Friday, July 20, 2007

LD 30 Races Get More Interesting

Now that Tim Bee has made his decision to challenge Gabby...pardon me...Gabrielle, and Jonathon Paton is stepping into the state Senate race, Frank Antenori will be announcing his run for the state House joining the rest of the crowd of candidates running in LD30. Frank has some ends to tie up before announcing, but expect something formal late August or early September.

Frank has been working hard to get things ready for this campaign, so he will be jumping pretty quickly out of the chute giving no advantage to those who have already announced. In fact, expect him to come in with a bang, so to speak.

The word on the street is that Frank Antenori and Sharon Collins will be the strongest candidates in the House race.

On the Democrat side, Nan Walden, Green Valley pecan grower, attorney and University of Arizona hired schmoozer is the rumored challenger to Jonathon Paton. Her impressive resume includes work with Senator Moynihan as an environmentalist. She is involved with a group that opposes employer sanctions for hiring illegals and tighter border security measures which seems contradictory to her environmental positions. (It may simply be a matter of priority for her.) She has been a vocal opponent of allowing the Border Patrol to install permanent checkpoints that would route illegals into areas where they would be easier to capture, which has raised the ire of the Border Patrol.

With Paton's strong reputation and Walden's anti-border security positions, it's hard to imagine Paton losing this race in conservative LD30, but Walden certainly will have the money to make it interesting.

13 comments:

Sirocco said...

Glad to hear Timmy ... excuse me, Timothy ... has finally decided to get off the pot and get in the race.

Have you heard this through the grapevine, or has he actually sent out a formal announcement today?

x4mr said...

I echo Sirocco's question. I just posted literally less than half an hour ago that Bee is official, not knowing about your post here. Well, we agree, but I am curious about your source of information.

AZAce said...

Bee has decided on a campaign manager and is making decisions about staff. He is clearly getting the wheels in motion. Also, I don't know what he said to Paton, but it was enough for Paton to be convinced that the Senate seat would be available. My sources close to Bee say the machine is in motion and will move past the exploratory stage soon.

Anonymous said...

No matter what the Senate seat would be available, he's termed out after 2008.

Liza said...

I live in LD30. There's no way Paton can lose this race. George Bush could probably still win in LD30, that's how conservative it is.

x4mr said...

Thanks, Ace, and Liza is spot on. Paton will win. If a smart Democrat runs against him, it will be for exposure and preparation for another objective.

Anonymous said...

Paton is bullet-proof in 30. East Tucson loves him. He's got the support of the military families from Ft. Huachcua and DM and the old people in Green Valley think of him like a grandson.

Anonymous said...

azace -

Who is going to Bee's campaign manager? Is there a consultant locked up?

Anonymous said...

Bee can't have a campaign mgr or declare while in office same with Paton and the rest. All they can do is start an exploratory committee. Anything else is pure rumor..

AZAce said...

When Bee announces, expect to see Meg Econ and Nathan Sproul running the show.

Touchdown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Touchdown said...

Great, if Tim Bee does hire her, then his chances of winning increase dramatically!
Meg Econ is a winner. She's won with Bush/Cheney 2004 & Kyl in 2006. And in 2006, it was a very challenging year for Republicans, but she was involved with a true Conservative Jon Kyl, holding his own in Pima County. She is well connected not just with the Republican & business communities, but with the Tucson and can bring us a victory in 2008. She is dedicated and tireless. I’ve worked with her since early on during the Kyl 2006 campaign and she is more than capable.

If I ever run for anything, I’d have her manage the operation.

The other leg & Senate campaigns could benefit from Tim’s coat tails and should be grateful that he has people like Meg Econ in his corner.

Anonymous said...

I agree with think right about Meg-she is to be admired for her abilities and respected for her dedicated service. Time to start honoring eachother for our contributions. We have things to be proud of. Let's talk about that...