DiCiccio: Operating straight outta Campaign Damage Control 101

One of the first things any candidates learn is that when you don't get an important endorsement, the next best thing is to pretend you didn't even want that endorsement.

Even better, insinuate (or, as in this case, state almost outrightly) that you are morally superior to the people who endorsed your opponent.

To whit, from today's Arizona Republic -

Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio said a coalition of Arizona police unions tried to cut a deal with him over the weekend: withdraw his support for Police Chief Jack Harris in exchange for an endorsement from the Arizona Police Association.

When the District 6 councilman rejected the offer, he said, the association on Monday instead endorsed his challenger in the Nov. 3 run-off election, Dana Marie Kennedy.

The simple fact is that DiCiccio has been clashing with the Phoenix police for months, even years - DiCiccio has jumped on the Joe Arpaio/Andy Thomas nativist gravy train while the Phoenix PD, including their unions, have taken a more professional approach. They understand that there are laws in this country (and in Phoenix) that are just as important (or, dare I say it, *more* important) as the immigration-related ones.

Today's denouncement of the Arizona Police Association's endorsement of Dana Kennedy for the District 6 seat on the Phoenix City Council does indicate one thing - DiCiccio understands that no matter how well he did in the primary (48% of the vote), he doesn't get to bring those votes with him into November.

Right now, he and Dana Kennedy are the only two candidates left for voters to compare and select from. He won't be able to hide behind a gaggle of other candidates and rely on name recognition (he's a former and current appointed member of the Phoenix City Council) to carry the day.

He'll have to beat Dana Kennedy on his own merits, and he's worried.

As he should be.