Snippets....

And the whole "Short Attention Span" motif continues... :)

...Perhaps the bloodiest races in the state this year won't be a legislative or congressional race, or even one of the Corporation Commission races - they're going to be in the races for Republican PC in LD11. There will be competitive races in 45 of the 83 precincts in the district. In most LDs, folks at both major parties are happy if they just have PCs in that high a percentage of precincts; there usually aren't more than a few precincts that have candidates competing for the slots. To illustrate this phenomenon just look at the same list from the Maricopa County Recorder's Office - in the overwhelmingly Democratic LD16, there are only 4 precincts (out of 45) where there are competitive races for Democratic Party PC slots.

Of course, LD11 is the center of the anti-McCain Republican universe; most of the precinct races there can be broken down into an anti-McCain ticket and a pro-McCain ticket.

Is it possible for both tickets to lose?? :))

Anyway, should be fun to watch...if you're a Democrat.


...Bob Lord, the Democratic challenger to John Shadegg in CD3, has been getting beaucoup love nationally.

First, DailyKos added him to their "Orange to Blue" fundraising program.

Then, he was added to the DCCC's "Red to Blue" program, a program that raised an average of $400K per candidate in 2006.

Finally, the non-partisan Cook Political Report changed it rating of the CD3 race, upgrading Lord's chances of election. The race had been rated "Solid Republican"; it's now rated as "Likely Republican."

That may not sound significant, but in 2006, CD5 was rated as "Likely Republican" until late in the race.

Like when the results came in, and Harry Mitchell had sent JD Hayworth to the electoral showers.


...Went to the monthly meeting of the Community Council of Scottsdale on Thursday night. They had two candidates for City Council speaking to them, Tom Giller and Oren Davis. I'd seen Mr. Giller at different neighborhood/community meetings and at a couple of City Council meetings but it was my first opportunity to hear Mr. Davis.

He actually did well; he's a political rookie (and it showed with his speaking style) but he also showed an honesty and directness that is fairly rare in politics these days - he actually spoke to a hostile crowd and didn't try to pander. He probably didn't win any votes at the meeting, not even mine (I'm never sold on a candidate the first time I see him/her in action.) However, he didn't talk himself into the "No way in hell could I ever vote for him" category, either.


...Congratulations!! to ManEegee on receiving a scholarship to Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) in Austin in July. Looks like Tedski (he of the Democratic convention media credentials) isn't the only AZ blogger gettin' some respect beyond the land of cactus needles and dust storms.


...In the "interesting visitors" department, at 3:58.47 p.m. on Thursday, this blog received an unexpected hit from the AZ Republican Party (IP address - 68.14.244.235). The fact that a GOPer was checking out my blog wasn't a surprise (that's just monitoring what is being said in the blogosphere, and that's just standard practice these days). What was surprising was how they found my blog.

They Googled "voter reg trends", and found this post.

Ummm...I'm not exactly a party insider, and I'm definitely not a Republican Party insider (yeah, so I'm a master at stating the obvious :) ), but I know that voter reg trends are pored over, parsed, and dissected by some of the best minds at both major parties, and in far more depth than can be done by one man with a spreadsheet program.

So why use Google to find someone else's analysis?


...And in the "am I a raging cynic or what?" category, George Bush has promised immediate aid for flood-stricken residents of Iowa and other midwestern states.

Sooooo...am I the only one who's noticed that Iowa's population tends to be paler and more likely to vote Republican in November than the population of the Katrina-afflicted New Orleans and the Gulf Coast?

Timely disaster relief should never be based on electoral or racial considerations.

Any other question?


Later!