If Nevada’s U.S. Senate race was a paint-by-numbers project, the Sharron Angle campaign’s morning media advisory colored the canvas pretty well. The headline:
THE NEVADA ECONOMY HAS COLLAPSED UNDER SENATOR HARRY REID’S LEADERSHIP Unemployment In Nevada Was 4.4% When Senator Reid Became The Majority Leader in 2007
It has been said that the November elections are all about the economy. Whatever the foibles of her campaign so far, Angle can still use the numbers to create a portrait of a Reid so ugly it makes her own aspect more pleasant by contrast.
The statistics from the press release:
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Unemployment In Nevada Was 10.1% When The “Stimulus” Passed In February 2009. (U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics Website, www.bls.gov, Accessed 3/4/10)
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138,007 Nevadans Were Unemployed In February 2009. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://data.bls.gov, Accessed 5/27/10)
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In June 2010, Unemployment In Nevada Reached 14.2%, The Highest Rate In The Nation. (U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics Website, www.bls.gov, Accessed 7/21/10)
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193,630 Nevadans Are Currently Unemployed. (U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics Website, www.bls.gov, Accessed 7/21/10)
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“Among Metro Areas With Populations Over One Million, Las Vegas Had The Highest Jobless Rate At 14.5% And Washington, D.C. And Surrounding Suburbs Had The Lowest At 6.4%.” (Sara Murray, “City Unemployment: Vegas, Washington at Opposite Ends,” Wall Street Journal Blog, www.wsj.com, 7/28/10)
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Home Prices Have Declined 51% In Las Vegas. “With 14 percent unemployment and a 51 percent decline in home prices, Las Vegas is one of 13 housing markets that will never recover, 24/7 Wall St. website said.” (Hubble Smith, “REAL ESTATE: Nevada still No. 1 In Foreclosures As More Price Declines Expected,” Las Vegas Review Journal, 7/16/10)
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Las Vegas Has The Highest Foreclosure Rate In The Nation. “Las Vegas had the country’s highest metro foreclosure rate in the first half of the year, with 6.6 percent of its housing units, or one in 15, getting a filing. The number of properties getting a notice, however, fell 9 percent from the same period last year.” (“Foreclosures Up In 75 Pct Of Top U.S. Metro Areas,” Reuters, 7/29/10)