Who In So. AZ Wants to be National Committeeman?

So far, we know of Bill Montgomery's interest in picking up the open national committeeman slot. We believe he has actually turned his name in and is serious about going after it. Bill has a lot to gain by getting involved at this level and probably sees it as a springboard to another run at state Attorney General. His disadvantage might be that with two votes already coming from Maricopa, there will be considerable pressure to reach outside for the third RNC representative, especially with southern Arizonans looking for more, not less, representation.

From southern Arizona we know there is interest from Mike Hellon, Randy Graf and Bruce Ash. Mike, with his previous experience in the post, certainly shows up as a strong candidate. He hasn't suggested any interest in running for other positions, so it's a good bet he will throw his hat in the ring even though we haven't heard that he has actually submitted his name. Perhaps he will let us know in a future post.

Randy Graf is still deciding whether or not he wants the position. With his name recognition, strong party following, and legislative experience, he, too, would be a strong candidate. At the same time, he serves on both the Pima County and state GOP executive committees, so he certainly doesn't need the position to remain active in the party. Randy has not formally submitted his name either and we think there's a reasonable chance he won't. Maybe he will surprise us in one of his future posts.

Bruce Ash is considering the opportunity probably as a means of becoming more involved, making national party connections, and getting his name known among party activists in preparation for the next CD8 race. One challenge he would run into is trying to run his campaign while finishing his term as national committeeman, provided he got the nod. To our knowledge, he hasn't turned in his name to Linda White, the official name turn in person (ONTIP). His might be a little more of a long shot simply because he hasn't had the involvement and recognition of other candidates.

We have heard that nominations will not be ready for the March 3rd state executive committee meeting. That won't be a problem since the next RNC meeting is still 6 months away, but, hopefully we'll know more long before then.