“I expect him to vaporize Lowden or Tarkanian or whoever is the opponent,” said a Reid adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss campaign strategy.

The Reid adviser said the campaign’s oppo files on Lowden and Tarkanian are “growing by the day” — and that the only question for the campaign is when to start using them: Wait until the GOP has a nominee, or start tearing the candidates down in advance of the Republican primary.

Reid, his advisers say, has learned his lesson from Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader who lost his seat in 2004 after failing to push back hard enough against intense GOP criticism…

“I think he will do anything to win,” Jon Ralston, an influential Nevada political analyst, said of Reid’s 2010 campaign. “To be fair, I think he’ll do anything legal to win.”