Chicken quip grounds high-flying Nevada candidate Sue Lowden

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Right wing, left wing, chicken wing. Suddenly Nevada politics is all about chickens — bad news for the Republican Senate front-runner but a ray of hope for struggling Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.

Sue Lowden recently suggested bartering with doctors for medical care — "our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor." The line from the millionaire casino executive and former beauty queen immediately became a late-night joke and YouTube sensation, and upended a GOP race that had been hers to lose.

Democrats set up a website, "Chickens for Checkups," and dispatched a volunteer in a chicken suit to one of her fundraisers. GOP rival Danny Tarkanian circulated a video of her comments and asked if she were the best candidate to take on Reid.

Early voting begins May 22 for the June 8 primary and the inevitability that was building around Lowden's candidacy has eroded as others in the field of 12 Republicans sense an opening.

And somewhere Reid is cackling.

The Senate majority leader is considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents, struggling with low approval ratings in a state that's reeling economically from an unemployment rate of 13.4 percent — well above the national average — and the highest home foreclosure rate in the nation. Infighting among Republicans and the possibility that Lowden could emerge from the crowded primary as a scuffed-up winner would be a blessing for Reid.

"If the November race is about Harry Reid, Republicans win. If it's not about Harry Reid, it's a flip of the coin," said Ryan Erwin, senior adviser to John Chachas, a Wall Street banker who returned to his native state to enter the Republican race.

Lowden hasn't retreated from the chicken remark, although she said later it wasn't intended as a policy proposal.

"I'm telling you that this works," she said. "You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor, they would say, 'I'll paint your house.' ... Doctors are very sympathetic people. I'm not backing down from that system," she said.

She blames Reid and his allies for putting "barnyard animals into the spotlight."

Reid acknowledges his own vulnerability and has been following a methodical path in pursuing a fifth term. He's raised $16 million, locked in support from powerful unions and casinos, and pushed job and health care issues that he hopes will resonate with voters.