Monday, December 5th, 2005...10:15 pm
Another Name?
One of the drawbacks to now being a rich and famous blogger, okay, a broke and mildly infamous blogger, is that people tell you things and then tell you, “You can’t put this on your blog.”
Well, what fun is that?
Someone told me something the other day. Now I have heard it from three people, which takes it over the threshhold of “secret” to “rumor.” A “rumor” I can put in here.
Former KVOA anchorwoman Patty Weiss is thinking about running for congress. Weiss is a well liked figure among long time Tucsonans, and she earned a great deal of sympathy from the community when she was unceremoniously dumped from the newscast. Under most circumstances, she’d be an intriguing candidate.
However, in this year she’s got a lot of things working against her. There is already a high profile woman in the race, and EMILY’s List has probably already picked Sen. Gabrielle Giffords as their candidate. EMILY’s list doesn’t take kindly to women who declare against women that they have already chosen. Ask Lisa Otondo about that one.
Weiss also has decent connections to both the local business community, as well as the arts community. Guess who else does?
I doubt she will do it in the end. It does go to show what an open seat will bring out though.
There is one Republican’s name I haven’t heard. A few years ago, a conspiracy loving friend of mine insisted that Jim Kolbe was waiting to step down until, get this, Steve Kerr retired from basketball. The theory went that although Kerr’s father was a liberal internationalist, his assasination turned Steve into some sort of Arab hating right wing freak. I don’t know that any of this even approaches the truth, but it was the crazy story that this guy, who is otherwise level headed, put forward. I haven’t heard Kerr’s name mentioned lately, but he has hung out in the past with Kolbe. Who knows?
11 Comments
December 6th, 2005 at 11:54 am
More proof that it’s too early to anoint Giffords, sunshine. There are a lot of other more popular candidates out there….
December 6th, 2005 at 3:42 pm
I just hope that you Democrats down there don’t make the same mistake us Democrats up here made in 2002. We had a free for all primary, the winner (with something like 25% of the primary vote) was George Cordova, a seriously flawed candidate who had no connection to the district and finished the primary deep in debt, and we ended up with Rick Rent-a-congressman, a Republican from Virginia (who still lives there, hence the nickname).
Get together among party leaders down there, hash it out, and decide on one person you will all work for.
–signed,
(a sadder but wiser blogger)
TEAM, guys, TEAM!
December 6th, 2005 at 7:12 pm
Wow! Lisa Otondo, blast from the past! But she was virtually uknown (ok, completely unknown, but for a few traveling businessmen).
In this case, we are talking about two women who have lots of name recognition (actually, Weiss has more, thanks to the tube).
December 6th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
To TEDSKI–
I noticed that Gabrielle’s Gallery no longer has the picture of her and Robert Reich [whom I like]. The photo selection/ordering is smart [but pretty transparent].
December 6th, 2005 at 8:06 pm
TO eli blake–
Request for confirmation–Are you indicating that Renzi was not living in Arizona when he ran for Congress???
December 7th, 2005 at 8:05 am
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December 7th, 2005 at 10:27 pm
cc burro:
He still lives in the same Burke, Virginia house that he has for years. His wife and kids still live there and go to school there.
Renzi (a staffer for Jon Kyl) hadn’t had any connection to the district since 1986 when it became apparent that there would be a Northern Arizona congressional district. He quickly bought a house in Kingman (for residency purposes) and opened a front business there. Then when district lines were announced and Mohave county was (contrary to expectations) not in the district, he sold the house in Kingman and bought one in Flagstaff. In 2002, it served as an unofficial campaign headquarters, housing a bunch of Renzi staffers, but rarely Renzi. He has been back since mostly for photo ops. But the house is pretty empty most of the time (especially in odd numbered years), as he still lives in Burke.
December 7th, 2005 at 10:31 pm
kralmajales:
A well fought primary can be a boon, but what we had was a primary among about six people in which they all spent every buck they had (I think Steve Udall, who finished second still had a few dollars left in the bank with an eye towards the general, but then again, maybe that’s why he finished second). And because of the crowded field, the winner, Cordova, was an unknown who had once had a business failure that was ruthlessly exploited by the Renzi campaign.
December 7th, 2005 at 11:39 pm
TO–Eli Blake
Thanks for the info re Renzi.
According to his Congressional and re-election campaign website bios, he has Arizona roots–graduated from high school in Sierra Vista and NAU, married his wife in Flagstaff in 1980 and then started 1st of 3 Arizona-based businesses. But I haven’t yet been able to find on his website an indication that he and his family resided in Arizona after 1980. He lists his “hometown” as Flagstaff. He doesn’t list his “residence”.
A check of Project VoteSmart’s interest group ratings of Renzi indicates that he is VERY conservative.
Any viable Democratic candidates to challenge this apparent out-of-state Senator?
December 8th, 2005 at 8:49 am
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December 9th, 2005 at 12:19 am
ccburro:
Well, the candidate I am backing is former state rep. Jack Jackson, Jr.
Unfortunately, Renzi is not dumb. He has a ton of money from his eastern connections that he will certainly use, as he has in the past, to smear his opponents unmercifully. He also has brought in millions of dollars for the reservation (normally the Democratic core of the district) and became the first Republican in history to actually win it (51-49% over Paul Babbitt last year). So any fight against him is uphill, but I believe that Jackson (who represented the res for one term in the legislature, and his father did so for many years before that) is our best chance. The other announced candidates are unknown and have no clue what it will take to win.