After months of speculation that popular talk show host and former Rep. JD Hayworth might challenge Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for his senate seat, Hayworth took the first concrete step by resigning from his talk radio show Friday night. Later, he told reporters that he is not ready to make a formal announcement but is “moving forward to challenge John McCain.”
Crossposted from The Huffington Post
PHOENIX, AZ — More misconduct has been alleged against Arizona Republican Party executive director Brett Mecum, who is now the subject of a criminal complaint alleging he used the Republican’s voter database to stalk a young female graduate student.
Crossposted from the Huffington Post
Rasmussen announced a new poll on Friday showing Senator John McCain may be in trouble at home where a polarized electorate has him facing constant criticism from both the left and the right.
Crossposted from The Huffington Post
A scuffle ensued Saturday when members of the National Socialist Movement (Neo-Nazis) found themselves shut out of an anti-immigration Tea Party protest at the Phoenix capitol.
American Citizens United, who organized the Phoenix Tea Party rally, told the Neo-Nazi group that racist messages were not welcome at the demonstration. The Neo-Nazis left, but two returned, standing defiantly on the sidewalk that borders the designated protest area.
Crossposted from The Huffington Post
Virginia legislator Todd Gilbert (R-Woodstock) not only stole campaign material from his opponent on Friday, he also had the hubris to brag about the achievement on his Facebook fan page.
“My opponent is dropping a negative mail piece in the mail in the morning…No need to worry about how we got a picture of it in advance” reads Gilbert’s fan page above a photograph of his opponent’s mailer. The picture was posted before the mailer was delivered to a single home.
While the idea of a candidate bragging on his Facebook page about his unethical escapades is a little funny at first (ok, it’s hilarious), there may be more serious implications. Specifically, Virginia Democrats are worried that critical microtargeting data may have been compromised, both for Gilbert’s opponent, John Lesinski and for other Democratic candidates in Virginia.
On Meet the Press Sunday, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) was asked by host David Gregory if it is “a necessity to tackle the fact that there are more and more Americans who die because they don’t have access to health insurance?”
Kyl responded with incredulity:
I’m not sure that it’s a fact that more and more people die because they don’t have health insurance. But because they don’t have health insurance, the care is not delivered in the best and most efficient way.
Crossposted from The Huffington Post
The Democratic Party just bought airtime for an ad to air in Senator John Kyl’s home state of Arizona featuring his infamous “I don’t need maternity care” statement. The ad will begin airing Monday in the two largest media markets in Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson. A DNC spokesperson said the ad will run indefinitely.
Yesterday, the DNC announced that Kyl would be focused in its “Call ‘Em Out” campaign and released a web video attacking Kyl for engaging in fear-mongering and lies. The DNC is also using traditional phonebanking and letter writing campaigns in conjunction with Twitter and Facebook as part of its Call ‘Em Out campaign against Kyl.
Crossposted from Huffington Post
As members of Congress head home for an August recess, Barack Obama’s former campaign arm, Organizing for America (OFA), is gearing up to target Blue Dog districts with old-fashioned, on-the-ground operations.
OFA has been organizing canvasses and phone banks since early spring, but their strategy has changed dramatically during the last couple of weeks, becoming more pointed: they are organizing canvassing drives and phone banks that specifically target the districts of the Blue Dog Democrats who have been reluctant to support Obama’s health care reform. Volunteers are organizing and manning phone banks to call Blue Dogs in other districts or states, and some volunteers are even driving into Blue Dog districts to lend a hand.
(Crossposted from the Huffington Post)
TEMPE, ARIZONA – During the Bush era, peace protests were presupposed. If the President of the United States showed up anywhere, so did the protesters. Now that Barack Obama has taken over the helm, though, peace activists are debating and rehashing protest strategies and often not protesting at all.
“Does this mean we just give Obama a free pass, no matter what he does?”
Two nights ago, this was the overarching question when a local chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America debated whether they should endorse an anti-war protest when President Obama delivers the commencement address at Arizona State University (ASU) this Wednesday. After all, one of the planks of the organization is peace, but they are also a partisan organization (hence the word ‘Democrat’ in the name) that supports Obama.
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio issued an official statement late Friday afternoon denying allegations by Meghan McCain, daughter of former presidential candidate John McCain, made on her blog earlier this week, claiming that Arpaio is cyber stalking her on Twitter.
McCain published an article on her blog on Monday complaining about “creepy” politicians cyber stalking her on Twitter. Her article starts off with,
Karl Rove follows me on Twitter. That’s creepy….
I am now being followed by Karl Rove, and my local sheriff, and God knows how many other political pundits. We need to take Twitter back from the creepy people.
I hate to break it to McCain, but Karl Rove follows me on Twitter too, and in the scheme of things, I’m nobody. In fact, Rove follows 40,604 people on Twitter. I know he doesn’t notice my Tweets, and I doubt he (or his ghost-Tweeter) pays much more attention to McCain’s.
Crossposted from The Huffington Post