Wednesday, May 31st, 2006...4:33 pm
Pederson - Kyl Race Tightens, at Least in the Eyes of National Journal
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The National Journal has now rated the Pederson - Kyl race as the ninth “hottest” in the country, ahead of the heavily contested open seat in Maryland. This is a three point jump from the previous rating.
In a related story, former Avondale Mayor Ronald Drake is still listed as “bubbling under” on the Hot 200 Album chart.
In a New York Times profile of the race to replace Sen. Bill Frist (#11 on the National Journal list), both the contests in Tennessee and Arizona are mentioned as possible pickups for Democrats in places that one wouldn’t normally expect.
19 Comments
May 31st, 2006 at 7:19 pm
Wow! Is 9th place all he got? For the $2,000,000 that he gave to his campaign on 3-31-06 I would have thought that he would come in better than 9th place. I guess 2 million dollars does not buy as much as it used to. Inflation and all that. Hopefully his money will go as far as George Soros’ did in 2004.
No, I don’t mind money in politics. In fact I am pretty sure there will be plenty spent on Kyl’s side before all this is over.
May 31st, 2006 at 7:38 pm
Has George Soros given to Pederson? I was just trying to figure out why you keep bringing him up.
May 31st, 2006 at 7:58 pm
According to a CNN (online) article dated 12-26-03 George Soros “pledged $12.5 million to ensure “we can write off the Bush doctrine””
I do not know if Soros actually spent that amount. Since Bush was still able to win in 2004 I draw the conclusion that lots of money does not necessarily determine the outcome of a race.
So, no Soros may have not given to Pederson. He is just a great example of someone who spent a lot to loose.
May 31st, 2006 at 8:19 pm
I have seen a monumental change in the Pederson campaign in the past month or so. I am actually seeing bumperstickers, their ads and I’ve gotten called twice from the campaign.
June 1st, 2006 at 6:12 am
I wondered why everyone was giving Pederson and his campaign grief back in March. It was far too early then to start ads and what most of us see as a “public” campaign. Frankly, it is still a bit early…we are going to see a whole lot more…from both sides.
June 1st, 2006 at 7:07 am
Pederson has my vote, but I will feel better about his prospects when he starts talking more about why to vote for him and not against Kyl. Realizing that part of any challenger’s task is to drive up the incumbent’s negatives, I still don’t hear much about what “Senator Pederson’s” values are and what his priorities would be. He has the same challenge Jon Corzine successfully confronted in New Jersey, which is coming across as more than simply a rich dilettante who wants a Senate seat to add to his trophies.
Pederson also needs to be ready to take on one of the most relentless campaigners in this state in Jon Kyl. Simply tying Kyl to Bush or labelling him as to the left of McCain won’t be enough to beat him. The case needs to be made that Kyl’s voting record is antithetical to the interests of our state. That is harder to do after the TIME article lauding Kyl as one of the ten best senators in the country because he can make the case that such a distinction helps him to get us our fair share in the halls of power.
I think Pederson needs to dissect Kyl’s voting record and show how his ultra-right record has hurt children, working and middle class families, the elderly, etc. This race can be won on domestic issues and reassuring the voters that Pederson has a backbone when it comes to terrorism and national security. Pederson has already shown balance on immigration and needs to come across consistently as caring, results-oriented and non-ideological in contrast to Kyl.
June 1st, 2006 at 7:20 am
Pederson used his own money to seed the campaign to get an earlier start and build his name recognition.
He went from being a virtual unknown outside of AZ to being the challenger in the 9th hottest senate race in the nation. I’d say it was money well spent.
Though, I know a lot of Republican partisans like phx kid wish it weren’t so. But frankly, the cloying smell of desperation wafting off of his comment above is a heady aroma, indeed.
It smells like trouble for Kyl.
June 1st, 2006 at 8:37 am
desperation? Geo I am thrilled to see Pederson pour his personal funds into a race that he is going to loose. He did use his wealth as seed money and according to an article in the East Valley Trib. Dated May 24, 06 he also added another 1.2 mil. on May 8 to keep his campaign going.
Kyl enjoys near universal support within his party and in a state that is Rep/Dem by 40% to 34% that is not a bad thing. That means Pederson needs about 61% of independents to vote for him, provided they vote in the same percentages as partisan voters. Good luck.
June 1st, 2006 at 9:32 am
Much as I hate to say it, I have to agree with Phx Kid on this one.
It’s nice Pederson is willing to pump enough money in to make Kyl have to work for it, but unless there is a _huge_ revolt among independent voters it’s hard to see Pederson winning. He’s not going to get much, if any crossover support from registered Republicans (in fact, Kyl may get more crossover support from crossover Democrats, based upon his incumbant advantage).
June 1st, 2006 at 11:42 am
I’m not a political ‘wonk’ but I know why I changed my democrat affiliation to independent. In my opinion, Pederson should stick to his ‘independent’ thinking and resist the temptation that so many dems have these days of trying to win by beoming a ‘Bush-lite’. He can easily trounce Kyl on his environmental record, and the enviro issues card is being played more and more these days quite successfully.
June 1st, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Yeah, I can see why you left the Democratic party. We are so notoriously weak on environmental issues. Only “independents” care about the environment, or anything else for that matter.
In fact, every morning I wake up and ask myself “just how will I sell out to the Republicans today?”
Sorry, I just tire of this pretentious crap.
June 1st, 2006 at 4:26 pm
With all due respect, Ted, only you made the ‘pretentious’ assumption that I think Dems are weak on enviro issues. The last statement on my previous comment was only a suggestion into the web universe to hopefully reach those near Pederson and to maybe make a difference for his campaign.
There are very real and very serious reasons why independents are tired of ‘pretentious’ dems. If folks like you would get over yourselves and your inflated egos you might be able to see these reasons with a clearer vision and heart.
June 1st, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Jeneiene -
Check the name, I didn’t make the comment.
June 1st, 2006 at 9:27 pm
Rex Scott:
Pederson has said what he is for.
He has made it clear that not only is he in favor of not doing things the way they have been done in Washington (for decades, in the case of Kyl), but his slogan ‘He’ll be nobody’s Senator but ours’ is a reminder that frankly he’s too rich to be bought, and that is a good thing to be in this year of Abramoff and of Congressmen being investigated and sent to prison for outright bribery. He can say he will bring ‘common sense’ to Washington because he, unlike his opponent, will be able to walk into the Senate without chamber any IOU’s in his briefcase.
He has made it clear that he is for working to make prescription drug prices affordable.
He put out a position statement on immigration that Jon Kyl essentially expropriated for his own ads after his own immigration bill failed in the Senate.
If you don’t consider that Pederson is for anything, maybe it’s because you haven’t been paying enough attention to what he has said that he is for.
June 1st, 2006 at 11:50 pm
Just keep telling yourself that PhxKid and sirocco . Just keep repeating it to yourself in the mirror.
The fact is that most people out there don’t give one shit that Jim is spending millions. Political people care about it because they watch politics. Most people look at it and go “oh well, he has it, why not spend it?” or “at least he can’t be bought”
They don’t look at it like a biollionare buying a race. People are so tired of the Republicans in washington and all they have failed to deliver on in 6 years that its time for a change.
June 2nd, 2006 at 5:28 am
Hey, Sandy, don’t look at me … I hope you’re entirely right and Pederson wins. I just don’t really think it will happen.
Jeneiene, I don’t know you at all, and I don’t know anything about your past history or Tom’s, Ted’s, anyone elses, but you sure do come across as “holier-than-thou” to me.
June 2nd, 2006 at 6:34 am
Sandy I never said the voters would care about how much money Pederson is spending. You are right, it will not be the central issue.
“People are so tired of the Republicans” Funny thing “Republicans” is not running for office and that name will not directly appear on the ballot as a candidate. The name Jon Kyl will and he enjoys strong support from the voters in his party, which outnumber the other party in Arizona. We’ll see in November. Oh and you should not project your habit of talking to your reflection onto others.
I don’t believe Pederson will win but if he does I bet he gets back there and says to himself “I paid $3.2 million for this?”
June 2nd, 2006 at 9:28 pm
Kyl has got to go. Not sure how good JP would be, but Kyl is bad for AZ and a disaster for the public-interest.
June 2nd, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Kyl stood up and said he would not vote for S. 2611 because it would require the U.S. government to ask Mexico’s permission to build any security fences along the border. His vote against stupidity should allow him to stay on as Senator.
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