I'm glad
someone is finally paying attention to the race in Arizona's 1st congressional. On Fox News this Sunday, Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News predicted that
Ellen Simon, one of several Democrats running for the seat, would give Republican
Rick Renzi a run for his money after next week's primary:
"I have a childhood friend, Ellen Simon, she's running as a Democrat in Arizona, District 1. She'll go against Renzi. That's always been considered a safe Republican seat. But she is a Democrat now, who I think has the message. And I think she's going to be one of those seats the Republicans have always counted on and she will probably wind up winning."
The Fox News commentator's response? To attack Simon's position on illegal immigration. Because Simon represents a real threat to Renzi, a man named one of the
13 "Most Corrupt" legislators in Congress, Republicans are trying to gain traction on one of the only issues that they haven't made a complete disaster of - yet. After destroying their credibility nearly every major issue through the debacles in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, Terri Schiavo, gay marriage, and so on, Republicans are once again relying on security issues to scare the public into voting Republican in the midterms.
Democrats need to pounce on this one. The truth is Renzi is vulnerable, and Republicans are running scared. This always should have been a Democratic seat, and can be again if we start giving it the attention it deserves.
I am drawn to this race because Renzi is exactly the type of legislator Democrats should be spending every waking hour trying to oust from Congress. Instead, the blogs and the press have largely remained silent about the race in AZ-01. Most of us are ignoring Renzi, thinking that he cannot be thrown out of office, when the truth is Democrats probably have a better chance to take back AZ-01 than some of the other districts getting so much attention in Arizona.
Like so many others this year, Renzi stands for everything we despise as Democrats, siding with oil and big business over the average worker and claiming to support our troops but opposing health care coverage for them. His illegal campaign contributions in past cycles and ties to Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, and Randy "Duke" Cunningham alone should be enough to spark outrage among Democrats and get progressives talking about what can be done to oust Renzi. Whether it's volunteering time, money, or blog space to the AZ-01, progressives have a real chance to use their word-of-mouth here and add another entrenched incumbent to the list of take-down targets in November.