Citizens United: Sen. Reid is top target

LAS VEGAS - Months after David Bossie helped pave the way for corporations to pump millions into shadowy political ads, the conservative filmmaker says his latest goal is to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Bossie told The Associated Press on Friday that his group, Citizens United, is gearing up to release a new round of anti-Reid ads in Nevada's blistering U.S. Senate race between Reid and Republican Sharron Angle.

The group's political arm is currently running an anti-Reid ad that links the Nevada Democrat to the Silver's States record unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy levels. An earlier ad was released in July.

Recent polls show Angle and Reid running neck and neck in a race framed as a referendum on Obama's sweeping social and economic policies that have sought to transform health care, jump start the economy with public dollars and crackdown on Wall Street abuses.

"He is the gatekeeper for the Obama administration," Bossie said. "Nothing happens in the United States government without Harry Reid's approval."

Citizens United has also waded into roughly 8 other elections this year on behalf of Republican challengers that could help the GOP take back the House.

Bossie's anti-Hillary Clinton movie in 2008 led to a landmark ruling this year that opened the way for corporations and unions to spend unlimited dollars on elections. The decision has contributed to an explosion in political advertising by outside groups representing secret donors.

President Barack Obama and other Democrats have portrayed the Supreme Court decision as a blow to open elections that allowed anonymous donors to influence some of the most competitive races in the country this year in an unprecedented push.

Bossie dismissed the complaints as scare tactics designed to rally the Democratic base.

"If they were winning, you wouldn't hear about this issue," Bossie said.

Political groups that don't disclose donors are simply following "the rules," Bossie said. "The rules are what are important."

Reid and Angle tangled in the only debate of the race Thursday, where she told him to "man up" on Social Security's failures.