Thursday, December 01, 2005
resignations everywhere!
What a strange day in Arizona politics. State Senator Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat, resigns her seat to run for her party's nomination for an open U.S. House of Representatives seat on the same day that looney tune Len Munsil resigns as president of the dishonestly named Center for Arizona Policy to run for the Republican nomination for governor. I don't know what to make of this kind of coincidence between two such polar opposites.
(Note to Arizona Daily Star: Please don't refer to Munsil as a "conservative activist." There's no such thing. They are just people who desperately want to maintain the status quo or hurl us back to some fictionalized golden age of yesteryear.)
I do want to say that I'm happy Senator Giffords is in the race. While I've been praising Jeff Latas a lot recently, I think the party and the voters are best served by having an honest and open debate about what the future holds for CD8 and their visions for it. I don't think it's a prerequisite to have held elective office to be a damn good member of Congress, nor do I think a candidate needs a career of military service to appeal to a majority of voters in this district. I would very much like this campaign to not hinge on name recognition or for any candidate to be dismissed simply because they haven't raised much money yet. It's still early. Now of course the trick is to run campaigns that don't bruise each other too badly while making the case for themselves.
As for Munsil, he's a mean-spirited, hateful little gnome and Arizona voters who aren't the Republican base will see him for what he is next November. Seriously, the guy is nuts. Besides being good news for the Governor, this is good news for Arizona Together, the statewide coalition that is working to defeat CAP's decidedly anti-family marriage amendment. Munsil was the only visible crusader in favor of the ambiguously-worded proposition. With his time now dedicated to trying to out-wacko the other wackos, the prospects of defeating the amendment just got a lot brighter.
I'm fascinated how the calculus of state politics has been changing almost daily. This will be a great, spirited campaign season.
(Note to Arizona Daily Star: Please don't refer to Munsil as a "conservative activist." There's no such thing. They are just people who desperately want to maintain the status quo or hurl us back to some fictionalized golden age of yesteryear.)
I do want to say that I'm happy Senator Giffords is in the race. While I've been praising Jeff Latas a lot recently, I think the party and the voters are best served by having an honest and open debate about what the future holds for CD8 and their visions for it. I don't think it's a prerequisite to have held elective office to be a damn good member of Congress, nor do I think a candidate needs a career of military service to appeal to a majority of voters in this district. I would very much like this campaign to not hinge on name recognition or for any candidate to be dismissed simply because they haven't raised much money yet. It's still early. Now of course the trick is to run campaigns that don't bruise each other too badly while making the case for themselves.
As for Munsil, he's a mean-spirited, hateful little gnome and Arizona voters who aren't the Republican base will see him for what he is next November. Seriously, the guy is nuts. Besides being good news for the Governor, this is good news for Arizona Together, the statewide coalition that is working to defeat CAP's decidedly anti-family marriage amendment. Munsil was the only visible crusader in favor of the ambiguously-worded proposition. With his time now dedicated to trying to out-wacko the other wackos, the prospects of defeating the amendment just got a lot brighter.
I'm fascinated how the calculus of state politics has been changing almost daily. This will be a great, spirited campaign season.
