This morning, as I was watching CNN with my breakfast, the crawl came across the bottom of the screen - "John McCain announces bid to retain his Senate seat".
Now I'm not at all surprised by this news. McCain has always been about building and retaining power and, despite a wonderful effort by Arizona Democrats in the recent election and some alarming slippage in his popularity numbers here, he managed to beat Obama by double digits in our state. I'm certain he was buoyed by that news.
Today I'm also enthusiastic about his decision. I see it as a possible turning point in Arizona politics when we send him packing.
More below the break.
Today in our state, due to Janet Napolitano being whisked away to grander things and a well-deserved spot in the Obama administration, we are up against a perfect storm of neo-con dominance. Our state legislature has a solid Republican majority and the only thing standing in the way of them having their way was the veto of the Governor. Napolitano used it extensively and forced compromise. Her replacement, Jan Brewer, has seized the new advantage and empowered the worst of the worst in our state government. They took the rationalization of the massive budget shortfall caused by the economic downturn and decimated our educational budget despite our being 49th in the nation in per-pupil spending. Of course they plan additional tax cuts for businesses to twist the knife even further. It is clearly part of their plan to destroy public education in our state.
Yesterday, one of our state representatives introduced a bill that requires even adult women to wait a full day prior to receiving an abortion and making them attend counseling that explores other options available to them. Also in that legislation is a rule that allows pharmacists to withhold medication from customers if it goes against their personal beliefs. Since Napolitano vetoed similar attempts at legislation all signs point to these things actually becoming law. I guess the next one coming is one that allows police officers to not arrest a man for beating their wives because their religion gives the man domain over their spouse.
I'm sensing however that all this is going to backfire on them. There's a huge outcry from educators, administrators, and parents and a large rally planned at the State Capital this weekend. Our state always lags behind the nation in economic and political movements and it's obvious we're turning bluer by the day. If that lag holds true, what happened to the nation over the last year will occur here within the next one or two years as our economy drops further and the realization of Arizonans to the Republican complicity becomes clear.
So that brings us back to McCain. I believe he's vulnerable and his defeat could be a springboard for ridding us of our neo-con dominance forever.
I'm not sure we can do it alone however. We have a marvelous local coalition of Democrats who are fighting the good fight but we're up against some demographics that are staggering. I'm an Arizona native, born and raised in the Tucson area with its more realistic political mix. I think most of us with long ties to the state fall into the center/left arena. However, we are no longer the majority since we receive this huge influx of older and often retired people from the rest of the country that feel they've paid their debt to society and want to be left alone by government intrusion. They lock themselves away in adults-only communities and believe they owe nothing towards education, health care, and the other social services that benefit us all.
I don't know who will oppose John McCain in 2010 but there's a number of excellent possibilities. Terry Goddard is currently our state Attorney General and could mount tough opposition. Phil Gordon, the Mayor of Phoenix is well-liked and crafty. There are a number of very competent Democratic state legislators that could mount a challenge.
They all will however be up against all the power of big business and John McCain's personal wealth and name recognition. The RNC will surely put huge resources into this race knowing the significance of the outcome.
We however have shown that we can accomplish the miraculous if we all band together nationally as we did for this last election. McCain gave us reams of material in his national bid that can be used as ammunition to place doubts on his competency and honor. His recent pronouncements during the debate on the stimulus package have shown him to be extremely partisan and obstructionist.
I know that there are battles to fight all over the country but Arizona could be a huge opportunity if we can defeat this man that so holds the national stage. I would encourage any of you that have the resources to help us with this challenge. The Arizona Democratic Party can use whatever you can give - time, money, letters to the editor, or just suggestions and encouragement.
Oh, and as an aside, please stop sending your old angry curmudgeons out here to retire.