Friday, February 17th, 2006...6:44 am
That’s Amore!
I’m stealing from Espresso Pundit today, he won’t complain. Besides, what the heck is he going to do about it?
Sen. Dean Martin has taken out papers to run for State Treasurer, this at a time that David Petersen is talking about leaving the office amid criticism of his management style. His office has been called “a mess” and the “morale is horrible,” and that’s from his own staffers.
I’m wondering if Rep. Jerry Lewis can be brought over here to be Martin’s running mate.
Despite the troubles in the office, the State Democratic party did not consider recruiting candidates for the office a priority. Sen. Ruth Solomon was defeated by Petersen by less than 30,000 votes, a bit more than three percent of the vote. There is no reason to think that a good Democrat couldn’t win this office, especially with a strong Governor and the turmoil in the office.
It is a hard office to recruit for, however; treasuer (or most of the constitutional offices for that matter) doesn’t lead to either fame or higher office. In many states, state treasurer is a ticket to higher office. Sen. Mary Landrieu, for example, was treasurer of Louisiana before getting elected to the Senate. We, however, have never had such a tale. The only treasuer one can name is Dan Garvey, governor from 1948-1951, had been treasurer not of the state but of Pima County, but also served as Secretary of State and became governor on the death of Sidney P. Osborn. In 1990, Republican Treasurer Ray Rottas attempted to move up to secretary of state from the treasurer’s office, but was trounced by Richard Mahoney, a well connected attorney who had never held elected office in an otherwise middling year for Democrats.
Something about our state’s political structure prevents these offices from being effective springboards for higher office, but that never seems to stop the Republicans from being able to recruit candidates for them.
Espresso Pundit also reported on the shake-up in Jim Pederson’s campaign. Greg, you got scooped by Wactivist on that one. About a month ago, Pederson brought on a new team. The old team seemed to be spinning its wheels. The campaign has already been doing a much better job of getting the candidate out there and building support. They already have a headquarters down here (not open yet, but they have space rented), and the polling numbers look pretty good, despite the lackluster campaign. I mean, Jon Kyl is polling at 52% against Pedersen, and the campaign has sucked until recently. What does that say about Kyl’s campaign?
Espresso Pundit takes particular note that new Pederson campaign Pooh-Bah Mario Diaz has been called “bare knuckled” and “cut-throat.” Yeah, and? Cut-throat operatives are a problem for Republicans now?
NB - I’ve heard Diaz called worse, but I won’t repeat it here because he’s bare knuckled and cut-throat.
25 Comments
February 17th, 2006 at 9:04 am
Well I will say one thing for Dean Martin. He is a charming dude. When I appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, of the Republicans, he was the kindest (Harper was nice too) and funniest of the bunch. Gave me a little dig for being at U. of A.
On policy though, I would take a close look at who he votes with the most…Gould? Jarrett? Harper? Huppenthal?
So do the Republicans have no one but “arch-conservatives” to offer the state? What ever happened to the Betsy Bayless’ of the world?
February 17th, 2006 at 10:51 am
So do the Republicans have no one but “arch-conservatives” to offer the state?
I’ve been wondering the same thing since about 2000, regarding both the state and federal level.
February 17th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
On the issue of arch-conservatives, look to when clean elections started. With that in place the hard right of the GOP does not have to go hat in hand to the Rockefeller Republicans (I know, I know I am not suppose to use that term because it is dated but I do anyway.) Because of this the far right does not have to moderate their message in order to raise money.
Fanatics from the right will fill out $5 forms all day long for their candidate. Let the games begin!
February 17th, 2006 at 3:15 pm
mario diaz is the devil dressed in men’s petite clothing from burlington coat factory.
February 17th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
how do you know it’s men’s clothing?
February 17th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
On the subject of bare-knuckled advisors and hypocrisy…
One of the many things that convinces me that Bush 43 is not the internally-practicing reborn Christian that he professes to be is his close relationship with Rove–Rove has no scruples about his methods. He’s not bare-knuckled–he uses knives.
When I was young, I knew a lot of reborn practicing Christians–they were decent, strong, good people and they wouldn’t have come within 5 feet of Rove–Rove is the antithesis of what they stand for. This is one of the many things that tells me that Bush’s religiosity is either self-delusion or knowing duplicity–or some of both.
Also, Bush allowed the lying slime campaign against McCain in South Carolina to continue without speaking out against it. Bush didn’t have the integrity to disavow it. Bush may participate in prayer breakfasts and talk about faith and Jesus, but Bush is no internally-practicing reborn Christian.
I wonder how many of these religious-professing Congressmembers and Senators have been bullshitting their way up the political ladder [and padding their pockets along the way]?
February 17th, 2006 at 11:43 pm
So he’s devil…hey but it will take the devil to win that race! More power to him.
February 18th, 2006 at 1:40 am
To PHX KID–
Likewise for the left.
February 18th, 2006 at 2:04 am
The definitions of “operative”–include the words–efficient, secret agent, espionage, surgical, capable of producing an effect. So isn’t “cut-throat” already implied?
February 18th, 2006 at 7:18 am
cc burro Yes, clean elections would work for both sides but when I look at the State Legislature it seems to be working much better for the right than the left.
Take HB2254 (fetal pain) that passed the House 2/13/06. That is an obscure far right issue yet it passed 36-21-3, not just a majority but a convincing margin.
Hey, if Ted Downing voted against the bill, HB2254, does that mean that he supports fetal pain? Just checking because he is from the party of compassion and justice and all.
February 18th, 2006 at 10:08 am
To PHX KID–
You’re right re the clean elections and the state government. But clean elections is good in that it encourages potential candidates who are not inside either party’s bubble to run–new faces/ideas.
If it is true that a fetus at 20+ weeks experiences pain when aborted, then I don’t know Ted Downing reasoning. Also, I don’t know Ted Downing.
February 18th, 2006 at 11:28 am
phx kid -
You are certainly correct that Clean Elections has given a huge boost to the ideological wackos that that are the base of the Republican party. However, I think it is premature to declare this a permanent or even an enduring effect.
Remember that the current Republican majority has been built by quietly organizing the radical right at the grassroots level, mostly through evangelical churches, while publicly minimizing their role, and branding the Republican party as the party of strength and responsibility - the party of grownups - as distinct from the crazy, socialist, long-haired left.
What Clean Elections has done in Arizona is to rip away this mask of respectability and moderation, and expose the true face of the Republican party. And recent opinion polls seem to show that the public is repulsed and running left:
Over 90% want more investment in education.
Over 80% want universal health care.
Over 70% want to raise the minimum wage.
Less than 40% want to ban gay marriage.
Less than 30% want to use the budget surplus for a tax cut.
I particularly emphasize the last point because anyone familiar with Arizona politics knows how remarkable that is.
So I think it’s too soon to judge Clean Elections on this point. Remember, this is still a very new program. This year will only be the fourth time the system has been used, and I think it is going to be a very interesting year.
February 18th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
With numbers like these, then why do we have so many extremely conservative Republicans dominating the state legislature and Congress? Are the DEMs not offering up good candidates in these LDs and CDs?
February 18th, 2006 at 6:31 pm
Dear CC Burro:
You ask the question of the day in my opinion. I think this…
The Republican advantage in this state (and nationally) gave Republicans the power to govern. Once they had power and no one was looking some showed their true colors. When you have absolute power, you can do a lot without any fear of losing. What this means in our state is that groups like the Center for Arizona Policy run off to the Repubs with extreme ideas and the repubs support them…over and over.
The point I am making is that if the average voter knew what is going on in the statehouse, they couldn’t possibly support them. Most voters in Arizona are independents now…and I believe that most Republicans are moderates who don’t like the economic and tax policy of demos. Another cause of this problem is the lack of journalistic attention to state politics. No one knows what is going on, so the Repubs can be as extreme as they want.
So the solution? You have to expose them and get Republican voters to see that they really don’t share their values. I think the Governor needs to take every ounce of her political capital this campaign and run a package campaign against “Munsil…and the “extreme” Republican legislature”. They are “peas in a rotten pod” and are people that average, establishment Republicans shouldn’t support…even to keep control. All people want is reasonable leadership…and these folks are unreasonable. Bring up example after example and hope that moderate republicans shift or that they stay home on these candidates.
I think people are already thinking “throw the bums out” this time. Got to give em a reason to do it all the way down the ballot.
I really think if Dems get their act together, they can take back the state legislature this time. I just hope they are running candidates and are ready to do a coordinated campaign.
Roger
February 20th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
There’s an even simpler explanation:
With the way legislative districts are drawn in Arizona, legislative elections are won or lost in the primaries. And the people most likely to vote in a primary are the hardcore partisans, the wackos (myself included) on either end of the spectrum. You want moderate leadership? Find a way to motivate moderate voters to exercise their rights in the primaries.
Until then you’ll only get the wingnuts who only venture out of their bunkers and from under their tinfoil hats to vote or brandish guns at the border. And the cycle will continue.
February 20th, 2006 at 1:16 pm
Good point Michael. Your post made me think of something else. Because there is little attention to state rep/senate races (as I mention) and because they are won and lost in the primaries with the most vigilant of voters (as you mention), doesn’t the responsibility fall to the parties to recruit good candidates? I know that they have limited power, but those primary voters are loyal party voters AND these candidates are most likely to be seen inside party functions like coffees, precinct meetings, precinct chairs, etc.
Time for an empirical question. How are state rep. and state senate race candidates recruited by parties?
Roger
February 20th, 2006 at 10:42 pm
michael excellent analysis. By definition the moderates are not highly passionate about only one or two issues so that leaves the process to wackos, me included. So when the formative work is being done during the primaries only the truly motivated are out there working on politics.
kramajales I do not know how the Democrats work and I do not know exactly how the higher ups in the Republican Party recruit. An example of how it actually works on the GOP side can now be seen in CD8.
Kolbe gets a little to far to the left for many of the GOP rank and file. Graf runs and establishes himself as the conservative alternative to Kolbe. This did NOT come from GOP HQ.
Kolbe steps down and the powers that be seem to have lined up behind Mike Hellon. In a Graf vs. Hellon race Graf would have a tough battle on his hands. But then Steve Huffman gets in the race. I do not know what Huffman was thinking and maybe he got in before he saw who was behind Hellon. Anyway Hellon and Huffman are going to compete for similar voters leaving Graf in a great position. If this were not enough several other candidates have entered. The order of the day seems to be everyone for himself.
February 21st, 2006 at 5:14 pm
PHX KID–There are a lot of us who would be referred to as “moderates” who are very passionate about our politics.
Do you notice how most governors of either party tend to be a little more moderate than the party activists? It is easier to be ideologically pure when you don’t have the responsibility of actually governing, developing reality-based policies, etc.
February 21st, 2006 at 7:38 pm
Interesting about Hellon, Huffman, and Graf…I am hearing the opposite…that some of the big money types in Tucson are trying to get Hellon out and Huffman in…add to that his recent and very public “delivery” of the Rio Nuevo Tax District Extention to Tucson and I am betting that the Hellon folks better be circling the wagons.
February 21st, 2006 at 10:16 pm
cc burro I am not saying that everyone involved is a hardcore purist but I think the majority is. Also a lot of people who say they are moderate are actually quite passionate about an issue or two.
For example would you support parental notification, spousal notification, fetal pain bill, late term ban, clinic regulations, or a ban on any government funding, etc. for abortions?
kralmajales you may be correct. I am not from the Hellon/Huffman wing of the party. The supporters listed on Hellon’s recent mail-out did at least include Bruce Ash. The rest of his Advisory Committee seems to be mostly just pro-abortion Republicans.
Either way there is no one person or committee running the show, at least on the GOP side. The CD8 race on the Republican side is looking like it will be a huge train wreck from which Randy may walk away without a single hair out of place.
Actually the Democratic side looks like a free-for-all as well. No one person or group in charge. I think it is great the way it is. Let the candidates compete for every singe vote.
February 22nd, 2006 at 12:00 am
KRALMAJALES–I’ve heard from a reliable source that Jim Click and Don Diamond are supporting Huffman. The only time I saw Huffman was on Arizona Illustrated with Bill Buckmaster [one-on-one] recently. He had a dead fish persona. Never smiled once. And no gravitas. But, from what I’ve heard, Huffman is adept at playing hard ball.
PHX KID–I have very mixed feelings about abortion. I’d say Yes to several things you listed and no/uncertain re the rest. The reality is that teenagers are going to have sex; therefore, I support education of teenagers re responsible behavior with regards to sex and the consequences of irresponsible sex. [abortions “safe/legal/rare”]
February 22nd, 2006 at 5:19 am
If it’s true that Huffman has Click and Diamond behind him then the GOP primary is going to be expensive. Hellon is a credible candidate with Ray Carroll as his campaign manager and Paul Ash on his side. He also has a lot of long time party insiders behind him, ie Jackie Egan, John Munger, Linda Barber, Toni Hellon, etc. I don’t see a big difference on the issues between Hellon and Huffam so it may get personal between them.
February 22nd, 2006 at 9:46 pm
Bingo…anon (above me) and CC Burro. Thank you both for the confirmation…that is what I was hearing as well. I think the hard (and very public work) Huffman used to get the dough from the state tax system into Rio Nuevo (Tucson Downtown Redevelopment to those up north) will be credit-claimed to death and, I also bet, will gain the support of the developers getting city funds downtown.
Just a thought…Nintzel???? Karamargin?
February 23rd, 2006 at 1:19 am
I’ll be very interested to see how far to the right Huffman/Hellon position themselves [and on what issues] to win the primary.
February 23rd, 2006 at 5:32 pm
CC Burro:
Excellent point…they are going to have to move to the right because those who show up in the Republican party primaries are…
party insiders, the most active members of the party…and the most conservative. So they will have to move to the right…to capture these voters…or will have to find some way to bring out “new” primary voters (hard to do).
If I were Graf and his manager I would feel great. I can be true to myself, build on my support from the last race, and I will have (so far) Len Munsil (so far) as the lead Republican candidate at the top of the primary ticket. If Munsil pulls out conservative voters statewide, my bet is that they will also vote for Graf.
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