I have sort of taken up the mantle of reporting to DailyKos on the situation in Arizona's 8th Congressional District. As you may have heard, Jim Kolbe, a long-time Republican incumbent,
has retired, leaving the seat wide open for 2006.
I, also, reported last week in my diary that Gabrielle Giffords resigned her state senate seat in order to run for Congress. I have since had some correspondence from her, and have high hopes for several other candidates that I have done some (minimal) research on.
This will be a very contested primary and election, so please join me on the other side...
I have actually not heard any more news about anyone else announcing for this district, so I will just cover those few that are either announced or are most likely running.
First, it should be noted that at least one Kossack is running for the seat: Jeff Latas. I will let his diaries here and elsewhere speak for him.
Second, I would note who the most likely, name-recognized potential congresscritters are: Eva Bacal, the democrat that opposed Kolbe in 2004; and Randy Graf, who opposed Kolbe in the 2004 republican primary. Eva's website is pretty poor (and probably not updated since 2004), so there is just not a lot of substance there. My impression is that she is a run-of-the-mill social liberal and not a progressive. She is an easy choice over Graf, however, who has this to say, which I think sums it up:
Marriage as a union between a man and a woman provides children with a mom and a dad. The ideal that is promoted in society should include a dad and a mom for every kid. Kids do better when they have a mom and they have a dad than if they are missing either. Obviously, not everyone has the opportunity to grow up in such an ideal situation, but that does not mean that public policy should aim for a lower standard. The welfare of children must be at the forefront of family law discussions.
Graf is also a right-to-lifer. Graf's opposition in the primary is likely to be Ray Carroll who is a local businessman with good name recognition. He is currently our County Supervisor.
Besides Bacal, there are a couple of Democrats that may shine in this election: Tim Sultan and Gabrielle Giffords.
Tim's site is also pretty choppy and has not been updated, but I assume that will change by summer. I like that he seems like a young go-getter, but I have no idea what his positions are (as the site is not responding now).
As for Gabrielle, I sent an email to her after writing my diary last week and she actually responded that evening at about 10:30 pm! That impressed me right away. She responded over the course of the last week to several of my questions. I won't quote from them directly, but simply summarize:
- She prefers Gabrielle to any shortened form.
- She is 100% pro-choice.
- She is recognized by the Sierra club.
- She likes big dogs.
- She is open to taking strange men that email her on rides on her motorcycle.
I'm kidding about the last one, but she did offer me a ride. Anyway, what I really need to know if I am going to pursue my research is What questions should I ask? I have my topics of interest (cats v dogs is important!), but what does this community want to know about these candidates?