The Word From Arizona's Fifth District

I'm Back!

2007-04-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

School is winding down. The next two weeks are going to be extremely stressful and busy. Finals to study for, essays to write, work to do, and news to catch up on. But, I'll be posting more often and officially come back when school's out.

I just wanted to write a little bit about what Harry Mitchell has been doing thus far in this session of Congress. Specifically, I want to focus on pieces of legislation that he has voted in favor of that have "potential" to do him in in 2008.

Randy Pullen's latest press release targeted Harry and Gabrielle Giffords for voting in favor of the supplemental funding bill with a withdrawal timeline attached. The bulk of it is ridiculous bluster, the same worn over talking points, "Congress is thumbing its nose at the President" (about fucking time), "the Democrats are trying to micromanage the war" (guess it was fine when Rumsfeld was doing it), and, of course, "cut and run" (uh, Randy, "cut and run" is so pre-November 2006 thinking).

Harry voted the right way. I know his staff wrestled with this issue for a good long while. Initially, Harry said he would vote against any funding bill with a withdrawal timeline. He never should have said that to begin with. As the debate over this bill began, Harry started off on the wrong side. I can understand being worried about the huge Republican voter registration advantage in CD-5. But opposition to this war is no longer a liberal or Democratic thing to do. It's liberal and conservative, Republican and Democrat. No one supports this war. Well, at least no one with half a brain cell (sadly, polling proves that around 25-30% of Americans have less than half a brain cell). Disapproval of Bush and the war is over 60% in Kentucky!

The voters of CD-5 will appreciate and support Harry's vote. He will, however, be portrayed as a flip-flopper for coming out against a timeline before the bill reached conference committee. Unless Harry's Republican opponent runs left of him on the war next year, I doubt there will be any long-term effects.

One vote in particular, though, may be difficult for Congressman Mitchell to explain. The bill I am referring to is HR 800, the Employee Free Choice Act. The law will do away the secret ballot workers can cast when decided whether or not to unionize, thus making it easier for workers to form unions. The bill has its merits and its problems, some have gone far enough to say the bill destroys Arizona's status as a right-to-work state. People in Arizona like that status and Arizona has never had an extremely strong union presence since the decline of mining, agriculture, and manufacturing.

The Arizona Chamber of Commerce is going to grill Harry for this vote. Granted, Harry's got plenty of friends in the business community, but I don't see the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce turning a blind eye. It'll be up to Harry and his team to develop a working strategy that can explain this vote as necessary and good, and set up a good defense against the inevitable attacks.

Okay, some quick random thoughts jumbled together, but now I'm done. I'll be back after Tuesday next week to talk about potential GOP candidates and examine more of Harry's activities in the district and Washington.

Peace out!

"Officially" taking a hiatus...

2007-01-21T12:59:00.000-08:00

It's been very hard for me to find time in the past few weeks to blog. School is back and I have been looking for a job since my class schedule interferes with my old job hours. So, I've decided to take break from blogging and I figured it's about time to let everyone know. I'll still be around posting on other blogs and keeping up with all the news. If you need your necessary dose of local and national political news, I recommend checking out Random Musings and AZ Congress Watch regularly. Craig and Stacy do awesome work on their blogs and they cover all the news I normally would.

Thanks for reading and no worries.

About the comments...

2007-01-04T14:35:00.000-08:00

I have fixed a problem that hid all comments on the blog. I'm not sure if it has been like that for a long time or if it was a switch-over to the Google account that caused it. In any case, all comments have been published and I'll be looking through all of them. Sorry about any confusion.

Harry votes for Nancy

2007-01-04T12:52:00.000-08:00

After swearing-in, the first order of business for the new 110th Democratically-controlled Congress was to elect the Speaker. The vote was completely party line, with the 233 Democrats voting for Nancy Pelosi and 202 Republicans voting for John Boehner.

It is truly a historic day with the first woman being elected Speaker. As with his 232 Democratic colleagues, Harry voted to elect Pelosi to the Speaker's chair. I'll be updating over the next few days the progress of the First 100 Hours Agenda and how Harry ties in with the ethics package and everything else.

Happy New Congress Day!

This is an open thread. How was your New Years?

So who's ready for the New Year?

2007-01-03T14:53:00.000-08:00

I took the liberty of a vacation from blogging over the last month. It was desperately needed after a full semester of school, work, blogging, and the election. In fact, I became absolutely burnt out on politics during the Christmas season. Not having any Christmas spirit didn't help. However, the break was good, I had time to relax, and I'm ready to get back to business!

And so is Congress!

Tomorrow, the 110th Congress will be sworn-in, including Harry Mitchell. Harry has been named to the House Transportation Committee and he will be one of the freshman leaders in the ethics package Speaker Pelosi wants to push through. I'll be blogging over the next few days to check on Harry and what he's doing as Congress convenes. It is bound to be an exciting first 100 hours.

Also, the precinct numbers are up for the election. Craig at Random Musings has taken a look at them. I will also be going more in-depth, but for now I wanted to look at the numbers in the precincts I have lived in or in which I have close friends living.

My first apartment with my first roommate was in Scottsdale precinct Columbus (bordered by Hayden Rd., Thomas Rd., Granite Reef, and Osborn Rd.).

Mitchell- 377
Hayworth- 337
Severin- 36

So, my old precinct in south Scottsdale went to Harry by only 40 votes. The area has many older residents, most of whom have lived there over 30 years. However, it's clear that south Scottsdale will be leaning Democrat for years to come.

My old roommate moved up to north Scottsdale after our lease was up. His precinct was Sentry (bordered by Thunderbird, Frank Lloyd Wright, and 96th).

Mitchell- 436
Hayworth- 389
Severin- 28

The area has many new move-ins with a lot of nice-end condos and apartments going up, but I was absolutely shocked and surprised. Harry did amazing in other north Scottsdale districts and I think Republicans are kidding themselves if they think 2008 will be a cake-walk.

After his lease was up in north Scottsdale, my friend moved back down to south Scottsdale near Thomas and Scottsdale. This is right downtown with many apartment complexes and old neighborhoods.

Mitchell- 155
Hayworth- 84
Severin- 10

Absolutely atrocious turnout for such a high-density precinct, but it easily went to Harry.

My current residence in Tempe is in Precinct 29. The results were not surprising.

Mitchell- 325
Hayworth- 183
Severin- 13

Of course, taking random precincts and looking at the numbers is no tell-tale sign that Harry will have it easy in 2008. But, he isn't doomed and he's got two years to gain the trust of those who didn't vote for him. If anyone can gain trust, it's Harry Mitchell.

I'll return for more tomorrow as Congress is sworn-in and the First 100 Hours kicks off!

All the votes are in...

2006-11-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

Every provisional and absentee ballot in Maricopa County has been counted. Definite props to the election workers. According to AZCentral, they were working 12 hour shifts.

So, with the end of vote tallying comes the end results.

Mitchell- 101,838 (50.4%)
Hayworth- 93,815 (46.4%)
Severin- 6,357 (3.1%)

Harry has won by over 8,000 votes. This is a larger spread than a lot of other key races around the country. Not only that, but this is supposed to be a solidly Republican district. Conservatives within the Arizona blogosphere have been adamant that Harry Mitchell is doomed to be a one-term Congressman. They like throwing Sam Coppersmith's name around when talking about this. It's not going to happen like that, though. Granted, Harry will have a race on his hands come 2008. It's bound to happen with the registration advantage the GOP has in this district.

But Harry is going to impress. There is a reason so many Republicans crossed over to vote for him. Independents in this district are the key and Harry won them overwhelmingly. They'll be here in 2008 and they'll vote for Harry again. Tempe is now a Democratic stronghold.

The next two years are going to be interesting on the GOP side of things. Will they nominate a moderate Scottsdale Republican? Or will they go with the Rosati/Huppenthal type crowd? Either way, Harry will be ready and waiting.

J.D. Concedes

2006-11-14T15:57:00.000-08:00

In a statement posted on his website today, J.D. concedes the race to Harry Mitchell.

"While there are still tens of thousands of votes left to count, it has become apparent that it is unlikely we'll get enough of these votes to win the election. We were confident we would close the gap as the early ballots were counted, and we have, but at this point it doesn't appear to be enough. Of course, if the result of the count changes, obviously I will abide by the will of the people.

Therefore let me congratulate Harry for his likely victory in what was a tough campaign and wish him the best of luck. I would also like to thank my supporters and the thousands of volunteers who devoted their time to my campaigns over the years. I would be remiss if I did not single out the incredible efforts of so many volunteers in this most recent campaign.

I also want to thank my hard-working staff both here in Washington and in the district those who served in an official capacity and those who worked on the campaign.

One group the group closest to me never got time off during my 12 years in public office my family. To my wife, Mary and our three children I say: Thanks for standing by me. Leaving the House isn't so bad, since I get to come home.

But most of all, I would like to thank the people of Arizona I represented for over a decade. Thank you for the honor of serving in the Congress of the United States."

Ladies and gentlemen of District Five...

Your New Congressman!

OK, J.D., Give It Up

2006-11-10T12:45:00.000-08:00

The vote tallying still continues, but nothing has changed. Since yesterday, Harry's lead shrunk by 23 votes. There is no way J.D. can make up a nearly 6,000 vote difference with the limited amount of uncounted ballots, of which he would have to get ove 60%.

Seriously, J.D., stop. Yesterday, I didn't call him a crybaby or a sore-loser, but for the sake of your current constituents, concede now. Harry Mitchell is going to be our next Congressman. He has been gracious in not declaring victory, but I think it's about high time he should. Harry is gathering his transition team, which will be headed by former Congressman Sam Coppersmith, also of Liberal Desert. He has been invited by the Clerk of the House to the freshman orientation in Washington. The race has been called by every major news and political outlet. Even Rush Limbaugh is saying J.D. is done.

Please, J.D., I'll forget every stupid thing you ever did if you just end it all. Right now.

No, I wasn't celebrating too hard not to blog yesterday

2006-11-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I was writing a nice, long post and my laptop overheated. I lost everything. I was so frustrated that I said screw it, do it tomorrow. So, sorry for the lack of blogging the day after the elections.

The Secretary of State's website was updated this afternoon, but the numbers are all still the same from yesterday:

Mitchell- 71,077 (50.5%)
Hayworth- 65,122 (46.2%)
Severin- 4,620 (3.3%)

Harry Mitchell is our new Congressman! J.D. has not yet conceded and Harry has not yet declared victory because a number of votes are still uncounted. An estimated 258,000 votes are still uncounted as of yesterday in Maricopa County. Most of them are absentee, early voting, and provisional ballots. Let's say a fifth of those are from CD-5. Hayworth would have to get an overwhelming majority of those to close Harry's ~6,000 vote gap. It's not going to happen.

I don't think J.D. is being a sore-loser or a crybaby for wanting every vote counted. Put yourself in his shoes. Five or so months ago, he was safe, despite DCCC internal polling and Harry's fundraising numbers. That was the conventional wisdom. A Democrat would not be able to win in this Republican-leaning district that is worried about immigration issues. The CW was dead wrong and J.D. was thoroughly trounced on Tuesday. I can't wait until the precinct break-down is out because those numbers are going to be interesting. J.D. now finds himself a loser and wants to hold on to that last shred of hope he can eek out a victory. Let him have that tiny bit of hope, because in a few months we'll see him on FOX News instead of in the halls of Congress.

Harry has been very classy. Tuesday night, one of the last updates had him almost 8,000 votes up, an incredible margin. No one thought this race would be decided by more than a few thousand (or even just a thousand) votes. Not only that, but he held the majority of votes most of the night. Harry has refused to declare victory and is waiting until every vote is counted. No one would bat an eye if he did declare victory.

The campaign party on election night was very fun and exciting. Harry's name was chanted over and over again. In his speech, you could tell how grateful he was at all the volunteers, donors, and supporters. It looked like he was about to burst with happiness. Even his wife Marianne got a chant. The room was estatic as results came in and one of the biggest applauds came when CNN reported Allen's lead in Virginia was gone and Webb was on top. Before that point, we all felt that we couldn't take the Senate. It was good to meet Geo from Precinct 134 at the party, and I feel bad for missing so many more of my fellow bloggers. That's what happens when, I guess, when I'm in a corner live-blogging.

So, now we are required to discuss the future of CD-5. No doubt, Harry will be a great Congressman and I think he'll win over many others who voted for Hayworth or Severin. Who will the GOP field against him in 2008? Conservatives over at the Sonoran Alliance blog have floated Michele Reagan as a possible candidate. She is the current State Representative from LD-8 in Scottsdale. From what I hear, she is pretty moderate like Carolyn Allen, who is also a possible candidate. John Huppenthal, conservative State Senator from the Chandler/Ahwatukee area, I think, is a possible contender to balance Reagan's or Allen's moderate positions.

Too early to speculate? Yeah, probably, let's just enjoy Harry Mitchell being our new Congressman.

I should also open discussion to the future of this blog. Obviously, I started this blog to cover the race in the district, but the race is over for the next year and a half or so, what should I focus on?

This is a post-election open thread! GO!

Last Update

2006-11-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

With 94.8% reporting:

Hayworth- 44701 (44.3%)
Mitchell- 52663 (52.2%)
Severin- 3493 (3.5%)

I'm too excited to keep blogging. Even if Hayworth gets all of that last 5.2%, he'll lose. Harry Mitchell is our new Congressmen. Congrats, everyone, it was a hard-fought victory.

Now, time to celebrate, I'll be back tomorrow with total results and commentary. Good night!

Update #4

2006-11-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

With 88.4% reporting:

Hayworth- 42075 (44.5%)
Mitchell- 49260 (52.1%)
Severin- 3242 (3.4%)

Another Update

2006-11-07T20:06:00.000-08:00

With 68% reporting:

Hayworth- 32962 (44.6%)
Mitchell- 38,504 (52.1%)
Severin - 2425 (3.3%)

This is awesome.

Update:

With 78% reporting:

Hayworth- 38283 (52%)
Mitchell- 44523 (44.7%)
Severin- 2814 (3.3%)

Update #2

2006-11-07T19:29:00.000-08:00

New numbers from the County Recorder

34% precincts reporting

Hayworth- 18498
Mitchell- 21108
Severin- 1241

So far so good!

Waiting at Mission Palms

2006-11-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

Results should be coming any time now. I'm at the Mitchell/Ableser/Schapira campaign party at the Mission Palms in downtown Tempe. The County Recorder's website has some early votes already counted. The format for the site sucks and it's taking forever. This waiting thing sucks.

County Recorder Early Voting Totals:

Hayworth- 3537
Mitchell- 3241
Severin- 166

This is good news so far, Mitchell is very close behind in early voting totals. I heard turnout in Tempe was huge, that's going to help a lot.

More updates very soon!

Polls will be closing soon

2006-11-07T17:28:00.000-08:00

Barring anything from happening, the polls will close at seven. Results should come in about an hour or so after, maybe sooner, maybe later. If the race is very, very, very close, then we won't have a winner tonight. It will be close, but no one knows if it's going to be that close.

At seven, I'll be at the Volunteer Appreciation Party at the Mission Palms Hotel in downtown Tempe with David Schapira, Ed Ableser, and Harry Mitchell. I'll live-blog from there. Don't start sweating bullets yet.

Polls Close in Seven Hours!

2006-11-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

Any last ditch efforts, now is the time to help get-out-the-vote! Get out there, people!

I'm currently at the Tempe Field Office, live-blogging. I'll be here all day, so if you come in, say hello. I'm the tall guy with the long blonde hair. I'll put up results the second I see them, plus any numbers I get throughout the day.

Some election day fun:

Tomorrow

2006-11-06T21:55:00.000-08:00

If you haven't voted early or by mail, well, there is an election tomorrow. Don't forget.

If you want to help with the Get-Out-The-Vote, there are plenty of opportunities. Come by the Democratic Field Office in Tempe. There will be phone-banking all day and numerous opportunities to get out and make sure everyone has voted. The field office is located at the southwest corner of Mill Ave. and Ash St. in Tempe. It's behind the tattoo parlour and pizza shop, has all the Democratic signs, can't miss it.

Polling has been looking great for Democrats, and it's been looking great for Harry Mitchell. He definitely has the momentum coming into this race. Hayworth's camp passed on releasing their internal numbers after Harry's showed him down by two points. It's all ground-game now. Come out and help with the GOTV effort, get your friends and family to vote, and vote yourself.

I'm not any good at predicting the future and I feel that I jinx too many things as it is, so I'll abstain from making any predictions. The race could easily go either way. One thing for sure is that it will be close. Very close.

I'll be live-blogging from either the field office or the Wyndam hotel in Tempe where the election night party is going to be. Not sure exactly where yet. Other than a test I have to take in the morning tomorrow, I'll be at the field office all day. The results should come in after 9 PM or so.

Have a nice election day eve and lets cross our fingers for the best. Like I said, I'm no good at predictions, but I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a great day.

Bill Clinton at ASU Today!

2006-11-02T13:20:00.000-08:00

The former President is coming to ASU this afternoon to rally for Harry Mitchell, Jim Pederson, and Terry Goddard! This was a great surprise to many, including me. Clinton was scheduled for an event with Pederson in Tucson tonight and he's going to stop by the Valley to attend a get-out-the-vote rally. This is very exciting. I heard about it last night at 7:30 from a robo-call by the state party. I'm on campus in Tempe now, blogging from the library. There is a great feeling of anticipation on campus, and I mean everybody is talking about it. This is an amazing development for the Mitchell campaign.

A new SUSA poll (they've done three in the last two months!) shows Mitchell over Hayworth 48% to 46%. It's still within the margin of error and Geo points out some weird discrepancies. Either way, we know that this race is tight and we can only out-work the state Republican Party and the Hayworth camp if we want Mitchell to pull this one out. It'll be a nail-biter to the end, but we have the volunteers, Mitchell has the money, and now, we have President Clinton to rally the voters!

If you can come, and there are few good reasons not to, the rally will be at 3:30 at Arizona State University in Tempe. It will be at Hayden Lawn which is right next to the Memorial Union and above the Library at the center of campus. The event is free, but I'm expecting a lot of people to show, so come early if you can, stop by the Young Democrats' table and hang out (I'll be there in the Harry Mitchell shirt). There is a lot of space around the lawn, but optimal viewing is going to go fast. Come out and support Harry Mitchell and our other Democratic candidates!

Two Weeks

2006-10-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

Fourteen days is all we have, everybody. Two weeks, fourteen days, three hundred and thirty six hours (well, 320 now), and approx. 20,000 minutes to get this man elected:

Volunteer. Donate. Vote.

GoogleBomb Time

2006-10-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's GoogleBomb Time. Truth be told, I'm not 100% sure what GoogleBombing is, but it seems like something that can make a difference. Chris Bowers at MyDD has the run-down on the what and why. Basically, it's getting the articles we want to be the first thing people see when they Google a specific term. This has the right-wing blogosphere scared, so that alone is a reason to do this.

The specific article concerning J.D. Hayworth we are GoogleBombing is the Arizona Republic piece on the shenanigans of J.D.'s camp at Scottsdale Temple Beth Israel last week.

If you have been living under a rock and don't know what happened at Temple Beth Israel last week, then the answers are a click away.

And here, I drop the G-Bomb:

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl
--AZ-01: Rick Renzi
--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth
--CA-04: John Doolittle
--CA-11: Richard Pombo
--CA-50: Brian Bilbray
--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave
--CO-05: Doug Lamborn
--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell
--CT-04: Christopher Shays
--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan
--FL-16: Joe Negron
--FL-22: Clay Shaw
--ID-01: Bill Sali
--IL-06: Peter Roskam
--IL-10: Mark Kirk
--IL-14: Dennis Hastert
--IN-02: Chris Chocola
--IN-08: John Hostettler
--IA-01: Mike Whalen
--KS-02: Jim Ryun
--KY-03: Anne Northup
--KY-04: Geoff Davis
--MD-Sen: Michael Steele
--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht
--MN-06: Michele Bachmann
--MO-Sen: Jim Talent
--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns
--NV-03: Jon Porter
--NH-02: Charlie Bass
--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson
--NM-01: Heather Wilson
--NY-03: Peter King
--NY-20: John Sweeney
--NY-26: Tom Reynolds
--NY-29: Randy Kuhl
--NC-08: Robin Hayes
--NC-11: Charles Taylor
--OH-01: Steve Chabot
--OH-02: Jean Schmidt
--OH-15: Deborah Pryce
--OH-18: Joy Padgett
--PA-04: Melissa Hart
--PA-07: Curt Weldon
--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick
--PA-10: Don Sherwood
--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
--TN-Sen: Bob Corker
--VA-Sen: George Allen
--VA-10: Frank Wolf
--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
--WA-08: Dave Reichert

SUSA: Harry Within MoE!

2006-10-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

A new SUSA poll is out!

10/13-15; 509 Likely Voters; MoE +/- 4.4%

Hayworth: 48
Mitchell: 45
Severin: 5
Undecided: 2

This is amazing. J.D. has given this all he got, and it's getting him no where. He has tried bringing up "dirt" on Harry from the 1980s. That didn't work. Then he has hit Harry on immigration with threats of amnesty or giving illegal immigrants Social Security benefits. That hasn't worked. Expect J.D. to get even more vicious with his attacks and expect lies and spin.

This is about ground game now. I cannot stress this enough:

Volunteer.

Reserve election day to help Harry GOTV. Go canvassing on the weekends and even if you have an hour, stop by his HQ and phonebank.

This isn't in the bag, yet, but there is no way Hayworth is going to gain any more ground. This poll indicates that Republican turnout will not be as high as past elections. J.D. has already pissed off some in his anti-immigrant base by rescinding his Pearce endorsement. Now, let's get those voters out and hopefully by December, J.D. will be looking for a new sportscaster job.

Other news:

- Geo covers Radar's "100 Dumbest Congressmen," with J.D. coming in at #4. Yeah, #4. We are represented by the fourth dumbest man in Congress. Geo, the nice guy that he is, says J.D. isn't dumb, he's "critically insight-challenged." It's well worth the read.

- FactCheck.org has refuted J.D.'s assertation that Harry's immigration plan (the same as McCain's, Flake's, Kolbe's, and Bush's) will give Social Security benefits to illegal aliens.

- Craig has all the details about tonight's CD-5 candidate forum.

- Harry's website reports he has received the Rural/Metro endorsement.

Have a good Tuesday evening, everybody!

The DCCC Isn't Going Anywhere

2006-10-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

There has been a flurry of reports in the right-wing blogosphere that the DCCC is pulling out of CD-5. As Tedski reports, nothing can be further from the truth:

"He was very excited about Ellen Simon, and I said, well, good, since the D-Trip seems to have abandoned Harry Mitchell.

'What? What are you talking about?'

I told him that I had read on some conservative blogs about the DCCC pulling out of Mitchell's race. He said that no such thing has happened, that DCCC chair Rahm Emanuel visited the district just this week.

Apparently, this rumor started when the existing ad buy had to be rescheduled to start earlier. This meant that some later ads were cancelled. The D-Trip is still planning on unloading $1.7 million on this race, and their polling still shows Mitchell even or sligtly ahead of J. D. Hayworth."

(emphasis mine)

That's not a small chunk of change. I'd love to see the DCCC's polling on the race. Perhaps the unfounded mystery poll (with Harry down by four) was a Harry internal. We know the poll with Harry up was initiated by the DCCC.

Also, Craig at Random Musings has the details on this past quarter's fundraising totals. Harry outraised J.D. in total individual donations and the number of individual donors. This is a grassroots campaign, no doubt about it. I'll do some research into the PAC's that donated to J.D., giving him the $161K advantage over Harry in the quarter. It seems obvious that only corporate and radical interests want J.D. in Congress. The people want Harry Mitchell.

Donate. Volunteer. Spread the word. AND VOTE!!

Personal Note: I just moved into a new place in Tempe. I don't have internet access yet, but hopefully that will change soon, so bear with me if The Word seems like a ghost-town for the next week or so. I'll do my best to blog from school and sneak in a few minutes at work (like I'm doing now ;) ).

The Russell Pearce Scandal Spills into CD-5

2006-10-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

For those that don't already know, State Representative Russell Pearce of District in Mesa recently sent out an e-mail to supporters citing an article from the racist group, the National Alliance. Plugged In covers the whole crazy thing here, along with Pearce's apology.

Pearce is in hot water. First, it was supporting a revival of "Operation Wetback," and now it is forwarding racist, Neo-Nazi trash to his supporters. From what others have told me his district has a sizable Latino population. Sure Mesa is conservative, but this isn't shaping up to be a good year for any conservative. I have met his opponent, Tammie Pursley, and I think it's a race she can win.

The scandal has spilled into CD-5. On Tuesday, J.D. Hayworth rescinded his endorsement of Russell Pearce.

"Given the regrettable and disturbing nature of the email Russell Pearce circulated earlier this week, I cannot in good conscience lend my endorsement to his candidacy for State Representative. While Russell has issued an apology for his emails, I nonetheless will not be associated with any communication that contains anti-Semetic remarks."

(emphasis mine)

Good for J.D., but this press release wasn't thought through very well, huh?

We all remember J.D.'s reference in his book to Henry Ford and "Americanization" and the fallout from that. The Arizona Jewish community was not very happy and the AZ blogosphere was abuzz with talk of J.D. and his choice of heros. So, here J.D. gets an opportunity to publicly wash his hands. After all, instead of saying he wasn't going to be associated with racist remarks, or neo-Nazi remarks, he said there would be no association with anti-Semitic remarks.

By no means do I think this implies J.D. was perfectly okay with all the other crap on that website or in Pearce's article. But that press release was deliberate in its wording. J.D. is out to do anything and say anything to get re-elected. Using this scandal to throw off any anti-Semitic accusations is par for the course.

What I find more intriguing is the reaction amongst die-hard conservatives. They are calling him a coward for rescinding his endorsement. A traitor. A filthy opportunist. And these were people that were going to or would vote for J.D. Hayworth.

Bob Haran, a regular poster at Plugged In had this to say (all emphasis below mine):

Let's look at how J.D. Hayworth has conducted himself in this campaign. He was falsely accused of being anti-Semitic and I defended him on these pages because I believed then and still do, believe that J.D. Hayworth is not anti-Semitic. However, when Russell Pearce forwards an E-mail without completely reading it and it turns out to have anti-Semitic trash in it and the wolfs come after Pearce, ready to brand him, unjustly, with the scarlet letter of anti-Semitism, what is J.D. Hayworth's response. Well, J.D. sees it as the perfect opportunity to get himself out from under the anti-Semite cloud by withdrawing his support for someone else that has been falsely accused of anti-Semitism.

Well, Mr. Hayworth, you succeeded in proving to the world that you're not a racist or anti-Semite, the truth, everyone, except the idiot's in Harry Mitchell's camp, already knew you were to smart to be a racist or anti-Semite, and no matter what you say or do, they're going to keep calling you those names, they're not going to let the truth get in the way. However, by your abandonment of someone else that is also being falsely made to look like an anti-Semite, you show your true character, you're a coward. When you were being falsely accused of anti-Semitism, I don't remember anyone withdrawing their support for you. People stood by you because they knew the accusation to be false, but when a similar tactic, I call it the new McCarthyism, is used against someone else, your quick to take advantage of the situation for your own benefit.

Well, Mr. Hayworth, excuse me if I withdraw my support for your re-election, not that I'm supported Harry Mitchell, the mans a worthless liar, but your a worthless coward, and if I lived in CD 5, I wouldn't vote for either one of you. None of the Above would be the best choice in CD 5.

Bob Haran,
Independent Conservative"

Another conservative named John2393 also weighed in:

"I was going to vote for Jd, but now I will not. At least Peacre stood up for what he believe and the US Citizens. I am sorry that JD wasn't un able stand up for what he has been saying.

Scott who been posting on this board was right, and I was wrong for disagreeing with him.

Pearce is a real man and no matter what it cost him, he did not back down from his belief. I can be proud of a man like him. He is the type of person who we need in DC for us. Not afraid to hurt some people felling to tell the truth.

JD you have not been honest and you could of been re-elected. Step away from Pearce for it might cost you a vote, but how many did it cost you to walk away."

Poster 206isCancer at Arizona Congress Watch:

This is ridiculous! JD should be absolutely ashamed of himself. Russell Pearce is one of Arizona’s best Representatives. He’s one of the few who really cares about the Constitution. If a man profusely apologizes for something, then we have this little thing called forgiveness. It is pitiful that Republicans continue their “Throw their own overboard” mentality. Russell Pearce is a truly decent American, and he has always put himself out there with strong legislation that protects Arizona. So, the Libs have always wanted to throw him overboard any chance that they get. Too bad, they don’t realize how popular Russell Pearce is in his home Legislative District, and that the more the Libs attack him, the more his supporters will rally around him. Hayworth, once again, shows that he’s a complete blowhard. He loves to try to talk the Conservative talk, but he does not walk the Conservative walk. Remember that JD was opposed to Proposition 200 in 2004 (just like everybody else on the Republican side) except Randy Pullen, Randy Graf, and Russell Pearce. So, what do you expect? JD’s campaign is in an absolute tailspin right now. There is a good chance at this point that JD could lose to some really old dude, and that would suck for Republicans. But it’s JD’s own fault for not putting his money where his mouth is."

Russell Pearce citing neo-Nazis? Disgusting. Hayworth denouncing Pearce for it? Upstanding. Hayworth's base staying home in November because of it? Priceless.

Harry Leads in New Internal Poll!

2006-10-05T20:25:00.000-07:00

The Mitchell camp has released an internal poll paid for by the DCCC.

Grove Insights: 400 Likely Voters, +/- 4.1% MoE

Mitchell: 40
Hayworth: 37
Undecided/Third Party Candidates: 23

I heard rumors about a Mitchell internal poll that had him down by four. Were the rumors wrong, lost in translation, or did the campaign conduct another poll? I doubt the latter is true.

The released poll was first announced in Time magazine, but there were no details. This internal is good news. It shows Hayworth is still weak and Harry has good traction amongst his base. I bet a lot of those undecideds are independents or moderate Republicans that will pull for Harry come November.

Polling has been all over the place with this campaign. The SUSA poll and Hayworth's own NRCC-backed internal were close in range, but SUSA oversampled Republicans and the details were a bit sketchy at best. I would bet that one more poll will be done by the first week of November. Possibly ASU/KAET.

J.D. In the Cross-hairs

2006-10-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

Espresso Pundit posted the following on his blog yesterday:

Harry to JD: Make My Day

Here's a still shot of an image that briefly flashes across the screen in Harry Mitchell's latest commercial. The subliminal message is obvious.

There is a thin line between legitimate campaign imagery and hate speech. Placing your opponent's head in the crosshairs of a sniper rifle crosses that line.

They don't call him Dirty Harry for nothing.

*end*

Okay, so J.D.'s head is in the center of crosshairs. Espresso Pundit assumes sniper rifle, the first thing I thought when I saw it was camera, but whatever. The message is clear: J.D. Hayworth is targetted for his House seat.

Espresso Pundit calls it hate speech. A bit of a stretch, but I find it funny that the term "hate speech" is used to defend a guy that is just full of it. Oh, J.D. knows how to mask his rhetoric, behind his book or behind the Minutemen or Bikers for the Border. But when someone is using the word "invasion" to describe thousands of illegal aliens coming here to work... then they shouldn't be surprised to find themselves in the crosshairs of defeat.

Less Than Five Weeks To Go...

2006-10-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

The November elections are a little more than a month away and I've been slacking. At least when it comes to blogging. Between going to work and school, studying and volunteering, and what little social life I have, that time left over is when all you want to do is sleep. But now is not the time! I apologize for the two week lapse in updates, it won't happen again, especially as we get down to the wire.

But what a two weeks it has been! The American public is absolutely sour about Iraq. The country is bursting at the seams. Bush currently holds a 61% disapproval rating on Iraq. A large majority of Americans just aren't eating up Bush's crap that Iraq is a central front to the war on terror. It is becoming widely recognized that Iraq is making us less safe.

Bob Woodward has released a new book and I'm going to be worried when this guy dies. Over the course of thirty years, Woodward has been at the top of investigative reporting and his work led to the downfall of one of the most corrupt politicians in our history. Now, he's working on his second downfall in the making. New revelations about what the Bush Administration knew before 9.11.2001 and their subsequent responses have broken through in the mainstream media. It seems that it wasn't Clinton's fault after all... I find it ironic that ABC has done most of the work on the Foley scandal thus far, only a couple of weeks after the GOP-fellate-fest that was "The Path to 9.11".

And, of course, the Foley Scandal. We all know the story: Foley preys on underage male pages. House GOP Leadership finds out. Does nothing. Acts to preserve a seat rather than preserve the safety of children in their charge. Then lies about it.

Make no mistake about it: This scandal will affect every single House race in this election. I would bet most Republican voters are re-thinking their options for November. Some of the most avid believers in the modern GOP cause will want to sit this one out. They won't vote for Democrats, but they sure will sit on their hands on Nov. 7 and pout over their loss.

The rank-and-file Republicans have lost their Party. This is Arizona, a fairly conservative state. I know many Republicans. They are good people, smart people, and most have principled positions. They may disagree with Democrats or be outright fearful of us, but they don't stand for covering up the actions of child predators in the halls of Congress. The House is for Democrats to lose.

What does this mean for J.D. Hayworth?

Well, he's probably afraid that some of his hardcore GOP base will be turned-off completely by the Foley Scandal and sit this one out. He should be worried that Harry Mitchell will gain GOP and more indy votes for demanding accountability and arguing for new leadership (both within the GOP pre-election and an elected Democratic leadership post-election). He should be worried that immigration is taking a back-seat (hell, immigration is in the trunk) to Iraq and the Foley scandal.

The events of the past two weeks have been a gift to Democrats, every Democrat, including Harry Mitchell. It is important that Harry get his message of new, honest leadership out there. So canvass, phone bank, and donate. Talk to your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family. It is also important that Harry demands that J.D. support a full investigation and call for the resignation of Dennis Hastert. So call J.D.'s office and tell him to do just that. When he doesn't (and he won't), that will be Harry's cue to pounce.

This is ours, guys. Ours to take. Let's not let this one slip away.

Note: In my absence there has been plenty to read around the blogosphere. Craig at Random Musings has been keeping very busy and every post is well worth the read. Geo at Precinct 134 is back and has a new piece. Check out AZ Netroots, where Tim O has been doing some blogging on polling and other topics. And if you want a full re-cap on news and information, then I suggest dropping by AZ Congress Watch and Plugged In. No worries!

New SUSA Poll: Hayworth up by 12

2006-09-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

A new SurveyUSA poll has J.D. Hayworth leading Harry Mitchell by 12 points.

Hayworth: 52%
Mitchell: 40%
Severin: 4%
Undecided: 4%

590 Likely Voters, MoE 4.1%

As Craig at Random Musings has pointed out, the GOP holds a 17% advantage in registered voters. It is encouraging to see Harry cutting into that since only 84% of Republicans are planning on voting for J.D.

However, I find this poll discouraging. The last SUSA poll had Hayworth at 50% with only a five point lead. And Harry is pulling in only 83% of Democrats.

This race is still winnable. The poll proves that Hayworth is not that popular in the district. He has been hovering around 50% for several months now and that is never good for an incumbent. Harry and the campaign have been walking almost everyday in Scottsdale and Tempe. Driving through Tempe neighborhoods, you can see that people are excited for Mitchell with lawn signs all over the place and no love for J.D. in sight.

I think this race will tighten up once the DCCC puts out the ad buy and Harry gets his message out to all the channel surfers. At this point, volunteers are crucial. Get out there and do some walking. Reserve just an hour to do some phone-banking. And if you can't volunteer, contribute.

Go Harry!

Update: Daily Kos poster RBH has the party ID breakdown of the SUSA poll:

52R/28D/19I

AZ-05 actually breaks like this: 44R/28D/27I

I agree with RBH. They oversampled Republicans and this race is closer than it looks. I withdraw my "discourging" remark.

GIVE 'EM HELL, HARRY!!

Update #2: I was looking over the details of this SUSA poll and I'm shocked. Generation Y voters break for J.D. 76%. Harry's support from women is in the low 40's. Hayworth is winning the Hispanic vote! Either something is seriously wrong with this poll or I just don't get it. Can someone with more knowledge on polls and statistics help us out?

Truth Watch

2006-09-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

The Mitchell campaign has launched TruthWatch, a website dedicated to calling J.D. out on his lies and refuting them with facts and reality (something Republicans just can't deal with). Check on it frequently since J.D. isn't exactly habitual when it comes to telling the truth. The exact opposite can be said about his dishonesty.

Harry and J.D. were at a candidate forum today, along with gubernatorial candidates and others. I wasn't able to attend, but I have some friends in the Young Democrats who did. I will get all the juicy details as soon as I can.

Check Harry's website for future campaign events, there are a bunch planned. They are doing canvassing almost every day during the week and phone-banking as well. Get out there, only 50+ days until the election!

Primary Results

2006-09-12T23:50:00.000-07:00

The numbers don't really give us much to go on since both candidates were uncontested. Democratic turnout around the state seems low to me (this is speculation, I don't have any stats and I don't expect that really to be the case in CD-8). Then again, the only statewide Democratic primary was for the School Superintendent job (with Jason Williams upsetting Slade Mead). Over a quarter of a million Republicans voted to nominate a gubernatorial candidate so their numbers were much larger this primary than Democrats. Therefore, I wouldn't worry about fears that Mitchell's base is much smaller than J.D.'s. Hayworth's people came out today to choose a governor.

So, here are the numbers:

Hayworth: 30,376

Mitchell: 18,218

Unrelated-to-CD-05-Note: I also wanted to add that Ed Ableser and David Schapira won the primary for District 17 State House race. Ed is a great guy, I have walked for him twice and he will continue to serve us well in the Legislature. I don't know much about Schapira. I was rooting for Rhett Wilson (no relation) and his loss was a disappointment. Rhett was a great candidate who was actively engaged with people at ASU and knew the troubles students go through with tuition, gas prices, and relations with Tempe (especially for renters and commuters). I still see a bright future for him in Arizona politics.

Other than that, Len Munsil will be the next unsuccessful GOP nominee for the governor's seat and Gabrielle Giffords will be CD-08's next Congresswoman.

I'm off to bed, happy Primary night everyone!

Primary Day is Tomorrow!

2006-09-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to vote!

This is an open thread.

More From Team Red-Handed

2006-09-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

Carolyn from MoveOn sent me another YouTube movie Team Red-Handed made. J.D. spoke at a Bikers Against Illegal Immigration rally (I guess the biker vote is quite a constituency) and the Team was out in full force. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCBHdlT2xvw

Note: I have been trying to configure my YouTube account so I can put the videos directly on the blog. So far, it has been giving me grief. Check back in a few days and I should have the problem fixed then.

Later!

"I'm Not A Rubberstamp"

2006-09-07T18:39:00.000-07:00

J.D. uttered those words at the close of last night's debate. "I'm not a rubberstamp, I'm a representative. [...] I will make the difference in Washington for the better."

During the debate, Hayworth made it no secret that he strongly disagrees with the President on immigration. He despises Bush's position. Among Republicans, he is an extremist on immigration, joining the likes of Tom Tancredo and Pat Buchanan. Yet to J.D., immigration is all that matters. Putting a stop to illegal and legal immigration is his self-described goal in Congress.

I guess to Representative Hayworth that means he's not a Bush Rubberstamp. No, to him he is a rebel because on one issue he is so far to the right. As the Mitchell camp pointed out last week, it is no surprise the GOP is running from hardliners like J.D. The Republican Party even went so far to endorse a candidate in a competitive primary so the immigration extremist (Graf) *hopefully* won't win. I love seeing the Republicans so conflicted that they would flip the bird to a sizable portion of their anti-brown people base in order to retain a Congressional seat. Ah, politics in an election year!

So back to Hayworth saying he is not a rubberstamp. Looking over his record, I find it hard to believe J.D. when he says he is not a rubberstamp. What major Bush legislation did he oppose? In the first minute of the debate he touted his support and votes for the Medicare Part D plan and No Child Left Behind. Two huge pieces of Bush legislation that are failures. No Child Left Behind is now an oxymoron, an unfunded one at that! The Medicare Part D plan is confusing, overly bureaucratic, and the legislation was one step towards the death of Medicare.

It looks like J.D. likes to point to the P.R. pieces the Bush Administration shot through Congress, failed to fund properly, and then touted as accomplishments. He is proud he put his vote behind those bills. He is proud of being a rubberstamp.

But he's not a rubberstamp because he's the immigration rebel. It's that one issue that seperates J.D. from other Bush Rubberstamps. Let us all be thankful that J.D. is on the wrong side of Bush on this one.

The Great Debate

2006-09-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it wasn't all that great. The debate was not held in front of an audience and was kept to a short 20 minutes. Only three subjects were tackled by the candidates: immigration, Iraq, and stem cell research. Honestly, I was expecting an exciting, lively debate. What I saw was Harry Mitchell and J.D. Hayworth basically quoting and trading past press release barbs.

And that's not really that big of a deal. The debate was held in front of no audience and aired on PBS so most voters of District 5 didn't see it and the news coverage will echo previous articles. There was no precedent for this debate and it was J.D.'s first in almost a decade.

I would say, however, that the framing of the debate and its questions favored Hayworth. Hayworth, being a former news commentator, was comfortable and relatively at ease without a live audience and spoke directly to the camera most of the time. The questions were not hard-hitting and the ethics question never came up (which I was sad to see, Harry definitely should have mentioned J.D.'s ties to Abramoff). Others have already mentioned that Harry's experience in politics put him amongst people and persuading live bodies. Harry might have been a bit nervous going up against a 12-year Congressional incumbent, but he held his own quite well.

Harry slammed J.D. for getting nothing done in Congress for 12 years and for allowing illegal immigration to get worse. He reminded voters that Hayworth's positions are out of the mainstream, even in his own party. J.D. kept to his usual rhetoric, which sounds good and appealing to the average voter. He stumped Mitchell by asking what country had a working guest-worker program (to which Harry didn't have an answer, only "it can work").

On Iraq, Mitchell denied support for a timetable for withdrawal. Instead, he advocated for a withdrawal plan based on accomplishments. He repeatedly said we need to work with the President and the military, but also that he would help keep the Administration accountable. I think Harry might be of the idea that President Bush is still popular in the district (something I doubt very, very much). Still, he position was better than Hayworth's. J.D.'s response basically boiled down to: we can't get out or the terrorists will swoop in and take over. He is obviously disconnected from reality and the facts in Iraq. Most of the violence there now is sectarian, not the result of the Sunni-insurgent attacks (although American lives continued to be lost fighting this insurgency).

The last section of the debate focused on stem cell research. No contest, Mitchell whooped on J.D. The Congressman falsely insinuated that adult stem cells were as good as embryonic. Talk to a biologist, J.D. He also touted "snowflake babies." Mitchell put the hammer down: "without stem cell research, most of those embryos or 'snowflake babies' would be destroyed anyway." That's the truth of it. When Bush vetoed stem cell research, he and those Republicans that agreed (like J.D.) basically said that destroying embryos for life-saving research was bad, but destroying them as medical waste was not.

I'll post more, but I have to get back to work. Later.

Harry Mitchell vs. J.D. Hayworth: The First Debate

2006-09-02T21:05:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday J.D. Hayworth and Harry Mitchell squared off in a taped debate. I heard about it while phone-banking at the Tempe Democratic office this afternoon. The debate will be aired sometime this coming week on either PBS (Channel 8) or Channel 11. There was no audience. I'm guessing it was kept to the candidates and the moderator. When I find out when it will air, I will post it.

Update: I need to check the Horizon schedule from now on. The J.D. Hayworth and Harry Mitchell debate will be aired on Wednesday, September 6, at 7:00 P.M. on Channel 8. I'll definitely tune in. If anyone has the ability to YouTube this, please do!

Wednesday News Roundup

2006-08-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

Craig over at Random Musings continues to impress me. He has an awesome piece on J.D.'s record concerning prescription drugs and Medicare Part D. It breaks down J.D.'s press release attacking Harry Mitchell for "lies and distortions." As Craig clearly points out, it is J.D. doing the lying and distorting.

MoveOn members held another protest against J.D. "Red-Handed" Hayworth. Ghostgrrl has all the details and pictures. They did excellent work and got coverage from two Valley news stations.

Lofty Donkey posted a YouTube video that was floated around Kos and other blogs. "This video really highlights why we need to get rid of JD Hayworth and why we need Harry Mitchell in Congress." Watch it. Pass it on. Support Harry.

Finally, the Mitchell campaign's latest press release calls J.D. out... on everything.

Young Voter Turnout and the AZ-05 Race

2006-08-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I joined my Young Dem friends at the Young Democrats of Arizona Organizing Convention. We discussed youth voter turnout in past elections and trends for this year. If 2004 was any indication, this year we should expect a big turnout for young people (ages 18-3o). There were nearly 4.6 million new young voters last cycle, close to a 10% increase from 2002. Young voters also backed Kerry over Bush, 54% to 44%.

The main focus of the convention was on getting young people out to vote. Historically, the conventional wisdom has been that young people are lazy and apathetic. Working with the people at the Convention, I know that the CW is dead wrong. I was very encouraged by the number of dedicated young people who participated at the Convention. We are not a group of kids obsessed with iPods and Laguna Beach. We are dead serious about politics and we want to win. Very badly.

Young people care about what is going on in the world. I don't think lazy or apathetic is a fair label for my generation. However, I will admit that we can be a cynical and skeptical bunch. That's what turns most young people off, I think. They see a system full of corruption and dirty dealings, run by schmucks. And, unfortunately, they think that corruption and incompetance pervades both parties. As one ASU student said to me the other day, "They are all the same, the system can't continue without corruption and corrupt bastards." The only way for that to change is to get out and vote. Corrupt bastards like J.D. Hayworth don't need to be there nor do they deserve to represent us. People listen to their peers, and if enough people scream "VOTE!", the more people will vote.

I learned that statistically it usually takes seven times for a voter to hear from a campaign or group to be motivated enough to not only vote, but support your candidate or goal. That is a lot of phone-banking, a lot of canvassing, and a lot of hard work. It can be done, and I know from working with the Young Democrats that there is a group of hard working activists that will do everything they can to get those young voters to the polls.

Young voters will be instrumental for Harry Mitchell in CD 5. And students couldn't ask for a better candidate in Harry. For J.D. Hayworth, who voted for slashed education budgets, to criticize Harry Mitchell of not being a friend to students, young people, and children, he ought to do better than cite the Goldwater Institute's report cards. There is no need to go over Harry's education record again. He will be there for young people, especially students. Period. All of J.D.'s blowhardiness cannot undo 30 years of work and principle.

The youth vote helped Janet Napolitano into the governor's seat. They helped John Kerry take District 17 in Tempe by almost nine points. They can help Harry Mitchell in to Congress.

If you're a Democrat under 35, get involved with your local Young Dems chapter. They are constantly busy with phone-banking and canvassing. And, of course, you can directly help Harry Mitchell and other local candidates. The important thing is that in the two months before the election we reach as many people as possible. And remember, we have to reach them all seven times. Get out there, help drive up the vote, talk to friends and family. You know the drill.

Harry Mitchell for Congress
Donate Here
Volunteer Here

Harry Fires Back!

2006-08-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

The press release war between Hayworth and Harry Mitchell continues today with Harry telling J.D. to get with the frickin' times.

Hayworth's campaign issued a press release that claimed, "Even after two
decades Harry Mitchell still refuses to do the right thing by returning the
tainted cash associated with [Charles] Keating."

Hayworth failed to mention that 16 years ago,
then-Tempe Mayor Mitchell donated $2,500 representing all contributions to the
Mitchell for Mayor campaign from Keating, his family and his
representatives to the Valley
of the Sun United Way.

Ironically, the Hayworth campaign asked, "Why can't Hypocrite Harry do
the right thing and donate his Keating contributions to charity?"

Mitchell's donation to the United Way took place two years before
Keating was convicted of fraud, racketeering and conspiracy charges.

J.D. and company have been digging a tunnel to China trying to find dirt on Harry Mitchell. Then when they find some garbage, as insignificant or minor as can be, they distort it and throw it back at Harry like a ten-year old with a temper tantrum.

Congratulations, J.D. In the five months since Harry Mitchell has entered the race you have yet to campaign on your record. And I don't blame you. If I went to the moderate voters of District Five with votes against stem-cell research and a minimum wage increase, I'd expect a backlash. Even J.D.'s harsh rhetoric on immigration is falling on deaf ears. Arizonans want a sensible, logical solution to immigration. Building a fence and supporting the prosecution of Good Samaritans is not what the people are looking for. Of course when a pollster asks if there should be a fence on the border, most people will say yes. If asked if that was an adequate solution to the thousands of people coming to our country to work illegally, I'd guess a lot would say no.

There are less than 100 days until Election Day. Harry Mitchell has taken the gloves off when it comes to ethics. He's got Hayworth digging up newspaper clippings from the late 80s and denying the amount of contributions from Abramoff (even though he denied the numbers his own office released). Ethics will be important this November, but I would like Harry to really take it to Hayworth on one issue: Iraq.

The War is front and center in our national debate. Everyday it becomes increasingly unpopular. America wants a change of course. If we have heeded the lessons of the Lamont/Lieberman primary, we know that those who support Bush's plan in Iraq are in deep shit. Hayworth has been a Bush enabler on Iraq since the beginning.

I believe Harry can greatly help his chances by publicly endorsing Lamont, supporting the Murtha Plan or a similar idea (be it from Feingold, Kerry, Levin, etc.), and slamming Hayworth for supporting the failed "stay the course" strategy.

Americans don't buy it anymore, Arizonans don't buy it anymore, and it is high time that J.D. be kicked out of Congress for selling a product that has led us to disaster.

Democrats Lead Congressional Ballot Poll!

2006-08-10T18:57:00.000-07:00

And it can only mean trouble for J.D. Hayworth.

From kos.

FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll. Aug. 8-9, 2006. N=900 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 3.

"Thinking ahead to this November's elections, if the congressional election were held today, would you vote for the Democratic candidate in your district or the Republican candidate in your district?" [7/11-7/12 results in parenthesis]

Democrat: 48 (42)
Republican: 30 (34)
Unsure: 22 (25)

As kos noted, this isn't just a generic ballot poll. FOX asked how people would vote in their own districts! Support for the Republican Party is at a dismal 30%. That's what's left of the GOP and President Bush. A paltry 30%, whether it be their chances at re-election or Bush's approval rating.

Hayworth must be sweating bullets. His campaign team is digging more than Exxon for even the tiniest and most insignificant things they can distort and throw at Harry Mitchell. It really makes me want a district poll, especially after Lamont's win and in light of current events.

Wednesday Open Thread

2006-08-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

I received an e-mail from Carolyn at Buzzflash. They have a piece on J.D. and his connections with Big Oil, a close to $170,000 connection. A group of citizens united against J.D. and his corrupt policies protested outside a Hayworth fundraiser with big red foam hands. [Edit: I just saw on the YouTube summary that it was a MoveOn.org gathering. Go MoveOn!] Yes, J.D., you have been caught red-handed. They also YouTubed the protest, great vid, really cute. Check it out.

Craig has the run-down on the back and forth between Harry Mitchell and J.D. Hayworth concerning ethics. Craig points out that most of Hayworth's ammunition is more than twelve years old and very minor. Todd Sommers must have a lot of time to do opposition research at the library going through reels of microfilm. Well, he has more stomach than me, those things make me feel seasick. I prefer, you know, Google and the Internet. Stuff that is relevant within the past several years, rather than decades.

Last night, Ned Lamont became the new face of the people-powered progressive movement by beating Joe Lieberman. J.D. Hayworth is in big trouble if a Northeastern Democrat with the same positions is getting thrown out in a primary. I hope Harry publicly endorses Lamont. Let's not only make this election a referendum on Hayworth's ethics, his xenophobic immigration rhetoric, and his blowhardiness, but on Hayworth's unwavering support for the President and the disasterous debacle in Iraq.

I See the Signs Now

2006-08-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

Harry Mitchell's campaign has been putting up signs in Tempe and south Scottsdale for the past few weeks. It seems he is targetting the areas that would be the best bet for Democratic turnout.

I have a problem with that, though. I was driving through west Chandler and Ahwatukee this past week and I haven't seen any Mitchell signs. Ahwatukee might be leaning right, but west Chandler is up for grabs as it is mostly composed of new move-ins from all over the place. My friends who live and work in north Scottsdale said they see J.D. Hayworth signs, but no Harry Mitchell signs.

Harry's campaign has been doing a great job thus far. I would like to see more signs in heavily Republican areas, though. This will be our chance, the Democrats chance to re-align a huge portion of the electorate. Yeah, that's optimistic speculation, but I think it can happen. It won't happen if Democrats abandon whole swaths of their districts that lean Republican.

I don't think Harry will do that, though. He needs to get his name recognition up in Chandler, Scottsdale, and Fountain Hills. Harry is a pragmatic politician and the moderate voters of this district will vote for pragmatism. But first, they need to know who he is. I wish some polling was done on name recognition and favoribility ratings.

Driving through Tempe, one can't help but notice J.D.'s lame signs. "Please don't steal this sign, Harry"? You got to be kidding me. Are you running for Congress, J.D., or for fourth grade class president?

Then, J.D. releases a press release solely to brag about these signs. You think Todd Sommers would have something better up his sleeve. So, not only is Todd's brilliance good enough to come up with those snipes, but he then takes a step further and accuses Mitchell of stealing the snipes.

Given Mitchell's past sign stealing, for which he faced criminal charges, [Note: for which he was cleared] the new signs are helpful reminders meant to help Mitchell and his supporters fight the urge. They will be going up all around the fifth district. In a disappointing development, however, it has already been reported by the campaign's sign vendor that several of the snipes have been stolen.

"I have to hand it to the Mitchell camp and its supporters, they move pretty fast," said Hayworth spokesman Todd Sommers. "Maybe now we'll have to get snipes asking them not a steal our snipes."

[emphasis mine]

Let me see if I can put myself in their situation. They put up the signs and then attach the snipes. Oh, wow, they must think they are so clever! Then they realize how juvenile and cheap the trick is... not so clever after all. So, let's use an idiotic tactic and make stuff up about the opponent. Let's accuse Mitchell of stealing the snipes.

Excuse me while I use some eye drops... the act of rolling them over and over again can make them dry and tired.

When I was in Tempe, I noticed a few J.D. signs without the snipes. So, either the snipes were never there and Hayworth's team is lying. Or they were taken down by someone who was willing put themselves in legal jeopardy to actually help J.D. out.

Because that's what the person who took the snipes (if they were even taken) is really doing... saving J.D. from a lot of embarrassment.

Update: Some friends of mine and I went to Bartlett Lake to do some wakeboarding and tubing this morning. Damn, I'm sore. Going north on Pima from the 101 to about Thompson Peak Parkway, I saw at least six Harry Mitchell signs. Awesome.

Tuesday News Update

2006-07-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Mike from Blog for Arizona has a great piece on the money trails between Abramoff and Hayworth. Check it out and see how Hayworth and his wife have been living off of PAC contributions funneled by Abramoff.

AZCongressWatch has the round-up on all the latest campaign news.

Craig at Random Musings is now on J.D.'s radar. He was cited in Hayworth's latest lame press release attacking Mitchell for being for universal health care. Craig's blog doesn't really go into any details on Mitchell's plan, but it's nice to know we actually have a candidate who cares about the thousands of Arizonans without health coverage.

Mitchell Wins Arizona Police Association Endorsement!

2006-07-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

The Arizona Police Association, representing nearly 7,000 officers across the state, has endorsed Harry Mitchell. This is great news for Harry and will really carry some clout in this leans-Republican district.

From the APA's letter to Mitchell:

"It is our belief that you will bring the character and dedication necessary to improve the community and promote the ideals of effective law enforcement held by our members. We remember and appreciate all that you did for the men and women of the Tempe Officers Association."

"I'm very proud and humbled to have the support of our police officers," said Mitchell. "I've always made public safety a top priority, and I'm proud of my record of working with our law enforcement officers to make our neighborhoods safer."

You can view Harry's press release here.

Weekend Open Thread

2006-07-21T15:05:00.000-07:00

The weekend officially begins for me in one hour, but before then, one thing.

cmpaz over at Random Musings has the scoop on last night's LD-8 candidate forum. Harry Mitchell was a guest and spent some time answering questions. Must read article by cpmaz!

What are you doing to beat the heat this weekend? Staying inside comfortably in front of your computer? Going up north (or south, it's cooler down there, too)?

Thursday Afternoon Update

2006-07-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post this editorial from the Arizona Republic about Hayworth and his war against the New York Times. All the news that Rep. J.D. Hayworth deems to print. Good read.

cpmaz has the run-down on a LD-8 meeting tonight with Harry Mitchell and more candidates for the state legislature.

AZCongressWatch wraps up yesterdays's CD-5 news. J.D. Hayworth has been endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Business. No surprise there. And Harry Mitchell points out Ralph Reed's loss in the primary for Lt. Governor of Georgia. A sign that corruption is not the dead issue many have come to believe.

The Stem Cell Veto and Hayworth

2006-07-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

The House of Representatives took up Bush's veto of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Bill. As expected, the veto override failed, more than fifty votes short. cpmaz has been covering this over at Random Musings.

Take a look at the Roll Call vote. Notice a familiar Republican Arizona name amongst the Nay votes? Well, you would recognize five of them, as Kolbe was the only Republican to vote for the bill.

But only one name interests me: J.D. Hayworth.

AZ-05 is not a socially conservative district. Scottsdale, while heavily Republican, isn't a stronghold of religious radicals or evangelicals. If only some polling on stem cell research was done here in Arizona. I would expect overwhelming support! The scientific potential almost can't be measured.

So what's your excuse, J.D.? The blastocysts need your protection? Why don't you use your time to protect real people? What's your excuse?

"Conservatives want more live babies to make more dead soldiers."
-George Carlin

Hayworth Accuses Mitchell of Discrimination

2006-07-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

I'm sure most people have seen Hayworth's latest press release. In it, J.D. calls on Mitchell to apologize for past discrimination by the city of Tempe when Harry was mayor.

I only lived in Tempe while at the dorms at ASU. I didn't grow up there and I am not well versed in Tempe history or city politics. I hope to see more blogging about what Hayworth is accusing Mitchell of and I predict long nights of researching for me.

Right now, though, I have one point:

Where the hell does J.D. get off accusing Harry Mitchell of discrimination against Hispanics?

What does J.D. think his immigration stances are? Gift-baskets for Hispanic workers and families? No, they are hate-filled and full of angry rhetoric based on skin color and a devotion to Henry Ford's ridiculous philosophies.

Want to see someone who is anti-Hispanic? Look in the damn mirror, J.D.

Americanization: Hayworth's Creed

2006-07-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

I have to blog this before being done tonight.

From The Huffington Post :

"Americanization," Henry Ford, The Fascist Right And Arizona Republican Clod, Crook, & "Author," J.D. Hayworth
by Howie Klein
I don't know a lot about Harry Mitchell yet, other than he's the Arizona Democrat candidate challenging the crooked incumbent lunatic J.D Hayworth. If I lived in Tempe, Scottsdale or Phoenix's northeast suburbs I wouldn't hesitate for a mmoment to vote for Mitchell. Hayworth is a cut below your garden variety corrupt Republican rubber stamp, a true monstrosity and one of the most corrupt of the lot, purchased long ago by Jack Abramoff for something like $150,000, so not just a dirty whore, but a bargain basement dirty whore.
Beloved by right-wing propaganda agents like O'Reilly, Ingraham and Hannity (who "wrote" the intro to Hayworth's xenophobic book, WHATEVER IT TAKES), Hayworth defines rubber stamp Republican, although when Bush's ratings began to tank, he was the very first rat to desert the sinking ship, publicly telling his fearless leader to please stay away from AZ-05. He and the little wife have a real self-enrichment racket going for themselves ala Mr and Mrs DeLay, Mr. or Mrs. Doolittle and other Republicrooks who hide behind their wives' skirts in their larceny or-- as in the case of Crazy Curt Weldon (R-PA), behind his daughters' skirt.
Neo-fascist publishing house, Regnery, put out Hayworth's ghost-written anti-immigrant screed a kind of love paean to actual (instead of "neo") Nazi, Henry Ford. The book is, more than anything else Hayworth's endorsement of Ford's so-called "Americanization," the 30's anti-Jew hysteria ~~similar to~~ exactly the same as Hayworth's anti-immigrant jihad today. Judge for yourself:

Henry Ford, a leader in [the Americanization] movement, said, "These men of many nations must be taught American ways, the English language, and the right way to live." Talk like that today and our liberal elites will brand you a cultural imperialist, or worse. But if you ask me, Ford had a better idea. Sadly, Americanization has given way to an insidious multiculturalism, the noxious idea that all cultures are equally valid and worthy... Henry Ford must be spinning in his grave.
-J.D. Hayworth in WHATEVER IT TAKES
Or check this out:

Over three decades ago, Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan asked, "To what does one assimilate in modern America ?" In Henry Ford's day, we had a great big list of things. But if multiculturalism and diversity are valued above all else, the answer is you can assimilate however you want, or not at all.
-J.D. Hayworth in WHATEVER IT TAKES
Ford was a pro-Hitler, hate-spewing and raving anti-semite, one of the most anti-American plutocrats in the history of our nation, a disgrace to the country that nurtured his rise to unparalleled wealth. As J.D. Hayworth well knows Ford outlined his "Americanization" program in his best known work, THE INTERNATIONAL JEW. This is something that Hayworth never wants to talk about, at least not publicly where voters may discover what this racist shit-eater is really made of.

Indeed, it is such a statement as the Gentile mind could not have evolved, because the trend of Gentile feeling is all in the opposite direction, namely that Americanization is a good thing for the Jew. It is from authoritative Jewish sources we learn this fact, that what we call civilizing influences are looked upon as being at enmity with Judaism. It is not the Gentile who says that Jewish ideals, as ideals, are incompatible with the life of our country; it is the Jew who says so. It is he who inveighs against Americanism, not the American who inveighs against Judaism. Americanism is yet unfinished, Judaism has been complete for centuries. While no American would think of pointing to any part of the country or to any group as representing the true and final type of Americanism, the Jews quite unhesitatingly point to parts of the world and to certain groups as representing the true type of Judaism.
To "Americanize" means, in our ordinary speech, to bring into sympathy with the traditions and institutions of the United States, but the Jews do not mean only the United States when they say "America." They mean also South and Central America-- where so many revolutions have occurred. There are large numbers of Jews in Argentina, and many are found in other countries. It would probably give a wrong slant to the fact to say that the Jewish leaders are wholly anti-America, but it is true to say that they are against the "Americanization" of the Jewish immigrant stream. That is, that the trend of "Americanism" is so different from the trend of "Judaism" that the two are in conflict. This does not indicate treason toward American nationalisms perhaps, so much as it indicates loyalty toward Jewish nationalism.

-Henry Ford, "Jew Objection to Americanism"
And Ford made plenty of similarly xenophobic, racist and antisemitic outburts throughout THE INTERNATIONAL JEW, outburst that seem to have informed and inspired an adoring acolyte, Arizona's most clueless, hate-filled congressloon, J.D. Hayworth.

"One of the strongest causes militating against the full Americanization of several millions of Jews in this country is their belief-instilled in them by their religious authorities-that they are 'chosen,' that this land is theirs, that the inhabitants are idolators, that the day is coming when the Jews will be supreme."
-Henry Ford, "Jews and the 'Religious Persecution' Cry"

"Wherever Jewish tendencies are permitted to work unhindered, the result is not 'Americanization,' nor 'Anglicization' nor any other distinctive nationalism, but a strong and ruling reversion back to essential 'Judaization.'"
-Henry Ford, "Protocols Claim Partial Fulfillment"

A few days ago Arizona's Jewish News warned its readers about the dangers inherent in re-electing Hayworth. Like myself, they were shocked and worried about Hayworth's ringing endorsement of Ford and his "Americanization" scheme. "The ever-so-successful process that used to be called 'Americanization' was a major movement in the early 1900s ... Henry Ford, a leader in this movement, said, 'These men of many nations must be taught American ways, the English language, and the right way to live.' Talk like that today and our liberal elites will brand you a cultural imperialist, or worse. But if you ask me, Ford had a better idea." Hayworth's Jewish constituents don't think so. The Jewish News calls their congressman to task for not looking into it more carefully before publishing it.

Ford's belief in a Jewish world conspiracy led him to spread such bile, including "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion," that the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League finally negotiated an agreement with him that "articles reflecting on the Jews" would never again appear in the Dearborn Independent, a newspaper Ford owned. He claimed that he himself had been too busy to read the pieces that bore his name - a contention that Louis Marshall, chairman of the AJC at the time (and grandfather of Valley resident Jonathan Marshall), called "humiliating."
According to the AJHS site, Ford later claimed that his signature on the agreement with Marshall had been forged, and that Jewish bankers had caused World War II.

We're not saying that Hayworth is anti-Semitic - only that he should choose his heroes more carefully. One has only to listen to the broadcasts of Ford's friend and fellow Detroit resident Father Charles E. Coughlin to understand the ignorance at work in the kind of thinking Ford espoused. Or read the words of F.D.R.'s Secretary of the Interior, Harold L. Ickes, in response to news that Ford had received a medal from Adolf Hitler and refused to return it: "How can any American accept a decoration from the hand of a brutal dictator who, with that same hand, is robbing and torturing thousands of fellow human beings?"

Whatever it takes, J.D.? To that we say, with the accompanying dismissive hand gesture, "Whatever."

Let's keep in mind from whence J.D. Hayworth has chosen to draw his inspiration for his work and his bizarre mindset when it's time to go to the polls in November. And let's remember, that whatever it takes, retiring J.D. Hayworth is worth the effort.
Update: The Mitchell camp forwarded an editorial from a Jewish newspaper blasting Hayworth to AZCongressWatch. Sam Coppersmith over at Liberal Desert broke it earlier!

Rescue Me Night Open Thread

2006-07-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

What do you do usually on Tuesday nights? Mine is devouted to watching Rescue Me. FX has the best original shows other than HBO, oh how I wish the FX shows could be on HBO. Think of it.

Also, today is Harry Mitchell's birthday. Lofty Donkey has a link where you can send Harry your best wishes.

The Hits Keep Coming From Mitchell Camp!

2006-07-18T17:45:00.000-07:00

Hayworth Raises Money for Virginia Group Attacking McCain
Hayworth Supported Group Accuses McCain of "McCarthy-Like Behavior"

U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth is actively raising money for a Virginia-based organization that has accused U.S. Sen. John McCain of using "McCarthy-like behavior" in his investigation of convicted GOP lobbyist and Hayworth associate Jack Abramoff.
Hayworth recently sent a letter asking recipients to donate money to support Citizen Outreach and said he is "proud" to have the organization's CEO, Chuck Muth, "on my side."
Muth recently authored a column on the organization's Web site that accused McCain of investigating the Abramoff scandal because the senator believed it "would be an excellent opportunity to settle some old scores," and a way to "scratch the back of a well-heeled lobbyist." Muth condescendingly referred to McCain as "St. John McCain," and wrote that "St. John could almost get away with murder." [Source: http://www.citizenoutreach.com]
"Hayworth's continued involvement in personally attacking Senator McCain and defending Jack Abramoff show he's well out of the mainstream of Arizona voters," said Mitchell campaign spokesperson Seth Scott. "No wonder so many Republicans are supporting Harry Mitchell for Congress."
Hayworth himself took aim at McCain in his book, "Whatever It Takes," calling McCain an "illegal immigration apologist." [Source: "Whatever It Takes," by J.D. Hayworth and Joseph J. Eule, 2006]
Just a few weeks ago, Hayworth was involved in another attack on McCain and refused to denounce remarks questioning McCain's patriotism. The Minuteman Project, which Hayworth has described as a group of "extraordinary Americans," launched a negative ad campaign accusing McCain of leading an effort to "sell out our country." [Source: The Arizona Republic, June 19, 2006; Minuteman Project Web site]
In the same letter in which Hayworth praises Muth, the 12-year incumbent admitted that he is "embarrassed," "ashamed" and "partly responsible" for the nation's border woes because he has "done nothing to secure our borders or to safeguard Americans from any future attacks."

"Mass Deportation"

2006-07-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

While it is rare for Espresso Pundit to wade in on the CD-5 race, when he does, I must admit, he always has something interesting to say. Today's post is no different:

If I say it enough, will you believe it's True?

Harry Mitchell's proposal for an "open border" with Mexico is unrealistic
and should be not even be considered in the Congress. An "open border" is
not a solution, it is an abdication of the federal government's fundamental
responsibility to secure our borders. [Source: Associated Press June 26,
2006]

Wow, I didn't know that Harry Mitchell had proposed an "open border."
That's crazy.

Actually, it is crazy because, like, you know, made it up.

But it looks impressive doesn't it? I mean, I have "open border"
in quotes to make it look like I'm actually quoting something. And I have
a source at the end that makes it looks like there is a real place in which
Harry Mitchell proposed an "open border."

It's probably not fair for me to simply make stuff like this up.
But hey, turnabout is fair play.

Check out this tidbit about J.D. Hayworth from Harry Mitchell's
website.

He has also said he would not rule out possibility forcing the "mass
deportation" of 12 million people. [Source: The Arizona Republic, Sept. 1, 2005;
"Whatever It Takes," by J.D. Hayworth and Joseph J. Eule]

Does Hayworth ever use the words "mass deportation?" Of course
not. Harry just made it up. But the source looks really good.
After all, Harry points to the Arizona Republic and Hayworth's own book.
The fact that those sources don't discuss "mass deportation" is beside the
point. At least it's beside the point to Harry.

As evidenced by the first part of his blog, Espresso Pundit clearly demonstrates that words can be twisted in politics to convey different meanings. He concedes it's not fair to make stuff up, and I agree. It's dirty politics to put words in your opponents mouth or to twist things to your advantage.

And then came the surprising part of the post, a clip from a 7/6/06 Mitchell press release. According to Espresso Pundit, it is dirty politics that Harry Mitchell is now playing. Implying that J.D. Hayworth advocated the "mass deportation" of 12 million people when he really has not, is dirty. No doubt about that.

Where I had doubt was when Espresso Pundit said Hayworth never said such a thing, in his book or the Arizona Republic article attributed. I spent about forty minutes in Borders on Mill reading Hayworth's book, while waiting for a band to perform on the second level. No where in the book did I read that Hayworth wanted to deport 12 million people. Then again, I only got about a fifth of the way through it and by that time I was bored and disgusted.

So, I looked up the AZ Republic article in question. And there it was:

Though Hayworth took note of what his constituents thought of mass
deportation and said he wouldn't rule it out, he imagined public
relations fiasco with images of children being pulled from schools and families from their homes, much like the images of Jewish settlers withdrawing from the Gaza Strip last month.

It clearly states, right there, that Hayworth did not rule out mass deportation. Which is exactly what the Mitchell press release states. The article seems to imply that Hayworth's constituents where what brought mass deportation up. Those were their words and Hayworth took those words and refused to dismiss the idea.

That's what makes Espresso Pundit's post misleading. Those words used by Harry weren't twisted. There was no turnabout.

An Admission of Failure?

2006-07-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

Lofty Donkey has the scoop on Mitchell's latest press release.

In a recent letter, Hayworth stated:

"It's outrageous that the nation's leaders have done
nothing to secure our borders or to safeguard Americans
from any future attacks.

"We no longer control our own borders. Instead they are
controlled by alien and drug smugglers.

"I am embarrassed that I, as a
leader, am partly responsible...."

(emphasis mine)

Yes, J.D. You should be embarrassed and ashamed. Your empty, offensive rhetoric does nothing to help the debate or foster a real solution for America and for immigrants. In fact, it does the exact opposite, impeding efforts for serious reform. Good to hear we're on the same page.

J.D., Get a Thesaurus

2006-07-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

Hayworth's latest press release is amusing for several reasons.

First, J.D. forgets to mention that Mitchell outraised him in this quarter. Okay, no surprise there, but they did like to tout their $400,000 advantage in CoH. Hayworth will be expected to rake in the big bucks, so look for that to be repeated again.

Second, Hayworth points out the more than $50,000 the DCCC has given to Harry. Nice sum of cash from the DCCC, but I think a better number would be the nearly $430K that Harry raised from individual donors. Nearly half a million dollars from individuals in three months. That's amazing and a sign that change may be in the wind.

The third reason ties in with the second: J.D. is still on that DCCC-ad. This press release contains much of the same wording as the last one, hence, my urging him to get a thesaurus. Is that all you got, J.D.? Are we going to have to hear about the ad for another month? If you do insist on doing that, I suggest scrolling down a bit...

Mitchell Outraises Hayworth in Second Quarter

2006-07-16T23:54:00.000-07:00

AZ Congress Watch is reporting that Harry Mitchell raised $561,654.15 in the second quarter over Hayworth's $525,665.50. Hayworth still has more cash on hand and it will only get bigger as the election draws nearer. Mitchell has been getting great support, keep it up everybody! Republicans can be counted on to raise millions, but these numbers show that change is wanted.

Go Harry!

The Politics of Hypocrisy

2006-07-14T17:28:00.000-07:00

Last night I was going to blog about Hayworth's press release urging Harry Mitchell to condemn the now-pulled DCCC ad featuring flag-draped coffins come home from Iraq. A classic pot-calling-the-kettle-black story, Mr. Foghorn Leghorn has no business condemning those images. Recall the Bush campaign ads featuring the attacks of 9.11.2001? Or the disgusting display of politics that ended Max Cleland's Senate career? Or how about the 2004 Republican Convention. It was the months of September, October, and November of 2001 condensed in a week. America will never forget, therefore we don't need to re-live it, especially when it is meant to scare us and oppress us into submission.

Personally, I don't like the use of the images of coffins or of the events of 9.11 in political campaign ads, especially fundraising ones. But such times where politics can be played in an ideal way are over. The Republicans have started this, with their Rovian tactics and smear campaigns. And the media eats it and spits it out at the Democratic Party and liberals. They frame the debate so that images of 9.11 are okay to use when you're fighting evil and bringing democracy to the Middle East! But images of flag-draped coffins, or dead brothers and sisters, our dead veterans, is wrong when you're fighting for a change! A change from their mind-numbingly dumb and disasterously dangerous policies.

So today the state GOP dove in after the, as J.D. put it, "deafening silence" from the Mitchell camp. Good for Harry. And shame on the three Democrats mentioned in the GOP press release that demanded the ad be taken down. We are now playing the Republican's game. All the strategy and the tactics that the Beltway has used to take down this game have failed. We can take power if we play by the GOP rules for awhile. Re-take Congress. Restore civilty and cooperation in our national bodies. Work to re-shape our mainstream media. Those are long-term goals and change can only come when we're on top.

If Harry says anything, then it should not be an apology or a condemnation. Harry should remind J.D. why those soldiers are coming home in flag-draped coffins. They are gone because of President Bush and the Republican Congress that blindly and loyally followed. That's you, J.D. You advocate for a policy that preserves the status quo. One where at least one soldier dies a day in Iraq. Civil war in Baghdad. Refugees streaming out of the country. That's what you want and that is not acceptable.

Fight 'em, Harry. Don't give in to this shit.

Get that man a pair of flip-flops!

2006-07-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, the House passed a bill regulating Internet gambling... because we all know PartyPoker.net is a threat to America. The vote has come along when the GOP is drawing out its base by setting a do-nothing "American Values" agenda in Congress. I say do-nothing because this Congress has literally done nothing. The agenda advanced by the GOP leadership is merely a ploy to fire up the meanest, most vicious, and most reliable part of their base. Sucks for them, though. Weeks have gone by and their attempts to ban gay marriage and flag burning aren't helping. How could it help when Americans are facing an endless war in Iraq and rising energy prices?

It sure as hell shouldn't help J.D. Hayworth. From The Hill: Six years after opposing a similar bill regulating Internet gambling, J.D. flip-flopped.

Republican Reps. Roy Blunt (Mo.), John Doolittle (Calif.) and J.D. Hayworth
(Ariz.) were among the members who voted to support the legislation yesterday
after voting against it in 2000, while Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), whose links to
Abramoff are being investigated by the Justice Department, opposed the bill
yesterday, as he did six years ago.

So, what kind of a difference does six years make?

I would say it has to do with the rise and fall of Jack Abramoff. Several members of Congress, including our own Senator Kyl and Congressman Shadegg, said Abramoff worked to kill the 2000 legislation. He was successful then, but now Abramoff is a federal convict and cooperator.

I don't like to repeat myself too much, but we all must remember that J.D. Hayworth is the single largest receipient of dirty Abramoff money. Hayworth was in the lobbyists' pocket then, but no longer. He wants to distance himself from the scandals and the money.

I guess his take wasn't here this time around...

Quick Update Open Thread

2006-06-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick update on what's been going on the past few days.

cmpaz has a good read about that blowhard J.D. and his war against the New York Times.

From AZ Congress Watch, Harry Mitchell has a press release showing the close similarities between J.D. Hayworth and defeated UT-03 Congressional candidate John Jacobs. Mitchell calls it a "referendum on hard-line immigration candidates.

Hayworth and Mitchell traded strong words over immigration the last few days. It started with Harry Mitchell's op-ed piece in the Arizona Republic. Hayworth's camp fired back by claiming Mitchell was adopting Hayworth's positions, but otherwise is an amnesty-giving liberal. Whatever. Mitchell wasted no time in saying Hayworth is grandstanding while this issue continues to go on unsolved. Go get 'em, Harry!

Tomorrow is the end of the quarter for fundraising! If you can give anything, even $10, do it NOW! Support Harry Mitchell!

I'll be going out of town tonight, visiting some family in South Dakota. I'll be back on June 6, so have an awesome Fourth of July everybody!

Harry Racks Up GOP Endorsements- Updated List

2006-06-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

Today, more than a dozen prominent GOP Arizonans and business leaders endorsed Harry Mitchell. Among them was Grant Woods, attorney and long-time friend of Mitchell's. The list of endorsers includes:

Grant Woods- Former Arizona Attorney General
Leo Corbet- Former State Senate President and GOP Gubernatorial Nominee
Sam Campana- Former Scottsdale Mayor
Neil Giuliano- Former Tempe Mayor
John Moeur- Former Tempe Mayor
Bill LoPiano- Former Tempe Mayor
Ben Arredondo- Tempe City Councilman
Pam Goronkin- Tempe City Councilwoman
Hut Hutson- Tempe City Councilman
Richard Neuheisel- Former Tempe City Councilman
Don Cassano- Former Tempe City Councilman
Zita Johnson- Tempe Union High School Board Vice President
Michael Goodwin- Former State Represenative

J.D. Hayworth fired back very quickly through his spokesman, Todd Sommers, concerning Grant Woods' endorsement for Harry.

“If I recall, Grant Woods was Harry Mitchell’s defense attorney when Mitchell faced criminal charges in connection with stealing his opponent’s campaign signs. I imagine going through a criminal trial like that can really bring lawyer and client closer together. In fact, I think they were meant for each other.”

I'll have to dig up more information about the case. I doubt it will really hurt Harry, J.D. seems to be grasping at straws to find something bad to say about him, other than throwing around the word "liberal" all the time.

Grant Woods put it bluntly, as many others have, when speaking the truth about J.D.:

"I saw him on Meet the Press and frankly was embarassed for Arizona."

We are all embarrassed, but come November, we can put that away and look to the future with a Congressman we deserve and trust.

Thanks to Arizona Congress Watch for all the info and quotes!

Craig Columbus- Disconnected From Reality

2006-06-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

Four years ago, J.D. Hayworth defeated Democrat Craig Columbus by a 61% to 36% margin. It was Hayworth's first year competing in the newly reconfigured District Five. Hayworth found his large, multiple-county district a bit different and a lot smaller, but much more Republican. That was a really good year for the GOP, so there were no surprises when he won by a landslide.

Fast forward to today, Hayworth is vulnerable. We have a great candidate in Harry Mitchell, a man with 30-years experience and a well-known community leader. Mitchell has gotten to know his constituents by being a teacher, an activist, and a dedicated public servant. Before Hayworth was elected, he got to know his constituents by giving us the sports on TV. Hayworth has been in Congress for 12 years, ten years too long. The guy is obsessed with what he thinks is a Mexican invasion. To him, it's the only issue.

I got news for you, J.D., our sovereignty is not being threatened by Mexico. Nor is it being threatened by the millions who come here to work, to help their families. J.D. Hayworth is disconnected from reality. He's been a Rubber Stamp for all of Bush's crappy proposals and policies: Iraq, Medicare Part D, decreasing funds for education and healthcare, etc., etc. We've known this for a while now and I haven't seen Democrats in this district more united against J.D.

Like misery, ignorance loves company. So who do we get joining J.D. in his fantasy world along with Bush and the rest of the Republicans in Congress? Craig Columbus.

From Arizona Congress Watch:

The Hayworth for Congress campaign today announced that Hayworth’s 2002 general election opponent, Craig Columbus, has endorsed the congressman’s re-election and has agreed to head up “Democrats for J.D.”

“Since the 2002 campaign I’ve come to know J.D. Hayworth as a very hardworking member of Congress who always listens to his constituents and does what he thinks is best for Arizona,” said Columbus. “As a Democrat, I have no hesitation in supporting J.D.’s candidacy and urge other Democrats to do likewise.”

Congressman J.D. Hayworth commented: “Craig Columbus was a strong adversary in 2002 and will be a stronger friend in 2006. I am so pleased that Craig has decided to head up this important effort and I look forward to working with him in the coming campaign. It’s a rarity in politics to win the endorsement of past opponents, so Craig’s is one that not only means a lot to the campaign, but a lot to me personally.”

I've got no problems with Columbus' pro-business views or his allegiance with the DLC. The DLC will no doubt be a part of the growth of the Arizona Democratic Party. They are friendlier with the Chamber of Commerces and the centrist label goes over well with Indy voters. I do have a problem, though, if Craig is basing his endorsement of J.D. due to his pro-business views. J.D. Hayworth is not a friend to business, or to anyone who works. Look no further than his record: tax cuts for Paris Hilton and Exxon, the expansion of corporate welfare, all the votes for every single piece of legislation pushed by Bush and his billionaire friends.

Craig, by endorsing J.D. Hayworth you are endorsing the broken status quo. Bush, Hayworth, Columbus, I hope you're enjoying the status quo through your jaded lenses. Because we all know that the status quo will be coming to an end soon. Maybe then reality will set in...

Where Are The Signs?

2006-06-21T14:51:00.000-07:00

Driving around this time of year, we are bombarded by signs and ads from candidates. Driving west on Thomas after getting off of the 101 in Scottsdale, I counted 6 signs in all before reaching Hayden. David Schapira (running for a seat in the state House for District 17) had signs on Pima and Granite Reef. Rhett Wilson had one sign along with two Laura Knaperek signs on the north side of Thomas after Granite Reef (which is not District 17, Scottsdale north of Thomas is District 8). Finally, Len Munsil has his sign up by the Circle K on Thomas and Hayden. He has signs all over the place (I see them in Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa, and Tempe).

Now, I drive around quite a bit. I commute to Chandler for work and most of my friends live in central Scottsdale, Tempe, or west Chandler. And I have only one question:

Where the hell are the Harry Mitchell signs? Granted, I haven't seen any J.D. signs up, but come on. Harry needs to up his name recognition in Scottsdale, he can't take Hayworth by winning most of Tempe.

Has anyone seen Harry Mitchell signs (other than the few on Mill Ave.)?

Where Do You Stand?

2006-06-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

Lofty Donkey has a new Harry Mitchell flyer.

Excellent flyer. Harry Mitchell has a proven record of working on behalf of regular people. J.D. Hayworth has a proven record of working on behalf of lobbyists and people who are just plain scum.

Site Update and Open Thread

2006-06-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

I changed the settings so that anyone can post comments. Sorry it took so long. This is an open thread, how are you putting up with the heat?

Big Names, Big Money

2006-06-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

Today, James Carville, the Ragin' Cajun, will be helping Harry Mitchell out at a local fundraiser. The Phoenix Business Journal is also reporting now that John Kerry has been supporting Harry in campaign e-mailings. Dan Quayle will be hosting a June 24 fundraiser for J.D. Hayworth and Mrs. Laura Bush will be in Scottsdale on June 16 to host a $500 per person fundraiser.

It's good to see so many national names and so much attention to come to this race. I have no doubt Harry Mitchell will be able to keep up with J.D.'s fundraising. Of course, the GOP will always out-spend, especially in this district and who knows how much money the NRCC will dump into this race. If it is anything like CA-50, then we can expect a lot of support for J.D. nationally.

It works both ways, though. I think Harry will be able to raise a lot of money here locally, but I am worried about the general lack of interest about this race in the national liberal blogosphere. This is a serious pick-up opportunity and just one step towards making Arizona blue.

Alexis Tameron Joins Mitchell Campaign

2006-05-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

Union Guy e-mailed me this morning and forwarded a message from Alexis Tameron. Alexis served as the Political Director of the Arizona Democratic Party for four years. Congrats, Alexis! Congratulate or thank Alexis at alexis@harry2006.com. Thanks to Union Guy over at daringheart!

Harry Mitchell's campaign headquarters opened not too long ago. It is located in Tempe, east of the intersection of Baseline Rd. and Mill Ave.

Harry Mitchell for Congress

115 E Baseline

Tempe, AZ 85282

And finally, J.D. Hayworth has come under a little scrutiny for campaign contributions from a radar tech firm he touted in a July 2004 press release. Where this may lead, I'm not sure... but it will be interesting to see nonetheless.

Hayworth to Tour Border with Bush

2006-05-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, President Bush will visit Yuma and J.D. Hayworth will be along for the ride. According to KPHO, Hayworth is going to press Bush on adopting an "enforcement-first" policy.

Oh, this is great!

A recently released poll shows Hayworth only leads Harry Mitchell by five points and he is at the dangerous 50% mark for an incumbent. Now, Hayworth will be joining Bush for another impressive photo-op in a state where Bush is getting a 39/59% approval/disapproval rating. This is a state that re-elected Bush with 55% of the vote barely two years ago! A corrupt President with disasterous approval ratings accompanying a corrupt Congressman with disasterous immigration policies.

Harry Mitchell had this to say about Hayworth, Bush, and immigration:

“The president told the nation this evening what Arizonans already know: we need additional security resources at the border, and a realistic and comprehensive approach to immigration reform.

“Up to now, the federal government has failed in its responsibility to secure our border. As a result, illegal immigration has gotten worse.

“The solution begins with securing the border, but it doesn’t end there. We must secure the border with additional Border Patrol agents and technology, reform our immigration laws to include a temporary worker program, and sanction employers who knowingly and willingly violate the law.

“The bill passed by the House late last year may make for good sound bites, but it is not a realistic approach to comprehensive immigration reform. This is a serious problem and needs a serious solution. If the House ends up killing urgently needed, realistic, comprehensive immigration reform, I don’t think voters in Arizona will appreciate it.

“Furthermore, I applaud the president for tonight urging the nation and the Congress to debate this issue with the tone and respect it deserves. My opponent tried to use this issue to divide our nation, not unite it. His remarks about Arizona’s governor showed a lack of respect for our state, and a failure to grasp how important this issue is to all Arizonans.”

A lot of Arizonans are receptive to "enforcement-first" immigration policies. Hayworth and many other state politicians have run with these platforms. Yet these Republicans have been nothing but rubber stamps for this Presidency. This is a President that cut funding for the border patrol!

I'm sure their little safari will go over well with the voters of this district.

Hayworth: You've Got Nothing to Worry About

2006-05-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

An article about Arizona's reaction to the new revelations about the NSA data-mining program included a quote from Bush apologist J.D. Hayworth:

"It's sad that the security and civil liberties of the American people are being
used as political theater," said Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz. "The fact is that
if you don't associate with terrorists you have nothing to worry about. But if
you're planning another attack on American soil . . . you better stay off the
phone."

We have nothing to worry about? The telecommunication companies illegally handed over the phone records of millions of Americans to the NSA. Why? So they Administration can go fishing for a needle in a haystack. Why would terrorists have to worry about being caught talking on the phone when the NSA is sending FBI agents out on leads that end up being the pizza delivery guy?

It is sad when our Constitutional freedoms are being eroded away and the Imperial Presidency stomps all over the rule of law. It's very sad when our Congressman plays into it and repeats the same fearmongering rhetoric.

Harry Mitchell on DCCC Red-to-Blue List

2006-05-11T16:49:00.000-07:00

The Hill recently reported Harry Mitchell was on the second tier of the DCCC's Red-to-Blue fundraising program. The idea can be put to rest now. According to Rep. Rahm, "He definitely is on the list." This is great to here, I'm glad the DCCC is looking at this race as top-tier. It definitely should be now that Harry is polling dangerously close to Hayworth.

You can help Harry out some more with his fundraising efforts by voting for him in Barbara Boxer's poll at her PAC For A Change. Update: Thanks to Union Guy at daringheart for the link!

New Poll: Mitchell Closing In!

2006-05-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

SurveyUSA has a new poll that was published in the Phoenix Business Journal.

Harry Mitchell 45%
J.D. Hayworth 50%

Amazing. Mitchell has been in the race for less than a month officially. First, he raises almost a quarter of a million in a few weeks. Now, he is polling within 5% of an entrenched incumbent! Keep in mind, the margin of error is 4.1%, and I wouldn't be surprised if they started polling within the MoE soon.

In a hypothetical election in Arizona's 5th Congressional District today,
5/9/06, Republican incumbent J.D. Hayworth is narrowly re-elected over possible
Democratic challenger Harry Mitchell, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted
exclusively for KPNX-TV Phoenix. 6 months from the 11/7/06 general election,
Hayworth gets 50% to 45% for the Democrat Mitchell. Hayworth gets 79% of
Republican votes. Mitchell gets 83% of Democrat votes. Independents break 50% to
44% for the Democrat. Hayworth leads by 13 points among men and trails by 2
points among women, a 15-point Gender Gap. Mitchell leads 4:1 among Liberals and
3:2 among the most educated voters. Mitchell will be Hayworth's opponent if
Mitchell wins the Arizona Democratic Primary on 9/12/06.

I'd like Harry's percentage among Democrats to be higher, but it's early and I'm not sure of Harry's name recognition among Scottsdale, Chandler, Phoenix, and Fountain Hills voters. Hayworth's 79% among Republicans must reflect the current national move towards the dominant party. Republican turnout will be key in this election and national polls are saying Democrats are more excited to vote this cycle. Let's hope Arizona follows that trend.

Update: Mister T has more on this over at Kos.

Thursday News Update

2006-05-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

Just want to make a quick news update before the weekend.

Hayworth has a new column in which he advocates more solar power and touts his tax credit that was included in last year's energy package. It was probably the only logical measure in the bill.

The Governor will be hosting a fundraiser for Harry Mitchell on May 9th. I think it is important Governor Napolitano does as much as possible for the Congressional races, she has yet to face a serious challenger and our candidates could use her help.

Mitchell has also been chosen to be in the DCCC's Red-to-Blue program. Hopefully he'll get some much needed support. Thanks to Geo for the story.

I'll go searching again tonight for some more updates. Until then, no worries.

Congressional Turf Wars

2006-05-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

AZCentral is reporting that Mitchell has visited J.D. Hayworth's north Scottsdale neighborhood, going door to door. Well, sort of. Mitchell visited the registered Democrats and Independents. J.D. Hayworth has been knocking on doors down in Mitchell's neck of the woods, but I'm interested to know whether or not Hayworth knocked on Republican doors or everyone's?

I applaud Mitchell for getting his message out with base Democrats and it is important in mid-term elections when the base turnout matters. However, I hope does not mean that this strategy will continue throughout the election. Harry Mitchell is a great candidate and he needs to get his message door to door throughout this district. That means more than knocking on Democratic doors this year.

I don't expect Harry to knock on every single door in the district (good luck to the guy who could!), but I wanted to make a point of this. The party has abandoned whole regions with only 30% Democratic support (in elections or registration). Arizona has been critically lacking in this regard. We are still without an opponent to Jeff Flake! The Democrats need to build their party this election, it's the only way we are going to get people to come back in 2008.

It's time to get the message out to as many as we can.

Donate.
Volunteer.

Dem Candidates Protest Rising Gas Prices

2006-04-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

The rising price of energy and oil has been receiving a lot of news lately. Congress seems deadlocked on a solution, it's become exceedingly obvious that the Bush Administration just doesn't give a shit. Incompetance on the part of the Republican leadership in Congress and indifference on the part of Bush should be enough to want people to kick them out. However, that's not the case, people need more than anger to inspire them to vote. America desperately needs leadership.

Yesterday, Harry Mitchell, Jim Pederson, and State Rep. Kyrsten Sinema protested rising gas prices at an Exxon station in Phoenix. The protest was suggested in a memo sent out by the DCCC, which was obtained by the Chicago Tribune:

Demonstrate your dedication to fighting for middleclass families by clearly explaining how you will work to keep down the price of gas if elected to Congress.

Hold an event at a gas station or other logical location where you call for a real commitment to bringing down gas prices and pledge that, as a member of Congress, you will fight for families in your district, not the oil and gas executives for which this Republican Congress has fought so hard.

In their statements, both Pederson and Mitchell called for anti-price gouging legislation, ending tax breaks for oil companies, and a shift towards alternative fuels like ethanol.

Also, Geo found an old interview with Mitchell from 1992. A nice read if you're interested in downtown Tempe's history and revitalization.

Thursday Open Thread

2006-04-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Finals start next week so my workload has been a bit busier lately. I'll try to update more often as news comes in. Once summer comes around, I'll have much more time I can devote to blogging.

Tedski has reported that Todd Sommers, a Congressional staffer for J.D. Hayworth, was at Harry Mitchell's campaign kickoff. I share Wactivist's feelings about being scooped, we were both at the event. While there a Young Democrat organization told me that Hayworth had sent a minion out to the event, but good job to Tedski for connecting the dots. From Abramoff, to immigration, to this, Hayworth is proving he is a man that just doesn't deserve to represent us.

ASU student and State Press reporter Ricket Beitman had a great piece about Harry Mitchell in last week's campus newspaper. Students should be excited about this race. Mitchell is dedicated to making higher education more affordable and more accessible for Arizona students and has been a great advocate of ASU and the public school system.

What's with the crazy ideas that Hayworth should run for President?

Open thread, have at it.

Mitchell Raises $200,000+ In First Two Weeks

2006-04-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

Harry Mitchell raised an impressive $213,000 in the first two weeks of his campaign. As of the March 31st filing deadline, Mitchell reported having $204,000 cash on hand. These numbers are great. The last report put Hayworth with over $800,000 cash on hand. Mitchell generated enough excitement in two weeks to raise a quarter of what Hayworth has had for months . No doubt about it, Harry Mitchell is competitive and I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up out-raising Hayworth in the next quarter.

Also, the state Democratic Party has more dirt on Hayworth. Back in 1994, when Hayworth joined Gingrich and the others in the Contract with America movement, he was a ardent supporter of term-limits on members of Congress. Hayworth supported the 12-year limit on representatives. That was then, this is now, twelve years later and Hayworth is seeking his seventh term.

Yet again, Hayworth shows he is a man of broken promises and empty principles.

Monday Open Thread

2006-04-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone, sorry about the lack of pictures from last Wed.'s event. The site I use to host the pictures is messed up, but I'm working on it.

I have one blip. AZ Congress Watch blogged on Robert Robb's column concerning Harry Mitchell's campaign and his positions on the issues (or according to Robert the lack thereof). Harry officially kicked his campaign off less than one week ago. We are still more than six months from election day. This criticism isn't really fair considering Harry's entrance into the race all happened rather quickly.

On the other hand, what does J.D. Hayworth have to offer? He went on national television to tell the American people and the citizens of his district that their only problem and issue was illegal immigration. What kind of platform is that? Americans are more concerned about access to reliable and affordable healthcare, the increasing costs of college tuition and general decline in America's education standards, the skyrocketing costs of energy and ensuing inflation, and an effective strategy in Iraq (which by now most Americans relate to a withdrawal plan).

What's more enraging? People coming here to work and take care of their families, or paying nearly $3 a gallon for gasoline or paying hundreds of dollars for health plans that barely cover the necessities or our brothers, sisters, sons and daughters dying in Iraq while our President insists we stay the course.

What's enraging is J.D. Hayworth. He is a rubber-stamp Republican, who believes in the current course of action in Iraq. A course of action that is killing our troops, a course of action where the Iraqi "government" remains in a complete stay of disarry, a course of action that is losing us the war. He has voted to cut $12 billion in education funding from the budget when ASU students are looking at an 8.5% tuition rate increase and while No Child Left Behind continues to be an oxymoron.

Harry Mitchell spoke about values at his announcement. He is a man of values; along with being a dedicated family man and teacher, he is a principled man who believes in public service. What values does Hayworth possess? He is one of the largest receipients of dirty Abramoff money. He has dishonestly pushed the GOP rhetoric that Democrats ruined the immigration debate. He cares more about keeping brown people out of this country than the most important concerns of his constituents.

Come November, District Five will see through Hayworth's facade of fear and lies. They will remember the values Hayworth thinks are important (cronyism, corporate greed, supreme loyalty to party and president, xenophobism) and they will remember the values Mitchell thinks are important (family, community, honesty, liberty). Come November, the choice will be obvious.

This is an open thread, go!

"This is a campaign for change"

2006-04-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

Today, in front of Tempe's City Hall named for him, Harry Mitchell formally announced his candidacy for Congress. In his statements, Harry said, "This is a campaign for change, and a campaign to restore honesty, integrity and civility to Washington." Harry had a lot of fighting words for J.D. Hayworth, slamming the incumbent with a reference to Jack Abramoff, even poking fun at J.D.'s recent book Whatever It Takes.

A couple of quotes from his speech (paraphrased from what I remember):

"The people of this district deserve better, they deserve a representative that will respond to them, not lobbyists like Jack Abramoff."

"Washington policitians seem to care more about becoming celebritries and talking heads than statesmen."

The event was really upbeat. Almost everyone there (a sizable crowd for a warm, sunny Arizona day) was wearing Harry Mitchell for Congress shirts or waving Harry for Congress signs (my Young Democrat friends got me a shirt and sign so I can join in on the excitement). Me and other Young Democrats at ASU are really excited about this race and it showed today.

Harry was introduced this morning by his daughter and son, Mark Mitchell, Tempe City Councilman. Kyrene District School Board Member Sue Knudson and Arizona Board of Regents member Ed Hermes also spoke. It was good to see Ed again, we are both graduates from Seton Catholic High and St. Mary's Elementary School. (I sort of take pride in my elementary school St. Mary's because we have both seats for students on the ABOR. Ed is two years older than me and my fellow classmate Mary Venezia was just appointed by the Governor for the non-voting position.)

It was a real great event with a lot of familiar faces like Attorney General Terry Goddard, Senator Ed Ableser, School Superintendent candidate Slade Mead, numerous Tempe City Council members, former City Council candidate Corey Woods, and Harry's family.

Harry also has his website up and running.

Update: I'll have pictures up tomorrow. I need to download them onto my friend's computer but won't be able to until tomorrow night.

Saturday Open Thread

2006-04-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

It's the weekend, I hope you're relaxing a little bit.

Hayworth hates to tell people "I told you so" but says it anways. Maybe he'll say it again on Meet the Press tomorrow.

Harry Mitchell will announce his candidacy for Congress on Wednesday. If you want to go, it's at the Harry Mitchell Government Center (no wonder this guy is polling better than Hayworth; what's named after Hayworth in District 5?) in downtown Tempe at 11:00 A.M. I'll probably skip class to go and I'll see if I can borrow a friend's camera to get pictures.

This is an open thread, what other news has interested you lately?

Yes, I'm Still Here

2006-04-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Sorry the blog hasn't been updated in a while. I've been really busy with homework lately and I was out of town for a little bit last week. There has been a ton of news since my last update, so let's get to it!

Yesterday, the Arizona Republic reported that Larry King has called it quits.

"After over 18 months on the campaign trail, it's become clear to me that timing is everything," King said. "And I have concluded that now is not the time for me to be a candidate."

It must have been a really hard, frustrating decision to make. Send your thanks and support to Larry here.

King's decision now clears the field for Harry Mitchell, who according to some rumors has accumulated a "ton" of money before the March 31 filing deadline. Both King and Mitchell will be on the primary ballot so it will be interesting to see how many die-hard Larry King supporters there are out there. Mitchell has been keeping a relatively low profile and has yet to finish his campaign website. Harry resigned his state senate seat to work on the campaign full-time. Appointed in his place, was ASU graduate student and health counselor Ed Ableser. Ableser will carry out the rest of the term and then run for the District 17 house seat. Representative Meg Burton Cahill is set to run for the Senate seat in November.

Meanwhile, Hayworth has been paraphrasing from his immigration book in Washington. The good news is that his and the other GOP "enforcement-only" legislation is pretty much dead. The massive nationwide protests last month must have resonated with the politicians in Washington. Of course, there still is the large bloc of Republicans that want to pass their racist, xenophobic, ineffective bill, but the GOP is in shambles on the hill. The bad news is that almost any other idea is currently shelved.

The Arizona Democratic Party has called for Hayworth to return all Abramoff connected money. In fact, that is one of four press releases concerning Hayworth the state party has released since the beginning of April. The state party is rallying behind Mitchell and is ready to make Hayworth public enemy number one (or maybe number two, after Jon Kyl).

Also, of interesting note, the state party has another candidate for District 5 listed. Lee Hollingsworth of Scottsdale is supposedly running. His website doesn't really expand on his candidacy.

It's Official!

2006-03-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

Harry Mitchell will run for Congress against J.D. Hayworth. According to the Arizona Republic, Mitchell will make a formal announcement in April.

This changes the dynamics of this race tremendously. Mitchell will be able to carry a huge percentage of Tempe and his name recognition extends into Scottsdale, Chandler, and Mesa. He'll be able to draw more donations and it looks like the DCCC is ready to jump on board.

I got a call from Larry King this morning. He is staying in the race. I think that this is good. This primary won't be bitter or negative. It might just define many of the issues in the race. It'll definitely take away a lot of Hayworth's steam concerning immigration. Larry released a press report this morning and it was posted on Kos.

I'm going on vacation and I'll be back Friday, so enjoy your Spring Break if you have one or have a great rest of the week!

Mitchell to Announce Decision Sometime This Weekend

2006-03-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

According to the Phoenix Business Journal and AZCentral.com (the same article was also in ASU's State Press today), State Sen. Harry Mitchell will announce his decision to run against J.D. Hayworth or not sometime today or this weekend.

There is a lot of support in the state party and around the district for Harry Mitchell. A Draft Harry website has even popped up in recent weeks. The Young Democrats at ASU have been very vocal in their efforts to get Sen. Mitchell to run.

Also, use this as your Start-of-Spring-Break/Weekend Open Thread. Go!

Update: In the comments, homegrown democrat has a source that says Harry Mitchell filled today. AZCongressWatch is also reporting that Mitchell will announce his candidacy tomorrow.

Time to Stand Up and Declare

2006-03-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

Larry King posted an excellent diary over at DailyKos. I'm glad we have a candidate against Hayworth that is dedicated to growing our Party into a strong, effective progressive movement. I think Larry believes strongly in the idea of "thinking globally and acting locally."

Arizona's Democratic Party is, unfortunately, not as effective or organized as it should be. Growing and building the state party can only be done by taking over from the ground up. Donate to progressive candidates and causes in the party. Get involved with local campaigns. This is our party, let's take it back from the Bush apologists, the Republicans in Democrat's clothes, and the corrupt D.C. establishment.

King Will Drop Out if Mitchell Runs

2006-03-04T23:07:00.000-08:00

The Arizona Republic has a piece on the efforts of the state party to recruit a more widely known candidate to run against Hayworth. Harry Mitchell, State Senator and state party chairman, is currently the target of an effort to draft him to run. And as for Larry King should Mitchell enter the race? According to the Republican article, King has said he will drop out.

I like both Larry King and Harry Mitchell. They are both great candidates and can both give Hayworth quite a race. Harry, though, is the more experienced politician and has more name recognition in the district, especially in Scottsdale and Tempe. Mitchell, along with Chuck Blanchard, both polled better than Hayworth in the DCCC's internal poll.

In other news, J.D. Hayworth has told President Bush to take a hike and is sponsoring a bill to ban foreign governments from owning or carrying out operations at our seaports. Hayworth must be paying attention to the climate at home. The port deal is incredibly unpopular on both sides of the political spectrum. This issue is being closely followed by the American public and I bet that this district would overwhelmingly reject the deal if asked in a poll.

Also, Hayworth is beefing up his record on his favorite pet issue- immigration. He recently introduced a bill to criminalize the construction of tunnels that cross our international borders and penalize those who use them. It's a good idea that has been offered up by Senators Feinstein and Kyl. Of course, any Republican bill on immigration must be taken with a grain of salt, especially coming from xenophobic Hayworth.

Hayworth's book Whatever It Takes was released a few months back and I think I'll pick it up next week. Hayworth will use immigration as much as he can in this election. It's probably the only issue that he'll attract voters with since he's embroiled in the Abramoff scandal and can't shake his cozy ties with King George.

Eve of March Open Thread

2006-02-28T17:50:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update, Larry King has a new website. I'm expecting his other one to convert over pretty soon.

This is our first open thread, so have at it

Internal Poll Shows Hayworth's Vulnerability

2006-02-27T18:04:00.000-08:00

Kos got his hands on a DCCC-sponsored internal poll. I think this is good news at this point.

Hayworth (R) 44
King (D) 37

Also of note, State Sen. Harry Mitchell and former State Sen. Chuck Blanchard outpolled Hayworth (43-42 and 41-40, respectively).

Also, props to RBH for finding the CD breakdown of the 2000 and 2004 elections.

Bush/Gore H2H in the current districts

AZ-01: 53/47 Bush
AZ-02: 58/42 Bush
AZ-03: 56/44 Bush
AZ-05: 55/45 Bush
AZ-06: 62/38 Bush
AZ-08: 52/48 Bush

Bush/Kerry H2H from 2004

AZ-01: 54/46 Bush
AZ-02: 62/38 Bush
AZ-03: 58/42 Bush
AZ-05: 54/46 Bush
AZ-06: 65/35 Bush
AZ-08: 53/47 Bush

Not much, but it could be worse. It's great to know that progress has been made.

Thanks to Kos for posting the blog on the main page and to others in the discussion. I really appreciate all of it.

Note: The districts are a bit different now than in 2000. I'll see if I can dig up any maps, but I think the district remained mostly the same except for the Indian Reservations.

Update on Polls

2006-02-25T16:57:00.000-08:00

I found those polls. SurveyUSA did these on Jan. 16. I expect these numbers to have eased a bit for Hayworth, since the Arizona media isn't aggressively investigating Hayworth's Abramoff connections. If only the Arizona Republic would work as hard as the media up in Montana (they are blasting Conrad Burns).

Do you think Congressman J.D. Hayworth is telling the truth when he says he received a twenty-two hundred and fifty dollar campaign contribution from Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud, conspiracy, and tax evasion?
26% Telling the Truth
62% Not Telling the Truth
12% Not sure

This poll (and two others concerning Hayworth) were originally reported by the Phoenix Business Journal.

The Landscape of District 5

2006-02-21T16:02:00.000-08:00

AZ-05 is a large and diverse district that stetches from the heart of the Phoenix metro area to the suburbs and outlying areas of the Valley. All of the cities of Scottsdale, Tempe, and Fountain Hills are included in the District along with the Salt River-Pima and Fort McDowell Indian Communities and portions of west Chandler, Phoenix (including all of Ahwatukee), and west Mesa.

Scottsdale and Ahwatukee are widely known in Arizona as GOP strongholds. Republicans also hold the advantage in Fountain Hills and Chandler. Tempe is a much different story. It's status as an urban university city has made it a liberal hotspot in the Valley of the Sun. The main campus of ASU in Tempe boasts of student population of nearly 50,000, many living on or near campus. Democrats also hold the advantage in east Mesa and south Scottsdale, along with the Indian communities.

Playing the numbers game, we know off the bat that AZ-05 looks like a solid red district. The Secretary of State's office has published the preliminary registration numbers for the 2006 cycle and the numbers for this district don't look pretty at first glance.

Registered Voters:
Democrats - 99,954 (28%)
Republicans- 156,291 (44%)
Independents- 95,875 (27%)
Libertarians- 2,876 (<1%)

2004 Race:
Hayworth- 59.5% (159,455 votes)
Rogers- 38.2% (102,363 votes)

We must also take into account recent events. The American people are clearly fed up with the corrupt Republican Congress. The Abramoff-scandal is getting hotter each day and Hayworth is a part of that Culture of Corruption.

Hayworth is the largest receipient of Abramoff money. Between 2001 and 2004, Hayworth accepted nearly $65,000 in Abramoff-connected donations. He also was one of many Congressmen that used Abramoff's sports skyboxes for free and failed to disclose these gifts, a possible violation of House rules. Hayworth donated the money to charity but still declares no wrongdoing, despite his votes in favor of Abramoff concerning many Native American tribes.

Clearly, the American people are growing tired of the Republican leadership that has bred a Culture of Corruption. J.D. Hayworth is one of dirtiest Congressmen in Washington and it will be very important that Larry King or the eventual Democratic nominee pummel Hayworth with this information and his warm ties with President Bush.

This is an uphill battle. It will be like climbing Mount Everest, actually. However, I have hope. The special OH-02 election could have been a preview for this November. Paul Hackett received nearly half of the votes in a district that's almost 70% Republican. There is no reason we cannot repeat that here in AZ-05.

Note: I will try to dig up how AZ-05 voted in the last Presidential election, I think that will give us a better idea of how this district stands. Also, I remember reading about some polls concerning Hayworth and his Abramoff connections, so I'll look for that as well because the numbers were actually quite astonishing.

Update: I found those polls. SurveyUSA did these on Jan. 16. I expect these numbers to have eased a bit for Hayworth, since the Arizona media isn't aggressively investigating Hayworth's Abramoff connections. If only the Arizona Republic would work as hard as the media up in Montana (they are blasting Conrad Burns).

Do you think Congressman J.D. Hayworth is telling the truth when he says he received a twenty-two hundred and fifty dollar campaign contribution from Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud, conspiracy, and tax evasion?
26% Telling the Truth
62% Not Telling the Truth
12% Not sure

This poll (and two others concerning Hayworth) were originally reported by the Phoenix Business Journal.

Hello and Welcome!

2006-02-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

The 2006 Congressional races are only ten short months away and it's time to put Democratic Chairman Howard Dean's "50-state strategy" to the test. Every district, every state, every seat with a Republican incumbent must be challenged to ensure a strong state and national party. I have dedicated this blog to the news and happenings of Arizona's Fifth Congressional District and the race between Republican J.D. Hayworth and the only Democratic challenger as of now, Larry King of Scottsdale.

I hope that this blog is stumbled upon by many and I hope even more that some are from this district. It will take a lot of hard work and a tremendous amount of support and resources to unseat J.D. Hayworth, but I think it can be done. I refuse to believe that this district must be written off as too red. No doubt, J.D. Hayworth has a large warchest and is a strong incumbent. However, this district is not as red as the national and state Democratic Party have made it out to be.

It will take a real grassroots movement to strengthen the Democratic Party here in AZ-05. I think it can be done and I think we can offer J.D. Hayworth more than just token opposition. So, I start this blog off with an open thread to hear your thoughts on the race and the district.