Wondering why she’s scaling back and aiming for the House instead of Ensign’s soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat? Here’s a data point from a PPP poll taken in January. Mystery solved:

With that kind of buyer’s remorse across the board, she’d be a sitting duck against Dean Heller this time in a statewide Senate primary. Better to focus on the 2nd District, then, which is solidly Republican and where her fundraising dollars will go a lot farther. Angle almost won this seat once before, actually, losing the 2006 primary by less than 500 votes to … Dean Heller. But all wasn’t lost: Read this insightful Jon Ralston piece about how their primary battle ended up pulling the formerly moderate Heller to the right, where he’s remained long enough to earn the tea-party cred he’ll need to fend off any insurgent primary challengers this time around. Exit quotation from a House GOP aide, who’s not looking forward to this election: “Angle had a terrible Senate staff and was a headache for the campaign committee. I doubt things will be that different in a House race.”