Friday, January 11th, 2008...2:33 pm
Lifting the Moratorium
Some folks wonder why I haven’t written about the CD 1 race in a while. I decided to stay out of writing about it for a bit because, frankly, I didn’t like the food fight that erupted after the last few posts. Anyhoo…some little things on the race:
An Ann Kirpatrick supporter that spoke with me the other day reported that she has hit the $400,000 mark in contributions. She has also gotten the support of EMILY’s list, which should help her continue to raise money.
As for the Republicans, most of you know that Rep. Bill Konopnicki of Safford dropped out of the race earlier this week. When his candidacy was first speculated, many wondered if he had the fire in the belly for the race. Konopnicki gave his brother’s recent death and the state’s budget troubles as the reasons for his not wanting to run.
Konopnicki had enough of his own money to be viable without having to count on national Republican money. The fact that the national party doesn’t have the money to back a candidate in the district is a big part of the reason Sen. Tom O’Halleran of Sedona decided not to make a go of it.
This leaves lobbyist Sidney Hay of Munds Park as the only serious candidate. Hay has the support of conservative groups like the Eagle Forum and even managed to snag the endorsement of Duncan Hunter. In 2002, she missed out on second place in the Republican primary by a scant 19 votes, and did very well in Yavapai County where nearly of Republican primary votes are cast in that district.
The absence of both O’Halleran and Kopinicki may prompt Andy Tobin of Paulden to jump into the race. He’s still making up his mind.
2 Comments
January 12th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Glad to hear that Ann’s fundraising efforts are going so well - and the fact that we may get to walk all over Sidney Hay in this one makes me giddy!
Go Ann!
January 14th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Hard to believe how the GOP is just giving this one away…
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