Hate to say I told you so...

...OK, who am I trying to kid...I *love* being able to say 'I told you so'...

Nearly two and a half months ago, I predicted that the bloodiest race in the September primary wouldn't be a legislative or Congressional race, but would in fact be the race for the Republican PC slots in LD11.

That predictions wasn't quite right, as the race between Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) and Kevin Gibbons (R-Jeff Flake's brother-in-law) for the Senate seat in LD18 has gotten far nastier than anyone could have expected.

However, this post from Seeing Red AZ proves that the prediction wasn't far off, either.

Apparently, *someone* is spending some big money to finance some robocalls from former RNC Chair Haley Barbour that support the pro-McCain candidates for PC, and the Rep leadership in the district is most assuredly not happy about it as one of the people targeted for defeat is the chair of the Maricopa County Republicans.

One prediction that I made that turned out to be accurate -

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

:)


Other interesting races (aka - "Republicans eating their own") -

In the Rep race in the LD6 State Representative primary, the various (and competing) supporters of Tony Bouie and Carl Seel have been trading jabs - "Bouie's a RINO!", "Not so!", "So!", and so one. An example of some of the anti-Bouie rhetoric here; an example of the anti-Seel stuff here.

Over in CD5, former Maricopa County Treasurer David Schweikert and former Scottsdale City Councilwoman (and current lobbyist) Susan Bitter Smith have dropped the gloves (that's a hockey reference for you AZ lifers :) ) and are airing attack ads targeting each other. (PolitickerAZ coverage here)

And in a very mild example, three of the Democratic candidates for AZ Corporation Commission, Sandra Kennedy, Paul Newman, and Sam George, are running as a slate and are airing a TV spot that implies that only they support an increased use of solar energy in Arizona. One minor detail - non-slate Democratic candidate Kara Kelty also supports solar and renewable energy (see her AZ Republic candidate questionnaire)

Let's be clear - it's the Republicans who oppose any efforts to change the status quo regarding energy production and consumption in Arizona.

With these races, as well as a couple of others (like the 8-way Rep primary for the 3 open seats on the Corporation Commission and the Scottsdale races for Mayor and City Council), Tuesday's primary election day will be an interesting one.

Later!