Signature deadline tomorrow in AZ

As nominating petition season draws to a close, most campaigns have submitted their sigs already or have made plans to do so tomorrow before the close of business. A few, such as University Lakes JP John Ore, have announced their retirement.

Note: Ore gained some notoriety late last year after he was outed as the judge who signed a batch of search warrants for Joe Arpaio as part of Arpaio's jihad against other county officials.

Normally, the Maricopa County Recorder's Office and the Arizona Secretary of State update their websites to indicate which candidates have submitted their petitions at the end of the business day, but they haven't done so as of this writing (the SOS' page is here; the link to Maricopa County's is here).

Through yesterday however, there weren't any serious surprises - there are seven R candidates with submitted petitions in CD1, five Rs in CD3, six Rs for LD8 State Rep, five Ds for LD27 State Rep, five Ds for LD28 State Rep, and all still counting. Given the rancor that has suffused politics at all levels in recent months, the number of people interested is somewhat surprising, but then, the number of people who want to change things isn't.

A bigger surprise is the number of independent candidates running so far - Harley Meyer in CD7, Ted Downing and Dave Ewoldt for LD28 State Senate (2?!?) and Gene Chewning for LD27 State Rep.

There must be something in Tucson's water. :)

OK...I've taken so long writing this post, the SOS' office has updated its website.

Turns out I was wrong a few weeks ago when I predicted that none of the late entries into the race for the D nomination for U.S. Senate would make it on to the ballot - both Cathy Eden and John Dougherty submitted their sigs today. In addition, there are now 8 Rs running in CD1; 8 Rs in CD3; 5 Rs in CD5; 4 Rs in CD7; 3 (count 'em, 3!) Libertarians running for Governor; 6 Rs for LD7 State Rep.; 5 Rs for LD22 State Rep.; 6 Ds for LD27 State Rep.

I'll do a more complete post once things are finalized. And once Maricopa County updates its website.

Later....