Private Photo Hors D’Oeuvres Reception with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Bruce Jacobs of KFYI. This private reception includes a photo with Me, the Sheriff , Andrew Thomas and Bruce Jacobs. Imagine getting a photo with you, the greatest Sheriff in America , Andrew Thomas, Bruce Jacobs of KFYI, and myself to hang on your wall at home. What an opportunity. You really don’t want to miss this one.

Gosh. It’s too bad I’ll be out of the state.

NB – Bruce Jacobs, according to his KFYI page, refers to Senator John McCain as “Lettuce and McStain” and Governor Janet Napolitano as “Crappy Nappy.” Oh, and in a blow for “family values,” refers to the “pussification” of America. Right wing talk…keeping the dialogue elevated.

I think Jeff Flake is bad for America. His policies are destructive to this nation. You can’t tell me you’re a conservative when you’re willing to push a bill through [and] partnering with Luís Gutierrez, the most liberal member of Congress, on a bill that will cost the taxpayers $3.9 trillion.

Pearce may be fooling himself here though. Despite the hammering he gets from the press for his embarasing public statements, he has gotten a free pass from his fellow legislators and the buisiness groups who endorse and fund his campaigns. Can his actions (and resume) withstand the scrutiny of a higher profile campaign? He has a crew of supporters who he can call on when it is time to punish legislators who cross him, but does this necessarily translate into an unbeatable grassroots campaign?

I’m not too sure it does. Pearce-backed Don Goldwater tried to ride the immigration issue into the Governor’s office, and lost statewide to Len Munsil in the Republican primary. In Maricopa County, where the bulk of Flake’s district is, he lost by 36,000 votes. Pearce himself only narrowly edges out Mark Anderson in his primaries in his district which is much more conservative than the entire congressional district. (By the way, he came in second in the last general election, only edging out Democrat Tammie Pursley by 4.5%)

He may be taking solace from Randy Graf’s effort. Graf, who was endorsed by Pearce and had a similar political profile, won the last CD 8 primary with 42.2% of the vote, beating Steve Huffman by nearly five points. Interestingly, this was about the same percentage that he recieved when he lost one-on-one to Jim Kolbe in the previous election. Kolbe was, like Flake, an incumbent who was fiscally conservative and moderate on enough other issues to irk the far right.

Heck, instead of extrapolating, look what happened with Flake himself in 2004 when he was challenged by Stan Barnes. Barnes took on Flake from the right, but it must be said that Barnes is much more politically savvy and doesn’t have the baggage of Pearce. The result? Flake beat Barnes by nearly 20 points.

The lobbyists, consultants and givers who make up the Republican establishment have been rattling their fists about Pearce and his antics for years. I know this because they are always more than happy to tell Democrats like me about it. Of course, whatever power the guy has is due to their acquiescence, at times even support. Here, it’s going to be different. The guy will be taking on an incumbent congressman who they like. It will take a serious grass roots machine (one that can do more than write ticked off letters to the editor and make threatening calls to legislators) and some serious money. I have my doubts that Pearce has access to either.

NB – Espresso Pundit has his own take on the race here.

According to Espresso Pundit, leading Republicans are saying that “Goldwater’s campaign is going nowhere…Bennett is looking good.”

Going nowhere? Geez, he only announced a month ago. Give the poor guy a break! Geez, you guys didn’t expect Teresa Ottesen to produce so quickly. I suppose that’s the drawback of a famous name: it raises expectations.

Espresso Pundit also quotes another source who says that several members of the congressional delegation, including Sen. John McCain, are backing a Bennett run.

Interestingly, Bennett said back in December that he wasn’t going to run. Hmm…if he runs, this will break new ground. See, he said that after he had already won re-election. So, he won’t even be breaking a campaign promise. Maybe you are allowed to break a promise you make after the campaign is over.

I guess the Republicans have finally given up on Marilyn Quayle and Surgeon General Richard Carmona. The very concept that the Republicans considered Marilyn Quayle a dream candidate makes my head swim.

I’m also not hearing the names of either Speaker Jim Weiers or Rep. Russell Pearce. They may still make a go of it, but its hard to see how they could if the “establishment” lines up behind Bennett. Pearce may still be looking at a run against U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake.

Run for what? You know, something.

He is mulling a run for Governor, or maybe a run against Rep. Jeff Flake in the Republican primary. You see, Jeff Flake is a dangerous birkenstock wearing, leftist, unamerican commiesymp. Well, that’s what Pearce says. Funny what passes for liberal these days.

If he runs against Flake, look for Pearce to connect him to that other unrepentant socialist, Sen. John McCain. Some of the people pushing for Pearce to run are already trashing Flake for working with Sen. Edward Kennedy. Imagine, respecting and working with a colleague.

Funny, Pres. Bush bragged about working with Kennedy on No Child Left Behind. I guess that makes Bush a bolshevik too.

Pearce is still talking about running for Governor too. He has been talking this up for a while. His current line is that Gov. Napolitano has not done anything on immigration. For Pearce and his friend Randy Graf, anything short of landmines in Naco and putting a bounty on scalps of swarthy people with accents is not enough.

However, there is often a barrier to people like Pearce running for higher office. Often, Valley pols think that people in the rest of the state know who the heck they are, and are as conservative as they are. They stick their toe in the water and are flabergasted that people in the rest of the state don’t actually like or even know them. Most of them could win a statewide election with a little work, but the shock of knowing they aren’t the most important person in the life of a family from Douglas or Parker is often too much to bear. The way that legislators like Pearce get elected, pretty much by hard-right primary voters, lets them buy the illusion that folks in their districts, and by extension the whole state, share every aspect of their mossback politics. He’ll be shocked to know that there are moderates in this state, liberals even.

Look for Pearce to forgo the Governor’s race, where he may need to speak with moderates and people whose last names end in “o”, “a” or “z”, and he’ll run against Flake in the primary. I would be watching from down here, but the race between Graf and Rep. Jim Kolbe will be more fun. I expect Shrimplate and Desert Rat Democrat to keep me informed.

(Note I couldn’t figure out where to fit in above: Pearce has a tendency to “speak his mind.” When you don’t a well developed mind, that tends to lead to dumb-ass bigotted comments.)

(N. B. – Right-wing legislator Rusty Pearce should not be confused with Rusty Pierce, who plays right-wing for Real Salt Lake. This is a soccer reference I only put in to bother Slim.)