The National Rifle Association will not endorse Harry Reid for U.S. Senate, Political Victory Fund Chair Chris Cox announced Friday.

Here's why:

"The vote on Elena Kagan's confirmation to the Court, along with the previous year's confirmation vote on Sonia Sotomayor, are critical for the future of the Second Amendment. After careful consideration, the NRA-PVF announced today that it will not be endorsing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for re-election in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Nevada."

That's the right call. But why haven't they endorsed Reid's opponent, Sharron Angle?

"In the coming days and weeks, the NRA Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) will be announcing endorsements and candidate ratings in hundreds of federal races, as well as thousands of state legislative races. Unless these announcements are required by the timing of primary or special elections, the NRA-PVF generally does not issue endorsements while important legislative business is pending."

That seems kind of a strange game to play with this race now that they've let the cat out of the bag about Reid. But does that mean if we're just patient with them and keep quiet things should work out in the near future?

Not if The New York Times is correct in their analysis:

"The group will not endorse Mr. Reid’s Tea Party backed challenger, Sharron Angle, either, despite her work to win members over...Keenly aware of the blow, a spokesman for Mr. Reid’s campaign responded quickly, noting that the N.R.A. donated nearly $5,000 to Mr. Reid and nothing to Ms. Angle and that the group’s vice president, Wayne LaPierre, once called Mr. Reid a “true champion of the Second Amendment.”

The Las Vegas Review-Journal is even more definitive:

"An NRA spokesman said the organization will not be backing Angle either. 'We will not be making any endorsement in the Nevada Senate race,' said Andrew Arulanandam, the group's public affairs director."

Why the hell not? What kind of weaselly equivocation is that?

NRA made great noise during the recent DISCLOSE Act debacle about being a "single-issue organization" with a "sworn duty to protect the Second Amendment."

Look at Angle's record on guns. From Project Vote Smart:

"Based on lifetime voting records on gun issues and the results of a questionnaire sent to all state legislative candidates in 2004, the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund assigned AM Sharron E. Angle a grade of A..."

Gun Owners of America has endorsed Angle. And look at what she is willing to go on the record and be held accountable to. Seriously--take a few minutes and read her answers to the Gun Rights Political Questionnaire (Sen. Reid, incidentally, did not respond).

There's no excuse for NRA-PVF not endorsing Sharron Angle at this point. That is, none that we know of. The cynic in me wonders about backroom discussions--they can't endorse Reid outright because they've seen the pledges to cut donations and cut up membership cards on innumerable gun blogs and related forums if they do. But they don't dare cut Reid off completely, either. So they shun his challenger while he keeps the cash and gets to continue savaging her as "extreme" for understanding that the Second Amendment isn't about shooting pork...uh...parks.

Gun owners and NRA members should demand NRA-PVF take a position in this race--their entire reason for existence is to produce political victory.

It's their damn job.

Straddling both sides reflects neither political courage nor credibility as a source for reliable endorsement information--something we've unfortunately seen eroded time and time again. For years.

As a long-time life member, I find this unacceptable, but unfortunately, all too typical and expected.

Also see:
NRA Members for Sharron Angle--be sure to sign the petition and call NRA!
Sharron Angle for U.S. Senate