In her new ad, Sharron Angle hits Harry Reid where voters live … literally. The collapse of the housing bubble hit Nevada particularly hard, as Las Vegas has been one of the epicenters of the foreclosure crisis (others being Florida, and Southern California). The TV spot, which just began airing, reminds voters that their primary investment has lost half of its value during Reid’s tenure as Senate Majority Leader, and brings Democratic ineptitude on the economy back into the debate:

Meanwhile, the Angle campaign continued its shakeup with an important addition:

Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle enlisted another seasoned political operative Tuesday to help steady a campaign that has been slowed by growing pains and missteps, including some of her own making.

The staff move was announced on the same day Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid began a fresh round of TV ads criticizing Angle as an extremist. Angle’s campaign responded swiftly with a statement blaming Reid for Nevada’s dismal economy, a sign the campaign is taking on a new urgency in a race that is considered wide open.

Jarrod Agen, a veteran of Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 presidential campaign, was appointed communications director, one of several recent hires aimed at honing Angle’s message and keeping pace with a barrage of negative ads from Reid and his Democratic allies.

Clearly, the Angle campaign needs some help. While Angle has a winning record in Nevada elections, she has seemed unprepared for the kind of onslaught Harry Reid has directed at her, and has stumbled on more than one occasion on her own. Angle has added a number of out-of-state advisers to the media side of her campaign over the last couple of weeks, probably the result of some intervention by the national party to ensure that they remain competitive against Reid in a high-profile contest.

This ad is a step in the right direction. Thus far, Reid has done what he can to change the subject from the economy and a near-depression in Nevada. The state leads the nation in unemployment, and as Angle points out, with a real estate market in collapse. Angle needs to improve her message discipline and focus entirely on the economy. That is the winning message, and to the extent that Reid can change the subject, it only benefits him and not Angle.