We are visiting 21 Arizona reservations in four days to help Native Americans turn out the vote in record numbers to keep the U.S. House and U.S. Senate in Democratic hands.
Tribal outreach director Jerry Gloshay Jr. and I will be on the road Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to try to make it to reservations ranging from the Navajo in the northeast part of the state to Cocopah in the southwest and everywhere in between. We have 100 4’ X 6’ signs to put up along the way, as well as CDs to deliver to tribal radio stations.
Rep. Tom O’Halleran is out with his first ad. Trying to be non-partisan, but it makes a good comparison with Eli Crane. Watch it here. (80) Mission - YouTube Nate Silver says Tom is trailing 49.9 % to 50.1%, but also says the candidates each have a 50% chance of winning. Charlie Cook calls this “lean Republican.”
If you would like to help us, please contribute at ActBlue .
Mark Kelly seems to be in better shape in the Senate race, with an 83% chance of winning. Kelly wins the independents, partly because Blake Masters, a gopher for an out-of-state billionaire, has a well deserved reputation as a flip-flopper. “I just don’t think he has an opinion on much until he is pressed for it, and then he kind of just comes up with whatever is popular at the moment,” said a woman interviewed by the New York Times. He is of course flip-flopping on abortion, walking away from his advocacy for a “federal personhood Constitutional amendment.”
Our radio ads are now on the air on the Navajo Nation, urging tribal members to register to vote at Arizona.vote We plan to drop off CDs with a public service announcement on voter registration at each Native radio station as we travel through the state. Future ads will promote a campaign to encourage family matriarchs to make sure everyone in her extended family is voting.
Of course, then comes radio ads promoting requests for early ballots, asking people to vote early and then finally election-day turnout. We want to spend a little more than $8,000 on Navajo radio.
As we make our trip, we will spend two days on the vast Navajo Reservation, then spend another day visiting the tribes along the Colorado River in western Arizona before heading over to Tucson, up to Phoenix and then visiting the central Arizona tribes before returning to the White Mountains in the eastern part of the state. I’m a little nervous. I hadn’t understood exactly how much 200 fence posts would weigh, but once we start putting up signs the load on my 2008 Rav4 will diminish.
Some may be a bit confused about the number of tribes in Arizona and the places we are visiting. There are 22 recognized tribes in Arizona, but the Zuni Reservation in Arizona is not usually occupied. It is a ceremonial place that is visited by New Mexico Zunis every four years. (I think their pilgrimages are scheduled on the summer solstice in presidential inauguration years.)
I’ve been promising to bring you up to date on why our Arizona Fair Elections Act is not on the ballot this year. We filed 475,000 signatures and needed 238,000. The petitions were reviewed by both a Special Master and the county recorders of Arizona’s 15 counties. The courts had never before allowed both a special master and the county recorders to strike signatures from a petition. In this case, they did. Mathematical formulas were used in an attempt to avoid striking the same signature twice.
There were about 30 different reasons for striking signatures. For each of these 30 reasons, the opposition attorneys were allowed to choose whether they would use numbers from the special master or the county recorders. By picking and choosing, they were able to get the number of signatures down about 1,100 below the number needed.
We are reviewing our next steps.
I want to again point out that three issues on the Arizona ballot this year are designed to kill Direct Democracy, which has been the pride and joy of Arizona since statehood. We need to get out the “no” vote on those.
Prop. 128: The constitutional amendment would allow the legislature to amend, divert funds from, or supersede an initiative or referendum measure enacted by the people of Arizona if the measure is found to contain illegal or unconstitutional language by the Arizona or United States supreme courts, which have both been hijacked by right-wing extremists. So we’re clear, that means the marijuana would still be illegal under this measure.
Prop. 129: The constitutional amendment would limit an initiative measure to a single subject. While this might sound good in theory, it’s a trick that gives more power to the legislature and makes it nearly impossible to solve a whole problem because it limits the initiative to addressing only one section of state statutes. For example, with the very popular 2020 legalization of marijuana, “single subject” would have only allowed the flower to be legalized, not the paraphernalia required to smoke it. Also, it couldn’t direct the revenue to community colleges, public health and public safety, or allow for expungement. It would have given the money and the power to the legislature.
- Another example: We’d still have indoor smoking in Arizona if this passed! When Arizona banned indoor smoking in 2006, it would have to be split in an absurd number of separate initiatives because statutes governing public buildings, universities, schools, bars, liquor stores, hospitals, commercial space, retail stores, etc. etc. are all different sections of state statutes.
Prop. 132: The constitutional amendment would require that an initiative or referendum to approve a tax receive sixty percent of the votes cast to become law. This is a gift to wealthy and corporate interests at the expense of the fundamental democratic principle that whoever gets the most votes wins.
If you would like to help us with our campaign in Arizona, please give at ActBlue or send a check to Arizona Deserves Better, c/o Eric Kramer, 1910 Douglas Fir Dr., Pinetop, AZ 85935
I also want to point out a plan by Josh Marshall to win the election.
Josh has proposed an excellent project on his site Talking Points Memo.
His idea is to get enough Senate and House candidates to pledge, if elected, to amend the filibuster and codify Roe into federal law. After reading his piece, I talked to Mark Kelly and got his commitment.
Josh thinks, and I agree, that if we get the commitment from enough candidates, we will win the House and Senate.
Josh is a deep thinker and wonderful writer and I enjoy his site almost as much as DailyKos.
I think, though, that DailyKos has more ability to get a campaign like this done.
I’ve tried to ask Markos if he thinks DailyKos can help.
Here is a piece from Josh's site.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/...