If Hillary Were a Car...

What kind of car would Hillary be? Here's the link to find out: hillaryclintonarmy. Apparently, there's also a Gabby Car in the works. Any guesses as to what that one will be?

Go Hillary!

Read Tedski's letter to Democrat Party Superdelegates with tales of Republican conspiracies and a cry of help for Hillary.

We only hope Tedski reveals the names of Republican conspirators he says he's withholding so we can call in and report on Medved's Conspiracy Day program.

UPDATE: AZAce is clearly suffering from a severe case of Tedski-itis. After falling asleep in the middle of Ben-Hur, he awakened from a nightmare of thousands of toga-clad Tedskis swarming the collosseum in homage to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. For a day or two, he was seeing Tedskis on every blog site. Please accept our apologies for Aces' condition, and particularly to Tedski the unfortunate casualty of Aces' ranting, who we hope will never experience this malady.

Getting Gassed

Those "nasty oil companies" are at it again. But this time, they're in court trying to defend themselves against consumers who resent paying gasoline priced at a temperature of 60 degrees. It turns out that when Arizona temperatures hit 120 degrees, you get a whole lot less gasoline dispensed for the price because the gasoline expands. Of course, our neighbors to the north get a bonus during those long Canadian winters when consumers benefit from more gas for the price. But the oil companies are wise to the Canadians. They're now putting temperature adjusting mechanisms in pumps up there so they make sure they get their due.

How did Governor Janet miss this opportunity when pounding the pulpit for gasoline rebates?

And They Said It Couldn't Be Done

I'm surprised everybody missed the big report in the Arizona Republic about the results of serious, albeit piecemeal, efforts to control smuggling and other illegal entry into the U.S. Putting illegal border crossers in jail, passing an employer hiring law, new fencing, more eyes on the border, and the much touted demand for workers drying up has led to a 40% drop in repeat offenders and fewer illegal crossers.

She Believes!

Listen to Gabby on the Glenn Beck show. Gabby sounds like a true believer. She even questions, somewhat, the legitimacy of giving big bucks to the Mexican government to help fight smuggling on the border. Here are some good reasons why we should give the money to our own Border Patrol, instead.

According to Homeland Security, Mexican officials have a bad habit of melding with the smugglers. Here's the data obtained by Judicial Watch from Homeland Security summarized on GOPUSA.


In 2007, the Office of Border Patrol Field Intelligence Center noted 25 incursions, 4 by Mexican military personnel and 21 by Mexican police officials.

The DHS report on incursions was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Judicial Watch. The organization combed through the report and found a number of such as:

MEXICAN MILITARY INCURSION (ARMED/INTENTIONAL) TUCSON/TUCSON -- On April 23, 2007, Border Patrol Agents...reported a Mexican military incursion on the Tres Bellotas Ranch near Arivaca, Arizona. The agents were using night vision equipment and observed...seven to ten Mexican military personnel in Humvees carrying long arms...The agents continued to back away from the [soldiers] when they heard [one] soldier chamber a round into his rifle. The agents observed...that the military personnel had fanned out in a tactical formation on both sides of the US/Mexico International Boundary.

MEXICAN MILITARY INCURSION (ARMED/INTENTIONAL) TUCSON SECTOR/SONOITA SECTOR -- On July 5, 2007 a Border Patrol Agent...encountered six subjects dressed in tan colored BDU style clothing...A military style Humvee and a black Suburban were parked on the Mexican side of the border...Two of the subjects appeared to be carrying bundles of narcotics on their backs.

MEXICAN POLICE INCURSION (ARMED/INTENTIONAL) EL CENTRO SECTOR/CALEXICO STATION -- On August 26, 2007, Remote Video Surveillance System operators...observed a red Ford F150 south of the All American Canal between the United States and Mexico...Agents...encountered the vehicle and performed a vehicle stop...The agents found credentials on the driver indicating that [name redacted] is an Agent of the Mexican Agencia Federal de Investigation. The agents searched the vehicle and discovered several items to include: guns, ammunition, narcotics, night vision equipment, cell phones, a walkie talkie and a ski mask.

They Want It Rare

Republicans' awe of Gabby's recent conservative shift is not shared by all Democrats. Recent public appearances, tours with GAO accountants, and campaign...er...constituent mailers have been orchestrated to help Gabby paint herself conservative. But Democrats are asking "where's the beef?" They want answers to tough liberal questions and have not been satisfied with surprised staff who felt like deer in the headlights in previous town hall meetings. Gabby has responded by tossing a nice juicy steak to the salivating constituents: an opportunity to discuss impeaching Dick Cheney. Of course, Gabby will excuse herself from the carnage, sending her chief of staff, instead. The poor staffer will be expected to come back with answers demanded at the last town hall meeting in addition to managing the savage crowd of Cheney-haters.

Bloodthirsty types might be interested in attending the meeting Wednesday, February 20th at 7 pm at 3202 E. 1st. Please remember, however, that some scenes may not be suitable for younger viewers.

LD 26 Democrats Giving Away a Seat

Heading into the last half of February, there is still no sign of Democrat incumbent Charlene Pesquiera filing to run for re-election in the state Senate. I have reported here since she first picked up the seat that inside sources have several times quoted Charlene as saying she was not going to run again and her inaction is further evidence of her commitment to that. If she were planning to run, she would have at least filed and begun collecting signatures on Super Tuesday. Failing to do the obvious makes her intentions clear.

It appears that the Democrats are having difficulty filling the anticipated vacancy. There is no word from the party about a new candidate, and with the Republicans determined to take back the seat now well into the race with plenty of momentum in their home territory, it's almost too late for a Democrat to jump in. Some have speculated that in order to hold on to the two seats they picked up in 2006, the Democrats should run Wright for the House and Jorgensen for the Senate instead of throwing a body into the Senate race at the last minute and chance losing a seat they already have. At this point, however, it may be too late for either option.

The way it looks, the Democrats will sacrifice the Senate seat in order to run two candidates for the House and hope they don't end up losing at least one.

Conservatives In Search of a Home

While Newt Gingrich calls for conservatives to declare independence from the Republican Party, GOPUSA is uniting conservatives with a Contract with Conservatives.

Key tenets in the Contract include many of the typical conservative issues: immigration reform including no amnesty, tax reform, reducing the size of government including cutting spending, appointing constructionist judges, support for life, and advocating free speech including repeal of the McCain-Feingold Act.

So where is the conservative movement headed?

Hit Me with Your Best Shot. . .

OK, here is what we are going to do. bit by bit, I am going to release the rough draft of my policy positions, and I want all of you to rip me bloody on it. I want you to find the holes in my logic, the places I am just plain wrong, and don't be afraid to call me an idiot.

That being said, this will not be the entirety of my Education position. I have several more points of emphasis that I will release after getting feedback for each.

Here we go:

Increasing Education Expenditure by Understanding and Controlling Capital Spending.

Several studies have shown that we can expect exponential growth in Arizona over the next 20 years. Building the infrastructure required to sustain this growth is likely to further strain education funding during this period and going forward. Careful planning and proper policy, however, can help preserve at least a portion of the funding that would otherwise be claimed by capital and return it to operations and the actual teaching of our students. Some specific things that can be done:

1. Reaffirm and expand Arizona’s commitment to open enrollment and home schooling. So far, the charter school program has been a tremendous success and has slightly to moderately slowed the need for infrastructure growth as the facilities for charter schools are privately funded. An upswing in home schooling, while providing Arizona families more choices in the education of their children, has also relieved some of the infrastructure burden that would have occurred otherwise. If families wish to participate in a charter school or home schooling, then the barriers should be further reduced where practicable.

2. Maximizing use and maintenance of existing structures. It is important that older buildings be maintained and updated in such a manner as to keep them operable for extended periods of time. Schools that may be losing enrollment due to their location in areas where demographics are skewing toward older families without school aged children should be moved toward utility as “magnet” schools which are more likely to attract students based on specialized curriculum rather than proximity. Studies should be done to determine the feasability as well as the effectiveness of moving some schooling systems to year-round operation.

3. We should resist, at all cost, to succumb to the suddenly popular urge to finance new school infrastructure to hide budget deficits. Not only is it wrong to essentially tax our children to hide our poor spending decisions in other areas, but the convenience of resorting to credit in government spending, as in personal spending, often obscures the need to make hard choices. It is the duty of the state leadership to face and make difficult decisions as they spring up and not kick these problems down the road for future leaders, especially when it comes to education.

When the Toll Comes Due

So what happens when Gabby Gifford's largest contributor, Emily's List, comes a callin' wanting her super delegate vote for to be cast for Clinton?

It appears that they're just not that into Obamamania.

And should Gabby defy them and move toward Obama, will Emily's List look toward supporting other women candidates with like minded goals instead?

I would not suspect Giffords to be an early endorser. Why start with the courage now?

Press coverage of Sen. Bee

Some commentators have suggested that staying in the Legislature had some drawbacks for Senator Bee. Most people focused on the difficulty in navigating the pending budget crisis. Now it looks like the press is noticing that he is campaigning while in office. Giffords is also campaigning while staying in her position but don’t hold your breath waiting for the newspaper story asking, “Where’s Gabby?”

Selected, not Elected

I really like most of my Democrat blogger counterparts. So I am not sure that it with a slight bit of humor or sadness for them as I watch them get excited about the results of their primary, pulling for Obama.

You see, the thing is, that the Democratic Presidential Primary system is set up in such a way as to guarantee that in a close, or even relatively close election, the party elite will determine who the nominee is.

In the primary, there are no Winner Take All states or ways for a candidate to have a resounding victory and get a lot of separation. Indeed in true "everybody is equal, nobody is special" style, the system almost seems rigged to guarantee a close popular primary result. It makes for an exciting race right?

Well, no actually. Let me introduce you to Mr. Super Delegate. These are the Democrats who's votes count a lot more than the others. Just to make it clear, you need 2,025 delegates to clinch, but there are 796 available Super Delegates. That is quite a bit of popular-vote-overcoming slush available.

This site has the rule that stipulates who is a "super delegate:"

UNPLEDGED AND PLEDGED PARTY LEADERS AND ELECTED OFFICIAL DELEGATES

1. The procedure to be used for certifying unpledged party leader and elected official delegates is as follows:

Not later than March 1, 2008, the Secretary of the Democratic National Committee shall officially confirm to each State Democratic Chair the names of the following unpledged delegates who legally reside in their respective state and who shall be recognized as part of their state’s delegation unless any such member has publicly expressed support for the election of, or has endorsed, a presidential candidate of another political party;

1. The individuals recognized as members of the DNC (as set forth in Article Three, Sections 2 and 3 of the Charter of the Democratic Party of the United States); and,

2. The Democratic President and the Democratic Vice President of the United States, if applicable; and,

3. All Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives and all Democratic members of the United States Senate; and,

4. The Democratic Governor, if applicable; and,

5. All former Democratic Presidents, all former Democratic Vice Presidents, all former Democratic Leaders of the U.S. Senate, all former Democratic Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives and Democratic Minority Leaders, as applicable, and all former Chairs of the Democratic National Committee.

So basically a list of "Who's who" among party INSIDERS.

Indeed according to this same site, Clinton already holds a lead among committed super delegates at a 2-1 clip. To even make things close, Obama would have to pick up the remaining insiders at a 65% to 35% clip.

I don't think that is too likely. Welcome nominee Clinton

Romney Out, Huckabee Stays In

Romney has officially thrown in the towel according to Associated Press. Huckabee vowed to stay in it. His role as the spoiler is over, so it's hard to understand what he has to gain by staying in. Clearly, remaining delegates will shift en masse to McCain leaving Huckabee even farther behind.

Romney cited as a reason for his decision the need for McCain to be able to launch his bid for the general election as soon as possible.

McCain has a difficult, but necessary, task in reaching out to Romney and Huckabee supporters. Social conservatives who watched fellow Republicans refuse to endorse, or even openly oppose, conservative candidates and causes, struggle to respond when those same Republicans demand obeisance to a candidate who they feel denigrated them. Yet, without the unity of the party behind him, McCain will have a difficult time overcoming the combined Obama/Clinton force that will come out of the Democrat Party's nomination. It won't do to take his delegates and dismiss the other half of the party as "fringe." He needs to reach out just as Reagan reached out and made the party stronger.

Senator McCain's speech to CPAC was a good beginning. Now, he needs to follow up with a massive unification campaign to reassure the rest of the party that they are included in his vision.

Locally, it's possible that Republican congressional candidates will get a bit of a lift from the McCain nomination. State legislative candidates will still have to stand on their own, however.

Poll Station Observations

So, I spent a great deal of time at the polls this morning gathering signatures, and here are my offhand observations.

1. Pretty big Democratic turnout in general. Not sure if this is good for Obama or Clinton, but I would guess Obama.

2. Really low Republican turnout in big McCain areas and really heavy turnout in likely Romney areas. If I were a gambling man, I might not bet on Romney to win, but I would sure bet against the polling spread.

3. My volunteers seem to outnumber all of the other volunteers in the admittedly Republican leaning districts in 26. Al Melvin's volunteers were a close second, followed by Pete Hershberger not far behind that. I didn't see anything in the way of Tim Bee or Gabby Giffords surrogates.

4. Barbara Lawall employee Ken Janes was seen gathering signatures for Lawall at a polling station on Orange Grove. It is my understanding that Janes is on salary, and that gathering signatures on the public dime probably doesn't fall under his job description.

5. A big thank you to all of those out there gathering signatures for my campaign. With the initial count it appears that we may have more than enough to qualify and have a pretty decent cushion.

Democrats Out In Force

All indications are that Democrats are turning out in large numbers today. Traditional Republican strongholds in Oro Valley are reporting Democrats outnumbering Republicans by 3 to 1 in some precincts. No doubt, some of that is a result of the passion Democrats have for their candidates. Hillary is a love-her-or-hate-her candidate that brings people out either way. Many voters are reporting they changed their status from independent to Democrat so they could vote for Obama and Obama sign holders have been spotted at some polling places.It will be interesting to learn who at the end of the day was the recipient of the most passion.

On the Republican side, a cold morning, closed roads, low passion, and resulting low turnout probably bodes well for Romney and not so well for McCain. Again, time will tell.

The large numbers of voters showing up at the polls Tedski reported over at RR&R could be the result of high turnout, but may be the result of fewer polling places since many polling places are taking voters for two precincts. A high number of voters were said to have voted early, but that may apply mostly to the Dove Mountain and Sun City crowds.

Interestingly, Tedski reported that he was picked out of the crowd as a Republican. Was it his cardigan sweater, or the truck he was driving? :)