The MSM isn't getting it...

Last weekend, Josh Brodesky wrote a piece for the Arizona Daily Star that excoriated blogs, particularly political blogs like Blog for Arizona (full disclosure: I'm a guest writer at BfA), for being biased and unprofessional.

Blogs? Biased and unprofessional? 

Blogs????


No sh!t, Sherlock.


To its credit, the Star has published the insightful response of Michael Bryan, the blog "owner" of BfA.

David Safier of Blog for Arizona has an equally insightful, and more direct, rebuttal of Brodesky's diatribe.

My take:

I started writing my own insightful and sharp response.  It was also long and boring, even pedantic.

That response has been deleted.

The bottom line is that blogs are exactly what the writers want them to be - outlets for partisan commentary, observations on life (or just a part of it), places to rant (this blog was started as a vent for all of the frustration that had built up from watching the insanity that is the Arizona political scene) or outlets for cooking tips or whatever.

While some, like this one, make occasional forays into areas that used to be the exclusive territory of "professional" media (covering public meetings and legislative developments), nearly all of us are more like columnists than street-level reporters.

Mr. Brodesky criticizes blogs, which he admits he doesn't read often, for not being like his newspaper, yet he doesn't even allude to the fact that many blogs break stories that MSM reporters don't want to touch (like David Safier's coverage of the misuse of tuition tax credit $), many times because of their own biases or even because they're afraid that writing something that could offend one of the people they need as a source.

Anyway, I can see that I'm already getting pedantic again, so let me close this with an open question for Mr. Brodesky and anyone else who cares to answer:

If the "traditional" media should be held up as an example of integrity and professionalism that all bloggers should aspire to (and be ashamed for not achieving), why is it that ABC News, ostensibly a mainstream media organization, has brought Andrew Breitbart on board to be part of their election coverage?

You know, the same Breitbart who selectively edited video to smear Shirley Sherrod, a career employee of the Department of Agriculture?

You know, the same Breitbart who seems to have done the same thing in Alaska over the weekend, editing a garbled recording of some reporters into a conspiracy against tea party/GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller?


I'm openly partisan, as are the other writers at BfA, as are the writers of the other political bloggers in AZ (left and right).

Most of us do NOT play with the facts.

Unlike folks like Andrew Breitbart, who is about to become part of Mr. Brodesky's mainstream media.

DNC ad: Don't sit this one out

Campaign superlatives

Inspired by Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic, who has a column up with the title "My picks for the most memorable performances of this campaign season."
Mostly her column is a series of criticisms of the effors of some of the campaigns. I can do that, and will, but I've got a few compliments, too.


Toward the end of the high school year, yearbooks come out, with picks (and pics) of the "the most" whatever or "the class" blah.  Now that we are nearing the end of the campaign cycle, it's time for campaign superlatives.


...The "Least Likely To Have A Future On American Idol" Award:  Rodney Glassman, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.  His video performance of "Sweet Home Arizona" was easily the most entertaining video of the season, and it was energetic.  Other than that...?

...The "Truth?  We don't need no stinking truth! " Award:  Many worthy nominees, but this one goes to the Yes on Prop 302 folks.  They've got signs all over the state pimping the proposition with "Stop Wasteful Government Spending."  They've also go signs up saying the Prop 302 is "for the kids" or some such tripe.

Prop 302 would defund and destroy First Things First, a program for early childhood education and health care.  The money set aside for it via a voter-approved dedicated tax would then go into the state's General Fund and be subject to appropriation by the lege.  The expectation is that the lege would use the revenue as an excuse for more corporate tax cuts, and then use the resulting reduction in revenue as an excuse for cutting education and children's health care programs even more than they already have been.

...The "Most Expensive Campaign By A Candidate Who Isn't Even On The Ballot" Award:  Maricopa County's own Joltin' Joe Arpaio.  The nativist sheriff isn't up for reelection until 2012, but he spent over $700K on TV spots targeting Rick Romley, a candidate for Maricopa County Attorney, and incurred a fine of $150K more for his illegal "in-kind" contribution.

...The "Most Likely To Be Cursing Poor Timing" Award:  Joe Hart, the incumbent Arizona Mine Inspector.  Hart looks to be openly in the pocket of the industry he's supposed to regulate (he takes lots of campaign contributions from them, and they help create laws to specifically increase his job security).

He started the campaign season well-funded and bunkered legally, and looked to be cruising to an easy reelection.  Then 33 miners in Chile became trapped in an unsafe mine, and even worse, had the audacity to survive for more than two months underground before being rescued.

The world's, and Arizona's attention became focused on the drama in Chile, and unfortunately for Hart, on all things mining.

Including Hart's dearth of qualifications for the job, and the wealth of experience in the safe operation of mines on the part of his opponent Manny Cruz.

...The "Most Likely To Wish That The Election Was Held The Day After She Signed SB1070" Award:  Who else?  Jan "Brain Freeze" Brewer.  She started out the real election cycle (i.e. - after the other major R candidates dropped out of their primary) with a huge lead over Terry Goddard.  Right now, however, the short calendar between the primary and general elections is her best friend.

Between...

- Nationally ridiculed false claims of headless bodies in the Arizona desert...

- The aforemention "brain freeze" during her one and only debate with Goddard...

- National coverage of the ties between private prisons, SB1070, and her circle of lobbyists/advisers

- and other missteps, she has since allowed Goddard to close the gap with her, turning the contest into one that will be won by the organization with the stronger GOTV effort.  She still leads in recent polling, but Tuesday can't come soon enough for her.


..."Most Likely To Be A Chip Off The Old Block" Award:  Ben Quayle.  Dad can't spell "potato" correctly; son doesn't know history, calling Barack Obama the "worst president in history" in a TV spot, ignoring the fact that his deep-pocketed well-connected daddy used to work for the deep-pocketed well-connected daddy of the one of the "worst presidents in history," the one who was the worst in well over a century.

Later...

GOTV time...

Due to there only being 24 hours in a day, blogging will be intermittent through the elections on Tuesday.

Some posts will go up, but no guarantees on the scheduling.

Stay updated on the latest AZ political news at Blog for Arizona, Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion, Democratic Diva, Dry Heat Democrat, or any of the blogs listed on the sidebar.

After you catch up on your reading, sign up for GOTV efforts at your nearest Democratic Party office here.

Hope to see you out canvassing!

Brewer keeping an innocent man in jail; Arizona politics as usual?

I know I get a little worked up sometimes, questioning the motives, integrity, and even the humanity of many of the players in AZ's political circles.  Usually, however, I can step back, take a deep breath, and regain my perspective and civility.

However, Jan Brewer has utterly beaten me.

She's soulless.  Purely.  Simply.  Unequivocally.

Soulless.


ABC News has the story (KNXV-TV, the local affiliate of the network, has a written story here) of how our unelected governor has refused to release a man who was unanimously granted clemency by the board *she* appointed. 

William Macumber, age 75, inmate number 033867, has been in prison for over 35 years for a murder that someone else has confessed to committing.

The Arizona Executive Board of Clemency took a look at the facts of the case last year, and citing the case as a "miscarriage of justice," recommended that Macumber be released.

Jan Brewer denied the recommendation for clemency, without explanation.

Since then, the victim's son, Ronald Kempfer, has sought both his father's release and a clear explanation for Brewer's intransigence.

The closest thing to an explanation that he has received was something about how his father's release would endanger public safety and that she has made her decision and "it's final."


Now I would like an explanation of something.

Governor Brewer, I realize that you don't read blogs, but people on your staff do, so maybe one of them will bring this question to you.

Pray tell, how does an arthritic 75-year-old man with heart problems who *didn't* commit a crime constitute a threat to public safety? 

Hell, with that description ("an arthritic 75-year-old man with heart problems") all they'd have to do is give him a golf cart and a place to live in Sun City.  He'd blend in perfectly. (I'd make a crack about the dangers of the denizens of Sun City driving golf carts, but that's a fight I don't want to get in right now. :) )

As more than a few of the stories suggested, Brewer's concerns with the clemency may be rooted in election year politics - she doesn't want to appear to be soft on crime (the fact that he didn't actually commit the crime is irrelevent to Brewer's reasoning.)

Only in Arizona would keeping an innocent man in jail be considered a good political move.

Well, that took long enough - National media finally notices the SB1070/private prison lobbyists connection

...and in case that title makes me sound like a jerk, let me say this up front: NPR did a great and thorough job with this. 

NPR has released the results of its investigation into the behind-the-scenes machinations during the crafting and passage of Arizona's infamous SB1070.  And the relationship between Jan Brewer's staff, many of whom are lobbyists for private prison companies

From the report - 

Prison Economics Help Drive Ariz. Immigration Law

{snip}

NPR spent the past several months analyzing hundreds of pages of campaign finance reports, lobbying documents and corporate records. What they show is a quiet, behind-the-scenes effort to help draft and pass Arizona Senate Bill 1070 by an industry that stands to benefit from it: the private prison industry.


The law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a way never done before. And it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them.


Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce says the bill was his idea. He says it's not about prisons. It's about what's best for the country.


{snip}

It was last December at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. Inside, there was a meeting of a secretive group called the American Legislative Exchange Council. Insiders call it ALEC.


It's a membership organization of state legislators and powerful corporations and associations, such as the tobacco company Reynolds American Inc., ExxonMobil and the National Rifle Association. Another member is the billion-dollar Corrections Corporation of America — the largest private prison company in the country.

It was there that Pearce's idea took shape.


"I did a presentation," Pearce said. "I went through the facts. I went through the impacts and they said, 'Yeah.'"

The 50 or so people in the room included officials of the Corrections Corporation of America, according to two sources who were there.

Pearce and the Corrections Corporation of America have been coming to these meetings for years. Both have seats on one of several of ALEC's boards.

To sum up: the seed of Pearce's SB1070 may have been planted by his unrelenting hatred for people with brown skin, but it was germinated in the hothouse of corporate ideology known as ALEC.

Still, the scheme needed to be nurtured before it could bloom.

As soon as Pearce's bill hit the Arizona statehouse floor in January, there were signs of ALEC's influence. Thirty-six co-sponsors jumped on, a number almost unheard of in the capitol. According to records obtained by NPR, two-thirds of them either went to that December meeting or are ALEC members.


That same week, the Corrections Corporation of America hired a powerful new lobbyist to work the capitol.

The prison company declined requests for an interview. In a statement, a spokesman said the Corrections Corporation of America, "unequivocally has not at any time lobbied — nor have we had any outside consultants lobby – on immigration law."

At the state Capitol, campaign donations started to appear.

Thirty of the 36 co-sponsors received donations over the next six months, from prison lobbyists or prison companies — Corrections Corporation of America, Management and Training Corporation and The Geo Group.

By April, the bill was on Gov. Jan Brewer's desk.

The "powerful new lobbyist" hired by CCA in early January?  Highground Inc., operated by one J. Charles Coughlin.

As in J. Charles "Chuck" Coughlin, Jan Brewer's campaign manager and "former" policy adviser.

Consider it nurtured and bloomed.

Also on Brewer's staff and CCA's payroll?  Communications Director Paul Senseman.  He "used" to lobby for CCA; now, his wife is the Senseman household's "official" CCA lobbyist.

For his part, Russell Pearce has denied that ALEC or CCA played any part in the development of SB1070, claiming that he has proposed the bill many times before the ALEC conference late last year.

Granted, that *could* be interpreted to mean that he hatched his scheme free of undue or improper outside influence. 

It could also very reasonably be interpreted to mean that he has been in the pockets of the private prison industry for many years, or just that he is a shameless opportunist, using the corruption indicated by industry lobbyists running the governor's office as a catalyst for turning the darkest of his private hatred into the vilest of public policy.

It may take a federal investigation, indictment, and trial, and a few years, but something tells me that in a generation, Arizonans will snicker at the words "Jan Brewer" the same way they do when the hear the words "Ev Mecham."

Spin, Half-truths and Lies: Schweikert campaign running on empty

...but that's all they have left...and "half-truths" may be giving them too much credit...

Early yesterday, the Schweikert campaign breathlessly sent out an email press release, touting a police report in Tempe concerning a Tempe resident who "pushed down" two anti-Mitchell signs.

The one piece of truth?  Such an incident did, in fact, occur, at least according to this police report (courtesy the Arizona Capitol Times).

After that, the press release gets more than a little light on facts.

The press release starts by conflating this incident with a 2000 incident where Mitchell was accused of stealing some signs.

The press release pontificates on that one with "[t]here was no question that Congressman Mitchell broke the law then."

The problem with that? 

The charges were dismissed, and that dismissal was upheld on appeal.  No matter how often Rs like to bring up the incident from 2000, they always seem to forget to mention that a judge ruled that no crime occurred.

Call this one the "half-truth, barely" part.

The press release then goes on to include a picture of some signs with "the kind of damage that has been occurring."

The problem with that?

The picture included in the press release wasn't of the signs that were part of the incident detailed in the police report.  It was of some of the unsightly "insult" signs that Schweikert has carpetbombed CD5 with.  The pic looks to have been staged in a parking lot, perhaps outside of Schweikert's campaign headquarters (I don't actually know where it was staged, just that it definitely looks staged).

Call this one the "spun into an outright lie" part, but at least it gave them an excuse to push their lies about Harry Mitchell one more time.

The Arizona Capitol Times has a story up that refutes the Schweikert campaign's spin and press release. 

In it, the writer points out that neither the alleged "damager" nor the complainer involved in the incident are directly involved in either the Mitchell or the Schweikert campaigns other than in expressing support for the respective candidates.  Speaking personally, I've been a frequent visitor to the Mitchell campaign office in Tempe, and I've never heard of the man accused of damaging the signs.

The Schweikert supporter, however, is a somewhat different story.

I've never heard of him by name, but he is quoted in the police report saying that he "has a company called Jet Media."

The Cap Times' story quotes Jim Torgeson, the owner of Jet Media, as claiming that the signs weren't commissioned by the Schweikert campaign.

From the story -

"But Jet Media owner Jim Torgeson said that Sanders’ signs were not commissioned by the Schweikert campaign, and that they personally belonged to Sanders, not the company."

That opens up a big can of worms for the Schweikert campaign.

The press release claims very specifically that the signs involved in the Tempe incident *are* the property of the Schweikert campaign.

From the press release -

"The signs in question are the property of David Schweikert’s campaign."

That's pretty unequivocal.

It also means that someone is violating campaign finance laws.

Either the complainer owns them and is engaging in political advocacy without filing campaign finance paperwork with the AZ Secretary of State (which he hasn't), or Schweikert owns them and needs to put the appropriate "paid for by" on the signs (which he hasn't, apparently, because there isn't one on the signs.)

Other issues -

Mr. Torgeson is a Republican operative of long standing, using his sign company to harass Democratic candidates in Tempe for years now.

Mr. Torgeson's company, Jet Media, received over $7400 worth of sign business from the Schweikert campaign just between late August and late September, according to Schweikert's FEC filings.  I don't know if the signs that the Schweikert campaign purchased from Torgeson were the ones involved in the above incident, but that's a lot of money going to a small sign company relatively late in the cycle.

Mr. Torgeson is listed with the Arizona Corporation Commission as President of Jet Media Promotions, Inc.  That corporation was administratively dissolved by the ACC earlier this year because of its failure to file an annual report.  Not sure how/if that impacts the legal operation of the sign business, but it's definitely sloppy on Mr. Torgeson's part.


Still, given that we are now less than five days from Election Day, this is just a meaningless distraction.  Any proceedings stemming from the above incident will take weeks or even months to run to completion; any possible campaign finance violations could take *years* to resolve.

Time to do a little canvassing.

Later...

The most fortunate man in America: One violent teabagger

A video of a violent assault of a MoveOn.org member at a Rand Paul event has been going viral on the internet and cable news.

That video -




Turns out that the three most important factors in politically-motivated violence are the same as in the real estate business - location, location, location.

The perp is fortunate tonight - in Kentucky, he faces only misdemeanor charges.

In Massachusetts (where I was born and grew up), a shod foot (what the Paul supporter used on the head of the woman as she lay pinned to the ground) is considered a "dangerous" weapon under the law, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (ABDW) is a felony that could earn the perp upwards of a decade in state prison.

Of course, that may be a better option for the attacker and his ilk than in Arizona - we've got some of the weakest-ass laws in existence regarding the application of deadly force in self-defense of the defense of another, thanks to Russell Pearce.

One of the attacker's fellow tea party types. God I love the irony there...

Basically, under Arizona law, you can shoot your neighbor for sneezing. (Yeah, that's a bit of hyperbole.  But only a bit.  Read the statutes.)

And to top it off, the perp, a (now-former) county coordinator for the Rand Paul campaign named Tim Profitt, is now demanding an apology from the woman he assaulted.

For what, daring to soil the bottom of his shoe with her scalp?

Blast from the past time: Tom Delay's trial finally starting

Tom Delay, the scandal-plagued former Congressman from Texas who ran amok in Washington and across the country (and the world) with Jack Abramoff the last time the Rs controlled the House is finally going on trial.  He faces money laundering charges in Texas stemming from campaign finance violations.

From CNN -

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the trial of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who is charged with illegally funneling corporate money to help elect GOP candidates to the Texas legislature.

The Republican was indicted in 2005 on charges he illegally sent $190,000 in corporate money through the Republican National Committee to help elect GOP Texas legislative candidates in 2002.

Corporate money?  Legislative elections?  Delay was a man ahead of his time.  Too bad for him that he was a criminal in his time.

Thanks for the heads-up on this go to Jobsanger in Texas...

Later...

Turns out that Russell Pearce is far more well-rounded than I gave him credit for...

...I thought he was just a thoroughgoing bigot, but according to someone who knows him better than I do, he is also petty, vindictive, and prone to violence.

Earlier, I put up a post that covered State Sen. Russell Pearce's (R-National Alliance) attempts to interject himself into a legal conflict between the Tohono O'odham nation and the City of Glendale over a proposed tribal casino on the edge of Glendale.

At that time, I speculated that Pearce's interest in the situation stemmed from a basic dislike of Native Americans (they may be "Natives," but they aren't "natives," ya know what I mean?), but thanks to Greg Patterson at Espresso Pundit, I humbly stand corrected.

From Patterson's post on (roughly) the same topic (he started off talking about an anti-Prop 302 mailer) -

...But that's only one reason why Legislators like Pearce are ticked off. Look who else sponsored the mailer...that's right, the tribes. If you are new to the legislative process, you may ask yourself what the Tohono O'odam's opposition to Prop 302 has to do with the Tohono O'odam casino in Glendale? The answer is that it has everything to do with it. Everything in the Legisature is connected. That means that if the Legislature creates Prop 302 in order to avoid steep cuts in services and the Tohono O'odam use Indian Gaming money to kill that Proposition, then the Legislature is likely to go after the Tohono O'dam's casino.

Seriously, did you not even watch one episode of the Sopranos?

Prop 302 is likely to fail. So the legislature is going to have a $400 million hole in its budget. Naturally, they will use the cover that Eddie and Nadine Basha have provided and cut as much as they can out of the budget.

But they will still need revenue...and they sure as heck aren't going to raise taxes. So they are out of borrowing capacity, and they can't have the First Things First money because their first proposal was shot down by the Tribes. So what's left?

Well, Indian Gaming is left. Of course they can't take the money from the tribes...but they can COMPETE with the tribes.

Something tells me that real-life mobsters will be insulted by the comparison...
Apparently, free speech protections only apply to people who agree with Pearce and the other small "n" nativists. All others should just take the abuse, shut up, and like it.


So, in one brief passage, he details how Pearce (and his colleagues in the R caucus of the lege) is going after the Tohono O'odham because they've dared to oppose his move to defund and destroy early childhood education in Arizona in order to pay for corporate tax cuts.  And he compares his fellow Rs to mobsters.

Nice.

Three nominated to fill Jorge Luis Garcia's seat in the AZ Senate

From an email from that Arizona Democratic Party -

3 nominees announced for consideration to fill seat of late Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia

TUCSON -- On Monday night, 39 precinct committeepersons of the Arizona Democratic Party convened for a Legislative District 27 meeting in Tucson for the purposes of nominating replacements to fill the seat left vacant by the untimely death of state Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia.


Three nominees were affirmed by acclimation (uncontested). They are as follows:

--Maria De La Luz Garcia (Sen. Garcia's wife) of Tucson

--Robert Gilby of Tucson

--Sami Hamed of Tucson

The names of these nominees were submitted today to the Pima County Board of Supervisors by Don Bivens, Arizona Democratic Party chair. The Board of Supervisors will choose the replacement from among the three names submitted. That appointee will be sworn into office and serve the remainder of the term until January.

As the press release notes, Maria De La Luz Garcia is Senator Garcia's wife. Both Bob Gilby and Sami Hamed are long-time Democratic activists in LD27 (and for the County and State parties).  In fact, both were House candidates this year.

Without personally knowing any of the principals involved (I've briefly met them all at one ADP function or another, but that isn't the same as "getting to know" them), I feel comfortable predicting that Maria De La Luz Garcia will receive the appointment of the Pima supes.

Traditionally, in such situations, where the appointment won't have much or any real world impact, it frequently goes to the late officeholder's spouse as both a way to honor and respect the family *and* to avoid the appearance of playing favorites close to an election (though both neither Hamed nor Gilby made it through the primary).

Given that the appointment will for approximately two months...

Andrei Cherny for State Treasurer TV spot

More info on the Cherny campaign here...

Felecia Rotellini for Attorney General TV Spot

More info on Rotellini's campaign here...

The steam must be pouring out of Russell Pearce's ears right about now...

From KOLD -

A U.S. appeals court has ruled that Arizona's law requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote violates federal law.


The Ninth Circuit of Appeals opinion issued Tuesday found that the Arizona documentation requirement runs afoul of the National Voter Registration Act that states must use and accept the federal voter registration form without additional documentation requirements.

The Arizona requirement is part of Proposition 200 which voters was passed in 2004.

The full court opinion is here.

From Linda Brown, executive director of the Arizona Advocacy Network, a plaintiff in the lawsuit at the base of today's decision (via email) -

"The penalties against non-citizens registering to vote are very serious and have served Arizonans -- and all Americans -- well for decades.  The real crime is that this law disenfranchised tens of thousands of citizens who wanted to vote but lacked the documentation to register."

Howard Fischer coverage, via the East Valley Tribune, here.

Expect some coverage of the "sky is falling!" variety from the R blogosphere over this one, and soon.

KVOA getting ready for next week's elections...

They've put up some "test" returns for Arizona House races on their website, and didn't pull down the test before I noticed it.

Heh heh heh heh, time for a little fun (and it is just fun - they've got Ds winning in districts that are R locks, and Rs winning in D districts.  In other words, these are just numbers serving as space fillers, not reality or even predictions of reality)...

Highlights -

District 4

103 of 103 precincts - 100 percent
x-Judy Burges, GOP (i) 36,972 - 45 percent
x-Karina Guerrero, Dem 32,864 - 40 percent
Jack Harper, GOP 12,324 - 15 percent
2 to be elected.

No more Jack Harper?  Fingers (and toes) crossed for the future of LD4 and the state...

District 11

83 of 83 precincts - 100 percent
x-Eric Meyer, Dem (i) 23,522 - 45 percent
x-Eric West, GOP 20,908 - 40 percent
Kate Brophy McGee, GOP 7,840 - 15 percent

If there is any justice in the world, this one, with Eric Meyer winning, will become reality in a week.  It would annoy the hell out of some industry groups, too, as they've dropped a lot of cash on McGee.

District 17

69 of 69 precincts - 100 percent
x-Ed Ableser, Dem (i) 17,611 - 43 percent
x-Ben Arredondo, Dem 16,201 - 40 percent
Donald Hawker, GOP 1,823 - 5 percent
Cristian Dumitrescu, Lib 1,709 - 4 percent
Damian Trabel, Lib 1,603 - 4 percent
Gregor Knauer, Grn 1,555 - 4 percent

This is my home district, and this result would definitely work for me...

District 19

65 of 65 precincts - 100 percent
x-Kirk Adams, GOP (i) 24,674 - 45 percent
x-Kit Filbey, Dem 21,933 - 40 percent
Justin Olson, GOP 8,224 - 15 percent
2 to be elected.

Won't happen, but this would be nice.  It would be nicer still if Adams was the R who came in third.

District 20

59 of 59 precincts - 100 percent
x-Rae Waters, Dem (i) 22,657 - 45 percent
x-Bob Robson, GOP 20,138 - 40 percent
Jeff Dial, GOP 7,552 - 15 percent
2 to be elected.

As with Meyer above, in a truly just world Waters would win this one in a walk.