Greetings!
… and welcome to another Baja Arizona Kos Open Thread. I will be your alternate host, providing a bit of Baja news and of course pictures from my backyard.
Have you been polled yet?
I'm not finding very many polls of Arizona voters. Even Real Clear Politics has nothing since November, at which point the winners were Carson & Clinton. Times have changed, but not much. Recently, the business community in Phoenix asked each other whom they were voting for (DEMs here, GOP here), and came up with Trump & Clinton. Maybe it's me, but that sounds like the oligarchs polled each other, and those are the answers they came up with. Food for thought.
I admit to being part of the “no data” problem. I haven't been polled, and that's because I never answer the phone when the caller ID shows an unknown number. Heck, Bernie Sanders has called several times since Michigan (so the caller ID says), and I didn't answer those either. Funny thing, though: Hillary hasn't called me even once…
Our dumb state legislature
You've probably already heard about how it's now a felony to possess and/or transport ballots that are not your own (or belonging to family/household members). That also doesn't apply to postal carriers, who are actually required to deliver them. This of course means that thou shalt not help anyone vote.
In other news, the state house has passed a bill (HB2567) that repeals the Presidential Preference Election (PPE). So we may become a caucus state? That always seems to work so well.
And then the state senate has passed a bill (SB1377) telling the courts that any illegal border-crossers convicted of any crime must serve the statutory maximum sentence. Apparently if you are in the country illegally and you commit a crime, we want to make sure you stay in Arizona for as long as possible.
Note: of these three, only the “ballot abuse” bill (HB2023) has reached the governor (and he signed it).
AZ-02 news
I know there are people here who hate Facebook, but that seems to be where the action is for our candidates. Their public websites don't really seem to have much information, but the book of faces is filling up with their photo-ops & events.
Matt Heinz (D) is in full fundraising mode, and has scheduled events where you can see him if you give him money:
- 3/24 at Public Brewhouse at 18:00, March Madness watch party. Bring at least $50.
- 3/26 at Highwire Lounge at 17:30, campaign kickoff. Bring at least $25.
- 4/3 at a location in Palm Springs, California at 14:00. Hosted by David Feltman. Bring the bank you own, I guess.
Victoria Steele (D) doesn't show any upcoming events; she seems to post pictures of events right after she has them. I don't know how one would find out about the events in advance; her main website is silent on this too. But she does have endorsements from the local Council of Machinists & Aerospace workers, and that big one from Grijalva.
And of course, there's the very active FB page of our incumbent, Martha McSally (R-MIC). In a recent post, she showed pictures of herself at Ft. Huachuca, and I'm pretty sure your cell phone has more capabilities than all of the equipment in that picture, put together. Every year for decades, the Feds have given the MIC half of all our discretionary funds, and still the equipment there looks like it was already old 50 years ago.
I try to make some remark on her every post. For example, when she slams the EPA for trying to raise the emissions standards for power plants, I ask whether she will balance that by increasing support for healthcare, which we will all need after breathing all that dirty air? One way or another, her constituents will have to pay; it's just cheaper to pay at the prevention end. OK, end rant.
Upcoming dates
- 2/22 — voter registration deadline for PPE (passed)
- 2/24 — early voting in PPE begins (ongoing)
- 3/22 — Presidential Preference Election
- 8/1 — voter registration deadline for primary election
- 8/3 — early voting in primary begins
- 8/30 — Arizona primary election
- 10/10 — voter registration deadline for general election
- 10/12 — early voting in general election begins
- 11/8 — General Election
(Thanks, buddabelly!)
And here's a picture from my backyard:
So that's it. Add your news, say hello, chat amongst yourselves, or at least let us know you stopped in by taking advantage of the handy tip-n-rec buttons.