While I've been working and away from the blog, it's been an interesting weekend on the AZ political scene...
Quarterly fund raising reports are in. The big surprise: challenger Harry Mitchell outraised incumbent JD Hayworth in CD5. Hayworth has more cash on hand, but Harry has more grassroots popularity. This is a real race. GO HARRY!!
Also very noteworthy, Ellen Simon in CD1 has done stunningly well as she campaigns to win the Democratic primary for a chance to unseat Rick Renzi.
Blog for Arizona, The Word From Arizona's Fifth District, and daringheart are among the bloggers reporting on the fundraising. Visit the FEC's website to get the reports directly.
In more Hayworth news, Lofty Donkey reports that in a fundraising letter, Congressman Hayworth wrote "I am embarrassed that I, as a leader, am partly responsible" for the government's failure to "secure our borders." The Mitchell for Congress campaign responded with a press release, quoting Harry Mitchell as saying "I'm glad my opponent finally admits that he's a part of the reason why Washington has failed to secure our border."
The Hayworth campaign will probably try to spin this as "my task isn't complete; I need two more years to whip the Washington wussies into line for America's safety." Or something similar.
Not a lot of good news this weekend for the incumbent.
And in an early but unsurprising descent into the gutter, Republican candidates for AZ Governor Gary Tupper and Mike Harris took swipes as Governor Napolitano for being single with no children.
Their quotes were curiously similar.
Tupper: "She's never been married. She never had kids."
Harris: "She's never been married. She's never had children."
Maybe it was a case of two candidates with the same mindset (and apparently, the same speechwriter, too!) trying to stave off impending also-ran status by using controversy to raise their profiles.
Maybe it was two party loyalists taking one for the team- they fling the mud and spout the bigotry and take any blowback while the frontrunners get to "tsk - tsk" from the sidelines and then repeat the same insults under the guise of disavowing them (see: Len Munsil.)
Either way, the Republicans are obviously desperate.
And the juicily hypocritical part? Also at the Republican family values love fest to lend his moral support was outgoing State Senate President Ken, father of Clifton 'Broomstick' Bennett.
Tedski at Rum, Romanism and Rebellion has a great recap and analysis of the festivities.
Elizabeth Rogers has a couple of words to say on the subject, too. Ok, maybe more than a couple. :)
P.S - I did think of a third possibility here. One or both of Harris and Tupper hit on the Governor, and are trying to save face after striking out by casting aspersions on her sexual preferences.
I thought about adding this to the list, but decided it was too wiseass and immature of me to put it in my blog.
Right back at ya, Len. :)
...But the best news of the weekend actually happened today. It's anectdotal, but still a great morale booster, and after last week's DCCC cave-in, the morale boost was definitely appreciated.
Tonight, a woman that I work with, one of the most apolitical people that I know, asked how my "political thing" was going. (note: people that I work with know that I have become a little more active politically, volunteering and contributing and just helping out a little, but not much more than that. I try to leave politics out of work - that's not why we are there.) Anyway, I updated her on some of my activities and we started talking about different issues.
The topic moved to immigration, and she floored me when she asked rhetorically (slight paraphrase here - I wasn't taking notes), "why don't the people who are so worked up about Mexican immigrants put some effort into helping Mexico? Mexicans wouldn't want to leave there and come here if they could make a living there."
My jaw dropped, and my hopes for a sane outcome of this year's election cycle rose.
If an Independent, non-controvery seeking person who is usually a bystander to most political debates that don't directly affect her or hers can see through the smoke and bile with that kind of clarity and wisdom, the hot-button issues that the Republicans are using to turn out their base could backfire on them in a big way come November.
Side note, also anectdotal: If the 2008 Presidential election were held today, and the people that I work with were the only voters, Hillary Clinton would win in a landslide. I'm not sold on her yet, but they are.
Anyway, have a good night.
2 comments:
Remember, a large chunk of Ellen Simon's good showing in the fundraising came from her. Either way, it's good someone is standing up to Renzi.
Personally, I'm hoping Mike C is able to pull off the primary upset.
That's a good point Tim, but I was looking at Simon's $225K in individual donations vs. Renzi's $90K.
Have to admit that I don't know enough about the CD1 candidates to have a preference other than "Someone not named Rick Renzi."
Whoever among Caccioppoli, Simon, or the others wins the primary, I hope the runners-up can unite in their opposition to Renzi for the general election.
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