It's primary day in Arizona and it's going to be interesting which nut emerges as the official GOP nominee for Governor:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
A victory-starved national tea party movement has a final opportunity to claim a statewide win ahead of the general election campaign, pinning its hopes on Doug Ducey in Tuesday's Republican primary for governor of Arizona.
Ducey, Arizona's state treasurer and the former chief executive of Cold Stone Creamery, is backed by national tea party leaders like Sarah Palin and Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Mike Lee (R-Tex.). His main rival is Scott Smith, the former mayor of Mesa and a more moderate Republican. A third candidate, Christine Jones, is a wildcard.
"I think this Republican race here is the epitome of the infighting within the Republican Party," said Arizona State University political scientist Rodolfo Espino.
But like the Republican Senate primary in Nebraska earlier this year, the lines between tea party and establishment have been blurred. While Smith has lined up substantial support from the business community, Ducey, has the backing of the president of of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, a leading business group. Business groups have been at odds with the tea party in other key races this year. Meanwhile, Jones, a former executive at GoDaddy, has been courting conservative voters. - Washington Post, 8/26/14
Whoever wins tonight will go on to face off against Fred DuVal (D. AZ), the lone Democrat in this race. Smith and DuVal have been working hard to win over independent and moderate voters:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
State election officials presume a 25 percent turnout, based on the rates in previous primaries in nonpresidential election years. It is the makeup of those voters that matters, though: Independents, a politically centrist slice of the electorate who have become the largest voting bloc in the state, requested a record number of early ballots this year, most of them for the Republican primary, where the ideological differences among candidates are more pronounced. Almost half of those ballots had been mailed back by the deadline last Friday.
Mr. Smith, one of the Republican candidates for governor, and Mr. DuVal, the sole Democrat on the race, have worked hard to mobilize independents, whom they regard as decisive forces — in the primaries and also in the general election.
By the time the polls close on Tuesday, election officials estimate that participation among independents could reach 15 percent, up from 7 percent in 2012. Chip Scutari, co-founder of a bipartisan public relations firm in Phoenix, said, “We’re sort of watching that moment when the light bulb goes off and they realize that if they vote, they can make a difference.” - New York Times, 8/26/14
While this long, nasty, expensive and crazy primary comes to an end, DuVal is way ahead of his potential opponent by introducing himself to the voters:
http://www.azcentral.com/...
Democrat Fred DuVal's first TV ad in the fall election campaign for governor features the Republican who chaired GOP Gov. Jan Brewer's run for office four years ago.
Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, whose friendship with DuVal goes back to their boyhoods, makes the case for DuVal, clearly reaching out to the moderate Republicans and independent voters DuVal will need to win the governor's race.
The ad begins airing Tuesday evening as the primary election comes to a close. It's part of a $61,000 ad buy this week, with larger buys to come next week, after Labor Day, and through Election Day.
Woods is the kind of moderate Republican who has become increasingly rare in an Arizona party dominated by a conservative base -- he opposed SB 1070 on constitutional grounds, he supports same-sex marriage and he helped persuade the governor to veto SB 1062 last spring.
Woods was a college classmate of DuVal's at Occidental College in California and later at Arizona State University Law School. (Note to political junkies: Arizona Republic columnist Bob Robb was also in Woods' and DuVal's Oxy '76 graduating class. The future President Obama, Oxy '83, would arrive a few years later.) - Arizona Central, 8/26/14
After tonight, we'll see if the race could be a serious pick up for Team Blue. DuVal has been working hard to court Latino voters and after the big anti-immigration slugfest that took place during the primary, DuVal will need them now more than ever. We'll wait and see. Until then, please do donate and get involved with DuVal's campaign:
http://www.fred2014.com/