Thursday Rasmussen, everyone’s "favorite" pollster, released a poll that only has me down by 14 points. I see you thinking to yourself "only 14," but let’s face it, it’s Rasmussen so we may be down by as little as 8 or 9. And it happened in two weeks. More important, it shows that McCain’s favorables are at 44 percent, the lowest they’ve been in sixteen years. He's one of the two most vulnerable Republicans in the country.
I met many of you at Netroots Nation in July and I just wish I could have been there for the entire event, but I needed to be here in Arizona so the voters here can see I’m committed to putting Arizona first. John McCain has made a career of making speeches in other states, talking about things he refused to do for Arizona. I won’t be making that mistake. I live in Arizona, and even if elected to serve, Arizona will always be my home. Arizona is where my wife Sasha and I will raise our family. Arizona is my Number 1 priority.
What does that mean? It means that as a U.S. Senator representing Arizona I will make sure that whatever I work on for our country, must help Arizona and its citizens, too. I will not be afraid to bring home what John McCain calls "pork" if it is money well-spent on projects that need attention.
For example, in the city of Maricopa, a school stands right next to a rail line upon which Union Pacific trains go by every 20 minutes. So every 20 minutes those children’s education is interrupted by the clanging of bells and the loud noise of the train passing by. And those kids leaving school must cross train tracks on foot. Maricopa officials went to DC and met with McCain to ask for a grade-separated crossing to solve this issue. McCain refused to support this project for fear of being seen as "bringing home the pork". In my opinion, this is not pork. It's a worthy project that let's our kids learn and keeps them safe.
What other issues do I consider important? I put our economy at the top of the list. We need to put Americans back to work in good-paying jobs so that they can build the future they deserve, the education they deserve and are able to contribute to our state and country, while pursuing their own American Dream. One of the ways we can do this is by investing in renewable energy resources like solar power, in Arizona and elsewhere.
One other newsworthy item I want to discuss:
I am committed to equality. As an Air Force JAG Reserve officer, I applaud the Federal District court decision last Thursday striking down "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" as unconstitutional. Far too many servicemen and service women have been wrongfully forced out of the military because of who they are. In fact, DADT has cost the U.S. millions of dollars in retraining costs and endangered troops on the ground because folks like John McCain care less about how someone does their job than whom they love.
I will be discussing more issues I care about and that I'm finding as I travel the state that Arizonans care about as well. I will be back soon .
Thank you for your time and I will be here for a little while to answer your questions before I have to head out to my next event.