Tuesday, September 29th, 2009...1:38 pm
Munger Resigns to Run
Jim Nintzel reports at his blog that John Munger will be leaving Arizona Illustrated’s Political Faceoff, likely in pursuit of the Republican nomination for governor.
Munger’s candidacy perplexes me, or I should say, the lack of buzz about it does. Munger has already been travelling the state and making noises under the umbrella of his Imagine Arizona committee. Munger ain’t exactly an unknown quantity in Republican politics: he’s been the chair of the State Republican party, a member of the Republican National Committee and President of the State Board of Regents. But, for some reason he isn’t mentioned as an alternative when the Republican cardinals discuss alternatives to Jan Brewer. Yes, he isn’t a household name, but neither are most of the other aspiring all-conquering heroes that they bring up. I’m guessing that his lack of buzz has more to do with a good part of our Republican establishment having an inability to look outside of the Phoenix conorbation for their candidates. Heck, two of names being thrown around by those “in the know” for CD 1, which includes no part of Maricopa County, are from suburban Phoenix and don’t live in the district full time.
The probable replacement for Munger is Bruce Ash, who has represented Republicans on Arizona Illustrated in the past.
6 Comments
September 29th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Well, he’s got a shot.
If more and more Republicans keep pouring into the race for Governor, someone might be able to win their primary with like 22% of the vote.
September 30th, 2009 at 5:16 am
It’s the Maricopa EME that will run the Martin Pearce Horne ticket …
October 3rd, 2009 at 6:09 pm
As a Democrat who was once a Republican, I must say that I really like and respect John Munger. He is a smart, personable guy who is in public service for all the right reasons. He brings the same level of class, experience and gravitas to the gubernatorial race that Mike Hellon brought to the CD8 race in 2006. He won’t get my vote next year because it is going to Goddard, but a race against Munger would be issues-oriented and run at a more serious level than those put on by the last two GOP candidates for that office.
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Sort of related to this topic, I received a phone call yesterday from a firm conducting a poll about state politics and next year’s legislative and gubernatorial races. They asked about Munger, Martin, Bennett, and Brewer all in general election match-ups with AG Goddard (no other Dem candidates were polled). The woman wouldn’t say who commissioned the poll, but the wording of a couple of the questions about the budget and taxes leads me to believe it wasn’t a left-leaning outfit. What was really surprising to me was that I only have a cell phone and this is the first time I’ve ever been polled. I did ask the name of the pollster, but I was mobile at the time and couldn’t write it down and don’t remember what it was exactly (something like Data Tracker comes to mind though). Anybody else get polled or have any info about it?
October 4th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
The Republican primary for Gov. next August 2010 may have incumbent Governor Jan Brewer and State Treasurer Dean Martin running. How is Munger (unknown, non-politician from Tucson) going to compete against those two, whose name recognition state-wide is very high? Seems a waste of time to me that Munger is even trying.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Carolyn,
There may be other Republicans running as well.
And there is no runoff in Arizona so if the votes get split right it is entirely possible that someone like Munger could win even without anything close to a majority.