Wednesday, June 24th, 2009...11:50 am
Miller Time
I’m convinced that Gabrielle Giffords is manipulating the Republican primary in CD 8. Why else would there be two, wait, now three candidates running? Each is largely unknown and would have trouble getting the money to run a credible race without having to fight a primary first. Another such candidate and the gentlelady from Tucson could start printing up the “Giffords 2012″ signs.
Andy Goss and Jesse Kelly now have a trois to add to their menage: Brian Miller. Miller made his announcement not in any sort of local forum, but on the Dennis Miller Show (No relation, I think. Having seen Bordello of Blood, I hope that’s the case). Take from that what you will, but it doesn’t sound like the guy will be all that interested in talking to folks that aren’t already part of the same hard right base that couldn’t elect Randy Graf or Tim Bee.
By the way: Goss is Army, Kelly is Marines and Miller is Air Force. Throw into the mix Giffords’s Navy husband and one can imagine debates ending with impromptu ensembles singing various service hymns just like that scene in Casablanca.
Another side note: Miller’s media is being handled by TAGline Media Group. TAGline’s website brags of involvement in several local campaigns, only one of which (Frank Antenori) was successful.
10 Comments
June 24th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
That’s quite the rainbow coalition the GOP is massing in CD8. The addition of Jonathan Paton or Bruce Ash would really spice up the ethnic homogeny.
June 24th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
I doubt that Paton or Ash would be silly enough to try to run against her. I will say what I said last time. Those who run and lose in District 8 are never heard from again politically. Add Tim Bee to that list. I am sorry if that seems mean, but it is true. AND now she is even safer than she was before.
This should also free her to support the President’s health care plan and to fight efforts to bring tort reform as a “piece to trade”. Am I getting through? (smile)
June 24th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
We need to get a coast guard candidate involved. Let’s have him as a Libertarian, just to spice things up.
June 24th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
“Those who run and lose in District 8 are never heard from again politically”
Can you say Frank Antenori.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Things look very good for Giffords right now and that is mostly because of the conscientious and tireless way she does her job. However, the Republicans still hold a majority in the number of registered voters in CD8. Independents, as recent polling about Obama’s popularity shows, are fickle beasts.
If the economy should not improve or get worse, if Obama’s ratings go lower, or if any number of other things happen, Giffords could get a more viable challenger from within the ranks of the GOP. Right now, Kelly seems to be the frontrunner among the conservatives, but he is so not ready for prime time and a lot of the fundraisers are holding off. Ash is a harmless blowhard with deep pockets, but Paton is potentially formidable and can point to several headline-grabbing moments during his time in Phoenix. If the GOP were smarter AND more inclusive, they would take a look at Jennifer Burns.
As with their national prospects, Republicans in CD8 have to bank on negative factors as their best hopes for renewal. Should any of that come to pass, we may still have cause to worry about Giffords’ chances. However, I have a lot of faith in her political acumen and resiliency…and in the inherent abilities our foes have to be their own worst enemies!
June 25th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Anon-
Has anyone ever claimed that, really? Certainly not me. A better example than Antenori would be Jim Kolbe, who lost a race in the old CD 5 (CD 8 now) and…um…what happened to him again?
June 25th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Ted,
Don’t you ever leave an opening for some partisan boob to elevate one or more of these three clowns by comparing them to Jim Kolbe.
Meanwhile, it is entertaining to check out their web sites. The text is almost identical teabagger boilerplate uninformed by any experience of Southern Arizona’s politics, culture, economy, or everyday problems. These candidates would run with the exact same positions and rhetoric regardless of where they are. It shows a disconnect with the community they want to represent and a certain contempt for their potential constituents.
Miller runs a little item about Senator Boxer from California. This is cute, but irrelevant. Boxer will not be on the ballot, and if this is what he sees as a pressing issue he is obviously clueless about what is going on in the district.
Addressing the needs of Southern Arizona and the Country as a whole takes a lot more than issuing buzzword-filled lectures about the true meaning of liberty. Congresswoman Giffords knows that and that is why she has nothing to worry about from these schmucks.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I don’t count Antenori because he didn’t win his own primary. He didn’t go down as a “loser” in a major campaign and thus was not branded a “loser”. I did remember that Kolbe won on the second try. I guess I was really talking about recently. No one that challenged Kolbe after he won ever became a force in politics. Same so far is true of Giffords (only Huffman and Bee so far of course).
June 25th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Back to my point…Giffords is safe. Seriously safe. It doesn’t mean that she should stop being who she is, of course, which is what makes her safe, but she is safe. She took on the best they had…seriously…in Bee and destroyed him. No offense and I dont mean to brag, but I never thought he had much of a chance. I said so from the beginning. Where I went wrong was in my belief that she would beat him by 5% when she destroyed him by 11 or 12%.
As great a candidate as Paton is, he would lose. He doesn’t have the money, she serves the district well, she has an incredible campaign…and again she has brought herself some freedom to vote as she wishes to some degree (I don’t mean a string of “bad” votes, but enough to vote against the make up of the district occasionally).
June 25th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Oops on the Huffman reference earlier…let me correct myself and remind myself that she defeated Graf in the general.