Tom Cruise's unlikely cameo in Nevada GOP Senate race

[ccharles000]

There's a cast of usual suspects you expect to show up in political ads in the final days of a campaign: President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, maybe even George W. Bush. But Tom Cruise?

Ahead of Tuesday's Senate GOP primary in Nevada, the actor makes a cameo appearance in an ad from former state GOP Chairwoman Sue Lowden attacking rival Sharron Angle for sponsoring legislation in 2002 supporting spa treatments for Nevada prison inmates — a plan, the ad alleges, hatched by the Church of Scientology. The camera lingers at one point on a makeshift shrine to Cruise, perhaps Scientology's best-known celebrity adherent.

Angle, a tea party favorite who has suddenly taken the lead in polls, is a Southern Baptist, according to her campaign. As a member of the Nevada Assembly, she supported the Church of Scientology in its high-profile crusade against psychotropic drugs. Until recently, her website claimed she worked closely with actresses Kelly Preston and Jenna Elfman — both well-known Scientologists — to pitch Sen. John Ensign on legislation that would block public school officials from insisting that kids take psychotropic drugs like anti-depressants. But the Las Vegas Sun's David McGrath Schwartz noted that Angle recently removed the mention of Preston and Elfman from her site.

As for the Lowden ad's depiction of the prison plan, it's slightly misleading. As Factcheck.org writes, Angle's idea, which was never formally drafted as legislation, was strictly aimed at female prisoners.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100604/pl_ynews/ynews_pl2409

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. So it's a battle between the Chickens and the Unholy Lord Xenu?

Do the chickens have their own fleet of interstellar capable DC-9's too?

[geek tragedy]

2. Crazy vs. Cruise-Azy. nt

[Yavin4]

3. Vote for Harry or Vote for Crazy

These are your choices Nevada.