ashjian–who called both political parties “corrupt” and claimed his internal polling shows him pulling 18 or 19 percent of the vote–did not agree to pull out of the race. Ashjian has been polling at between one and five percent in surveys that test the full ballot.

A number of media organizations wrote about the recorded meeting between Ashjian and Angle including Politics Daily, the Caucus Blog at the New York Times, the WSJ, and Ben Smith at Politico.