Primary Election 2010: Rotten Eggs And Bad Apples

August 24, 2010

Eggs are in the news. Rotten ones that are making people really sick.

A lot of Arizonans have also become sick ... sick and tired of all of the bitter political campaigning by a bunch of bad apples. But it ends at 7 o'clock tonight when the curtain comes down on what has to be the most sickening election in the history of AZ.

So-called "conservative" candidates turned this primary election into a political cockfight. Read More...

Ben Quayle Reveals The Real Ben Quayle

August 16, 2010

Anybody who's aware of the serpentine side of politics knew when congressional candidate Vernon Parker retained public relations mercenary Jason Rose that his campaign would get vicious. That's what candidates expect when they hire a snake.

And Parker, the former mayor of Paradise Valley, has been getting what he asked for the past two weeks.

Ben Quayle, thought to be the frontrunner in the crowded CD-3 race, is the victim of the Parker-Rose venom. The 33-year-old son of Dan and Marilyn Quayle looks like he was raised to be more comfortable at a prep school cricket match than on a public school playground. The candidate is an oddball. But as one of the heirs to the Pulliam publishing fortune, it makes him an oddball of wealth and privilege. Read More...

Jan Brewer Is "Acting" Like A Real Governor

August 03, 2010

For candidates to succeed in this charged political climate, it helps if they're actors. And nobody understands that better than Governor Jan Brewer. Not even the Clown Prince of AZ Politics, J.D. Hayworth, can compete with her.

If there were an award for the best actor in a leading political role, Governor Brewer would win walking away.

When Brewer ascended into the governor's office after serving as secretary of state, there was concern about her capabilities for governing. However, the one thing that was never in question was her reputation as a combative campaigner. During her first year in office she went through the motions as governor as she got her political footing. It was when she declared her candidacy for governor that she shifted into her campaign mode ... her take-no-prisoners mentality. Read More...

Three Campaigns' Costly Failure to Communicate

July 08, 2010

"What we have here is a failure to communicate."

Road Crew Captain
Cool Hand Luke

Three campaigns are underway that have little in common, except for their dismal failure of how to communicate. The first is an example of the technique of too little, too late. The second features a media blitz that's bombing. And the third is about a timid campaign that insists on being introverted.

Branding AZ: "We're From the Government and We're Here To Help" Read More...

Brewer Reduces Goddard To Spectator in Governors' Race

June 30, 2010

Governor Brewer may not be the sharpest tool in the shed - but she's hammering Attorney General Terry Goddard. And she's hitting the nail on the head.

Goddard's campaign has had the wind knocked out of it. The Democratic candidate for governor has been left gasping for breath and grasping for issues. The wily governor has used the power of incumbency to reduce Goddard to a spectator in the race for governor.

Nearly everybody saw it coming - except, of course, Goddard. Read More...

How Corporate AZ Helped Make Russell Pearce A Folk Hero

June 15, 2010

Russell Pearce owes corporate AZ a debt of gratitude - one the business establishment would just as soon forget. In fact, they will never admit they helped propel Pearce into political prominence.

Why would they?

It was the establishment's political procrastination and lackluster political campaign six years ago that launched Pearce's career as a legitimate political player -- and, as a result, sowed the seeds to make SB1070 possible. In fairness, many people were responsible for the debacle in 2004. So there's plenty of blame to go around. Read More...

Making the Most of the Campaign to Boycott Arizona

May 09, 2010

There are plenty of decent people on both sides of the immigration issue. Each side also has its share of those with misguided motivations.

Since the passage of the anti-immigration law, some people have rushed into the political aftermath like flies around an open trash can. They can't help themselves. It's second nature. They're the politicians and personalities who all have something in common: an instinct for self-promotion. For them, SB1070 isn't just a law -- it's an opportunity. It's the chance to get their names in the newspaper and their faces on TV.

It's also the public's chance to get a stronger sense of who some of these people really are and what they're actually up to. Read More...

There's A New Sheriff In Town

April 22, 2010

Not many people know Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a dreamer.

There's the adventure dream where he plays the Secret Service Agent who jumps in front of Ronald Reagan and saves the president from an assassin's bullet. There's also the recurring erotic one when he tosses, turns, thrusts and shouts out the name of a former AZ governor ... Janet. Janet. Oh, Janet!

The sheriff has dark dreams, too. Read More...

The Goddard Campaign Can't Win For Losing

April 08, 2010

Monday was a big news day ...

The AZ Diamondbacks played their 2010 home opener ... the NCAA crowned a champion in the biggest collegiate basketball game of the season ... Tiger Woods came out of hiding and held his first extended news conference at the biggest golf tournament of the year ... and Terry Goddard kicked off his state-wide tour to announce his candidacy for governor, again.

All four events were locked in well in advance. Three had to be. One could have been changed, but wasn't. That's the way Terry Goddard's campaign rolls. Read More...

Democrats Nervous Goddard Is Being Beaten To The Punch

April 05, 2010

Someone doesn't have to know a lot about "the sweet science," also known as boxing, to appreciate Terry Goddard's predicament.

When a boxer prepares for a fight, it involves rigorous training. There's road work, which means running long distances to build up endurance. There's also working out in the gym, where the boxer skips rope to perfect foot work and pummels different sized punching bags to develop power and increase hand speed. Read More...

The Republican Party's Right-Wing Freak Show

March 25, 2010

Somewhere Evan Mecham is smiling and saying: "I told you so!"

It's even starting to look like the late Governor Mecham, who briefly held office more than 20 years ago, was born, served and impeached before his time. His buffoonery would have fit right in with what the Right Wing has turned the Republican Party into: a political sideshow featuring a group of clowns who make it tough to take the party seriously.

Such is the state of the Republican Party - which has become more silly than substantive. Read More...

Selling The Sales Tax Is Off To A Shaky Start

March 04, 2010

Since it was recently rolled out, the YES on 100 sales tax campaign has been stumbling.

First, when the campaign was launched, its spokesperson said the best chance of the tax hike succeeding is if the issue is not seen in partisan terms. The way voters make up their minds and vote on issues has nothing to do with perceptions of partisanship - thinking otherwise is strategically flawed. Read More...