U.S. Representative Trent Franks, who represents comes from the Second District has agreed to debate his Democratic challenger, retired school teacher John Thrasher.
From Thrasher for Congress press release:
Congressional District 2 Democratic Candidate John Thrasher, has challenged the incumbent, Republican Trent Franks, to a debate.
During an interview session with an Arizona Republic Editorial Board on Friday September 3, 2010, Thrasher challenged Franks to a debate on neutral ground. Mr. Franks accepted.
Mr. Thrasher now seeks a venue to hold this debate which would ideally be limited to 30 minutes before either a live audience, televised, or both.
Media outlets interested in hosting this debate should contact Thrasher for Congress Campaign Manager Chuck Foy at 602-828-5828.
Now, if Rep. Franks can debate his opponent why does Ben Quayle refuse to debate Jon Hulburd?
Rodney Glassman, on his campaign website, endorsements page, lists United Farm Workers as having endorsed him in this year's race for Arizona's US Senate seat.
However, the United Farm Workers website, on its endorsements page, lists several candidates in California races and for each one specifies which campaign (i.e. Nov 2010 in most cases) but only ONE endorsement for an Arizona campaign. That is for Ruben Gallego, for the August 2010 primary for state House of Representatives in District 16.
Rodney Glassman is conspicuously OMITTED from the endorsement list for the United Farm Workers.
Master Rodney also makes an emphatic point at every public appearance to introduce himself as "former Vice-Mayor of Tucson" and that he has earned five degrees from the University of Arizona, including a PhD in "Arid Land Resources."
Is it common knowledge that "Vice-Mayor" is something council members in Tucson take turns serving?
Further, Tucson blogger Three Sonorans exposed "Dr." Glassman's disseration and coursework as having absolutely nothing to do with Arid Land Resources.
Ben Quayle, son of former Vice President J. Danforth Quayle and candidate for candidate for Congress, initially denied that he had anything to do with "Dirty Scottsdale". Now he's coming clean. Sort of.
"I just posted comments to try to drive some traffic," Quayle said.
You can find more about Ben's adventures in Scottsdale trolling for hot chicks here.
How did this story break into the national media? It smells like a Rose to me. Jason Rose is working for Quayle's opponent in the Republican primary for the 3rd Congressional District for Arizona, Vernon Parker, former Mayor of Paradise Valley.
Rose and Parker had recently assailed Quayle, who has no children, for "renting a family" for his campaign mailers. Parker apologized after learning that the children in the flyer were Quayle's nieces (and the children of Jason Rose's sister-in-law), but Jason kept right on pounding Quayle on this on his Twitter feed long after Parker's apology.
Don't you just love it when Republicans get down and dirty in the primary? It makes our job so much easier.
Earlier this evening the four Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate debated in Tucson. I couldn't figure out how to embed the video, but here is the link to tonight's debate. Below, you will find video of the July 27 debate on PBS's Horizon in Phoenix.
If you are still undecided about the Senate primary you might want to consider attending the Q&A with the same four candidates tomorrow night (Friday, Aug 6) at Paradise Valley Community College's Center for the Performing Arts. The town hall style forum will be held from 7 to 9pm and the address is 18401 N. 32nd St. in Phoenix.
Attention candidates: Here is a prime example of how not to use social media as part of your campaign. If you are a candidate you should not be the one updating your account anyway. That way, you won't ever be accused of something like this.
Two Republican state Senate candidates from LD4 have resorted to attacking each other over a Facebook photo. Former NFL player Tony Bouie was accused by his primary opponent Scott Bundgaard of straight up lying about his affiliation with his own organization called "Bouie's Buddies." This was an organization that Bouie says he created in his playing days with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bundgaard, basically claimed there really wasn't ever such an organization and called on Bouie to prove it. In response to his accuser, Bouie posted a photo from a NFL game featuring a huge banner on a wall next to the playing field in Tampa's stadium. The banner read "Bouie's Buddies." For Bundgaard, this was not enough evidence and this is where it got interesting.
After Bouie posted the photo for proof he said this in the comments section of the picture:
People, Scott does not understand anything about the NFL. This proof needs no other explanation than this picture that it existed. He is so blind and wants to win so bad that he will not see the truth when it is presented to him and everyone else in FB land. I pray the program had lasting effects on the kids we had.
Bundgaard responded to Bouie by saying that still wasn't proof that his organization actually existed. He called for Bouie to produce some sort of literature from his alleged organization.
At this point in their Facebook argument, someone with half of a brain stepped in and urged them both to stop. They both agreed and then the picture and the comments were deleted. They should remember, though, once something is on the Internet it will never truly be gone.
The latest from Rep. Farley. If you live in his district (LD28), make sure he returns to the Lege.
Howdy, Friends O'Farley...
VOTE VOTE VOTE!!! Yes, we are now in the midst of Election Month, and this will be the last Farley Report before the August 24 primary election day.
Some predict as many as 70% of the votes will be cast by mail, so Election Day will stretch on and on. This gives us all a chance to convince our friends and neighbors that it would be a good idea to re-elect Steve Farley. Please email my campaign manager Daniel (daniel@friendsofarley.com) if you would like to walk or phone with us, display a yard sign, or volunteer in some other way.
Many of you have already received your ballots in the mail, and you may even have sent them in. I thank you so much for your support and your vote. I am also very honored by the many endorsements our campaign has received from a wide range of great Arizona groups.
As of today, endorsements for the Farley campaign include: Tucson Weekly, Arizona League of Conservation Voters, AFL-CIO, Arizona Education Association, Arizona Association of Realtors, Planned Parenthood, Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona, the Sierra Club, Arizona Correctional Peace Officers, Arizona Medical Association, AFSCME, Arizona Nurses Association, Las Adelitas, Associated General Contractors, Equality Arizona, Arizona State Building and Construction Trades Council, National Association of Social Workers, Arizona Pipe Trades Local 469, and IBEW Local 640.
While their individual missions may differ, those organizations have a very important common goal: Restoring common sense to the Arizona Legislature and restoring good policy to the people of Arizona, focusing on jobs, education, and quality of life instead of ideological wedge issues. I am humbled that they have recognized my work in that direction as worthy of their endorsements.
And, boy, is there a lot of work to do!
Thanks to our Republican leaders' speeches telling the world how dangerous it is to be in Arizona--led by Jan Brewer's constant false statements about beheadings in the desert--our tourism industry is taking a dive. More than 7,500 tourism jobs were lost last month alone, and our June sales tax receipts were down almost 6% over last June, which was the worst June in recent history.
To respond to this self-inflicted wound on our economy, Brewer has proposed a $250,000 re-branding of Arizona's image. At the conference in which she announced this effort, she obliviously continued to defend her statements about rampant violence in Arizona. Perhaps if we could pay that $250,000 to Jan Brewer to keep her mouth shut, we could make some headway.
Then again, we could use the money to promote the Arizona Republic "Political Insider" blog's darkly humorous suggestion for a new state slogan -- "Arizona. You Should Be Headed Here."
Only in Arizona can one Republican candidate for Attorney General be under investigation by the Department of Justice, the FBI, the State Bar of Arizona, and the state Supreme Court (did I miss anyone?)...
...while the other Republican candidate for Attorney General has been banned for life by the SEC. This candidate also recently received 7 traffic tickets in a 18 month period! One of those tickets was a criminal citation for going nearly 30 MPH over the posted speed limit while another was for speeding in a school zone (he is the state superintendent of public schools).
Isn't the Attorney General the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the state?
The Three Sonorans blog over at the Tucson Citizen has been covering the Democratic senate primary for some time now. The blog has been very critical of candidate Rodney Glassman, who is a former member of the Tucson city council. Basically, Three Sonorans have been on an all out assault on Glassman, digging deep to find dirt that would damage his campaign. One of the biggest hit pieces was a blog entry titled "Who is Rodney Glassman?" in which details of Glassman and his family's history are highlighted (including Rodney's 2004 $500 donation to a Republican Congressman).
Earlier today when I logged into my Facebook account, I noticed a surprising update from the Three Sonorans' account. The status update claimed the Glassman campaign wants to sue them for libel because of articles that the Sonorans published, including one yesterday.
Here is one of the Three Sonorans' status updates:
Glassman wants to sue me for libel (seriously) because I quote two newspaper articles about Rose Mofford being an Eden supporter, and they STILL claim she's a Glassman supporter.
I can be sued for quoting two newspapers, the AZ Republic and Daily Star? WTF?
Seriously though, he has millions and I got student debt.
The Three Sonorans article published yesterday on the Tucson Citizen claimed that there were rumors several members of the Glassman campaign staff had quit his campaign. Later that same day a correction was run after contact was made with the Glassman camp and the article was renamed "Rodney Glassman staff is still 'happily working for campaign." What the source of this information was I am not sure. But, what I do know is it looks like this article made the Glassman campaign pretty upset.
Does Rodney Glassman really plan to sue the Three Sonorans? I have no idea. I'm not sure if this is just a rumor, word on the street or if the Three Sonorans was actually notified by Glassman's campaign about being sued. Either way, it will be very interesting to read the Tucson Citizen over the next few days. The Three Sonorans says there will be a good Glassman investigative article posted on Monday.
