Crossposted from SmokeyMonkey.org. Kos also has a piece on the
front page.
Arizona's 8th Congressional District is one of the best pick-up opportunities in the House this year, and Gabrielle Giffords has won the nomination to run against Randy Graf, who won a close primary for the Republicans. The seat will be open after Jim Kolbe announced his retirement last year.
I have a mixed history supporting Gabrielle. I believe Jeff Latas was the best candidate, and he got my vote. However, Giffords is the candidate in the general election, and she has my full support. Let's take a brief look at the primary results and then compare the platforms of our nominees.
My local online paper reported that Patty Weiss, a former news-anchor and Gabrielle's closest competition in the primary, visited the Giffords campaign party to concede.
[AZStarnet.com] Giffords remained out of sight for most of the evening and would not agree to interviews. But just before 10 p.m., both Giffords and Weiss walked through the crowd. Putting the end to a turbulent rivalry, Weiss told the crowd: "First thing, off comes the Patty Weiss button." Then she picked up a Giffords' pin, and placed it on her jacket.
I think that's pretty classy. Weiss and Giffords had a pretty heated debate at one point, and I was sure it was going to turn into a cat-fight. However, I think Weiss was simply campaigning hard, and it shows a lot of class to concede in person.
Giffords won handily with 54.1%, while Weiss captured only 31.2%. Graf beat Huffman in the Republican primary 43.2% to 37.2%. And it appears that the Republican party remains divided after a nasty primary.
[AZStarnet.com] Though Graf continued to extend his lead through the night, Huffman refused to concede or speculate about the remaining uncounted votes.
[snip] Asked if he would eventually be willing to support Graf, Huffman did not provide a direct answer. "I will be working to make sure the House maintains Republican control," he said.
Turnout seems pretty typical of a primary. Pima county has over 294,000 registered voters in AZ-08. While the district goes outside of Pima county to some rural precincts, Tucson is the only major city in the district and is fully within Pima county. So with just shy of 54,000 votes cast, we're looking at less than 20% turnout.
The candidates
Graf said at his victory party, "It will be easy for voters to choose between myself and Gabrielle Giffords." There is no doubt about that. Giffords is a moderate Democrat with an excellent set of endorsements ranging from popular local politicians like Raul Grijalva to the Sierra Club. Graf is a right-wing nutcase of the "alien invasion" club. He specifically associates himself with Tom Tancredo, as racist a sitting congressman as there is.
GiffordsForCongress.com has this quote from the mayor of Douglas, Arizona, a small town right on the Mexican border:
"Gabrielle Giffords is the one candidate who recognizes the complexity of the immigration issue and who has a comprehensive plan to move the country toward a fair and realistic solution. She understands that border security cannot be accomplished by increasing the number of personnel alone and appreciates the value of immigrant workers to our state and country. We need a voice of reason in Congress to tone down the divisive and angry debate that is underway. Gabrielle will be that voice." -Ray Borane, Mayor of Douglas, AZ
Graf's position on the Iraq war? This is the entire message he has under the heading "Supporting the Troops in the War on Terror":
Supporting our troops in the war on terror should be our most important priority. Artificial timetables will not help our troops and will do nothing to win the war on terror. What timetables will do, is tell our enemies just how long they need to hang on to win.
That's it. A big, fat, nonsensical talking point. To my knowledge, the Democratic position is redeployment without timetables. Just a head's up, Randy. Giffords' position on Iraq acknowledges the conditions in that country today.
The increased sectarian strife in Iraq and growing instability in the Gulf region during the past six months have only intensified the need for a responsible and plausible exit strategy from Iraq. My priority is to bring our troops home safe and soon.
Graf has right-wing talking points flowing out of his issues page. Besides the 2nd Amendment being his favorite of the Bill of Rights because it "is the amendment that guarantees all other rights are protected", we have the preservation of marriage (ie, altering the constitution to establish christian values), the right to life (ie, altering the constitution to establish christian values), and the defense of Israel. You just have to shake your head and realize that about as many people believe in those priorities as approve of the job the President is doing.
Giffords, on the other hand, has apparently read the Constitution of the United States, and apparently gets her talking points somewhere other than Fox News. I like this quote, for instance:
Nothing in the Constitution allows Congress or any other body of government to deny basic human rights based on race, gender or sexual orientation. Congress must not make any law that creates a separate, unequal set of laws for any population regarding their basic rights.
I think the differences are stark and obvious. I see no way in hell that Randy Graf will garner much support for his radical ideological stances. A quick scan of the endorsements page of each candidate suggests a very obvious pattern. Giffords' endorsements include firefighter and police organizations, labor unions (including the AFL-CIO), the Sierra Club, and a number of education associations. Graf's endorsements are from the Minuteman Project and its founders, and from radical right to life groups. If you want a wingnut, vote Graf. If you want a good person that will represent us responsibly, vote Giffords.
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