You've probably all seen the
Majority Watch poll by now. I'm a staffer for the
Ellen Simon campaign here in the AZ 1st in northern Arizona (and longtime Kossack), and we're all bouncing off the walls at our results - we're up 50-46%!
We've known all along that despite facing a two-term Bush Republican who likes to campaign dirty (Rick Renzi) we were in a very competitive fight. We got into the race relatively late, and no one thought we could counter Renzi's corrupt cash machine; as a result, we've been slow to attract attention from either the DNC/DCCC or the netroots. It's been lonely work, driving across the desert in the largest congressional district that isn't an entire state.
Now we can finally prove it's paid off. More after the break...
With a strong final push, we have every chance of replacing one of CREW's
"13 Most Corrupt Congressmen" with a staunchly progressive, anti-war, tough-as-they-come civil rights lawyer. But the nature of the district means it's inevitably going to be a nailbiter. Renzi just did a fundraiser with Bush, down in suburban Phoenix, to fill up his coffers for his favorite trick - a last minute blitz of nasty or even entirely fictional attack ads.
If you're anywhere near the district, sign up to volunteer. If you're a diarist here or a blogger elsewhere, please help draw some much-needed attention to this race. And of course, if you have $20 to spare, we need help to stand up to those attacks. We've been making headway showing the media how corrupt Renzi is, but nothing can substitute for television ads.
I know this race may be new for a lot of you, so I'd love to answer questions in the comments. Also I wanted to direct you to Donatella's excellent post on the race yesterday.