Sorry I haven't reported in a while. I am actually "efforting" some leads and hope to have some original interviews and news going up shortly.
In the meantime, however, I intend to solve the internal Democratic spat that has spilled over into just about every corner of the Southern Arizona Political Blogosphere. Seeing as I cannot hope to have a in-depth grasp on the issues important to the liberal end of the spectrum in comparison to those visiting my site, I had to find a way to get a direct answer, free of any campaigning or outside persuasion. This has the added bonus of being able to determine actual candidate intent, which is sometimes not possible to do before election day. Time to consult the Oracle.
My first thought was be to use the trusty magic eight ball. However, fate kept giving me the "ask again later," which got me nowhere.
So I turned to Numerology. Using the URL of each candidates campaign web site, I was able to break down the text of each site into corresponding numbers using a handy generator. The resulting numeric patterns then clued me in to the soul of each candidate. Here are the results:
Francine Shacter-- 63% evil, 37% good
Gabrielle Giffords-- 32% evil, 68% good
Jeff Latas-- 29% evil, 63% good
Alex Rodriguez -- 25% evil, 75% good
Patty Weiss-- 1% evil, 99% good
So, overall, the Democrats are fielding a pretty benevolent group for the primary with the exception of the slightly twisted Francine Shacter (who knew?).
So based on this, the official ArizonaEighth Numerology Endorsement for the Democratic Primary goes to Patty Weiss as the most "good" candidate.
--I promise to have some more serious posting soon.
4 comments:
You'd think there would be a GOP poll that someone would want to publish by now...
They wouldn't want to publish them, because all the polls are showing the same thing: Patty wins the general. There's NOTHING worth touting for any of the other campaigns. That's why there have been at least five, likely six polls taken in CD 8, and the only two that have been published are from Patty's camp.
It's also why the republicans keep talking up Gabby as the anointed Democratic nominee -- they know they can beat her.
I'm pretty sure that any GOP poll would still be lopsided in Randy Graf's favor at this point. Besides the obvious name recognition factor, there are a couple of other things that lead me to believe this:
1. Huffman's campaign at this point is in the doldrums. see his "Press Room" page on his web site. Every one of his Campaign News clips is about his Kolbe endorsement. There is nothing really going on at this point to attract attention to him or excite prospective voters. This showed in the minimal amount of signatures he turned in as well. Obviously he intends to spend money on a media blitz closer toward the primary. This will probably make up ground in any potential polling numbers, but I would bet that he is still relatively unknown to casual Primary voters. He is probably banking on the assumption that no one is really paying attention at this point, which could be the case.
2. Mike Hellon's recent ads on the radio show that his position on border control are moving closer to Graf's. Although there is one sentence about a guest worker program, the remainder of the ad sounds suspiciously like something from the Graf plan, and certainly more enforcement driven then the plan laid out on his website. The fact that he is running toward Graf's position would lead me to believe that Graf's position is strong.
What would be interesting to see, however, is if the internal polls taken a few weeks ago and the most recent polls show a drop in support of Graf due to the Steve Aiken kerfuffle. It appears that Hellon seems to think so and is spending money targeting Graf voters with his new ads, but unless we see a poll or some movement from Steve Huffman, we cannot be sure to the degree that this has cost Graf.
I would highly doubt that we will see a candidate released poll at all in this race on the Republican side. I don't believe that Graf will spend the money on it, and there is no upside to the others releasing a poll showing themselves trailing.
I'm of two minds about whether or not big money is going to be effective in the primary. Of course it is always better to have the money and media blitz then not to have it, but I think the conventional wisdom might not hold.
Looking at the Busby v. Bilbray race, the thing that absolutely stunned me was the turnout. I beleive it was close to record lows, if not the actual low. WIth all of the hype, I would have there would have been more voters. It may be that "normal" people are just sick of politics and need a breather.
The truth is, there are political junkies who are following this race, then there is everyone else. I believe that the "everyone else" portion of the electorate is likely to sit this primary out in great numbers. Many of the "Undecideds" "soft supporters" in Patty's poll are probably not going to vote. The only caveat to this is if there is a driving issue out there that a candidate addresses that will expand the "political junkie" base. What absolute issue or issues does Giffords or Weiss address that keeps people awake at nights? It will have to be something more than "We need to beat the Republican, and only I can do it!" as neither can lay absolute claim to that mantle at this point. The first candidate to grab an important issue and own it will have an upper hand.
Money can buy recognition, but it cannot buy grassroots. The better part of the people who are actually going to vote, are probably already engaged at some level in the party or this race. I'm not sure that spending more money is going to attract a large swath of new voters to the primary. Finding and converting a "believer" that will drag his or her family and friends to the polls is worth far more than a street sign and a television commercial.
Believers are built on issues, and at this point I'm not seeing the "big idea" from either Patty or Gabby that is going to bring the non-diehards to the primary. Clean elections and the Walmart debate don't qualify as "big." They help reenforce the current believer's choices, but they will not decide the campaign.
So the final answer is that if Patty or Gabby are not satisfied in the current strength of their grassroots (I do not believe this can be quantified and compared at this point, so they shouldn't be satisfied) they will need to take a risk on the issues. Otherwise it will be a nailbiter all the way through, no matter what the money situation is.
The rub is that an issue risk that helps them in the primary, is likely to have a negative effect in the general (thus the risk), which is why many of their policy stands are so scripted and similar at this point. Money nor name recognition will mint "believers". This will be done face to face campagning and selling issues. The better the issue, the easier and quicker the sale which equals more believers.
Keep in mind that most of what I am saying applies to the primary. The General will be another thing entirely.
What is the issue that will create diehard Primary voters? I know what it is for the Republicans, not sure what it is for the Democrats at this point. The first to find it and own it will win the grassroots battle and the Primary regardless of name recognition or money in the bank.
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