Reminder: June 12 special general election is coming up for CD 8 House race to replace injured Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who resigned from her office on January 25, 2012. Early voting starts next week on May 17, 2012.

Who’s running:
Ron Barber (D), former Tucson District Director for Congresswoman Giffords (5 years), former State Director of AZ Division of Developmental Disabilities, www.ronbarberforcongress.com, political newcomer

Jesse Kelly (R), project manager of family construction firm, former Marine, Republican nominee for CD 8 House in Nov. 2010 (lost to Giffords by 4156 votes), www.votejessekelly.com

Charlie Manolakis (G), community activist, political newcomer, former Democrat turned Green on March 12, 2012; website under construction?

Two debates coming up between these candidates:

–May 16, Arizona Public Media (AZPM) Arizona Illustrated, on PBS-HD Channel 6, 6 to 7 p.m.
all 3 candidates will be debating,
simulcast on the radio NPR 89.1 FM

If you have any questions for the candidates for the AZPM forum, submit them by going to this link (click here), and by giving your name & city you live in.

–May 23, hosted by Arizona Daily Star & Tucson Jewish Community Center (TJCC),
at the TJCC Ballroom , 3800 E. River Road, 7 p.m.,
all three candidates are scheduled to attend.

This debate will aired live on KVOI AM 1030 Tucson and KAPR AM 930 Douglas. 1030 AM Radio talk show host Bill Buckmaster (www.buckmastershow.com) will be the MC for the evening.

If you want to submit questions for the May 23 debate, send them to politics@azstarnet.com and include your name, phone number, address. Deadline is May 21.

An earlier May 14 debate, hosted by Vail Academy High School has been cancelled via their Facebook page:

Unfortunately, VAHS was unable to secure all three candidates therefore we are canceling the debate scheduled for May 14th. Thank you for all of your support and apologies for the inconvenience; oh, and by the way, the Class of 2013 is already working on the upcoming General Election.

My understanding on that Vail Academy HS debate was that Kelly and Manolakis agreed to participate, but Barber declined.

View separate interviews of each CD 8 House candidate previously done by AZPM reporters:

Ron Barber:http://www.azpm.org/yourvote/story/2012/4/25/184-cd8-democratic-candidate-ron-barber/

Jesse Kelly:http://www.azpm.org/yourvote/story/2012/4/25/182-cd8-republican-candidate-jesse-kelly/

Charlie Manolakis: http://www.azpm.org/news/story/2012/4/27/1454-cd8-candidate-charlie-manolakis/

Vote wisely on or before June 12.

Ron Barber

Jesse Kelly

Charlie Manolakis

If you haven’t mailed back your vote-by-mail General Election ballot yet, listen today at high noon to the Buckmaster Show, KVOI radio station 1030 AM. Host Bill Buckmaster will be interviewing Ward 2 candidates Democrat Paul Cunningham (appointed to that position in May, 2010) and his Republican challenger Jennifer Rawson.

Cunningham, a former juvenile probation officer, is the son of former State Senator George Cunningham, who also served in the cabinets of Governors Mofford and Napolitano. Rawson is a retired Xerox Corporation Materials Manager, and political newcomer.

Both were interviewed on KUAT Channel 6 on September 15(click here).

If you’re having lunch at noon today and miss the interview, you can always listen to it afterwards at www.buckmastershow.com via Standard Podcast.

Paul Cunningham was endorsed by the Arizona Daily Star newspaper last week (click here).

City of Tucson vote-by-mail ballots were mailed out on October 19, and are due by 7 p.m. November 8. Vote wisely.

Here’s information for those of you undecided about the upcoming City of Tucson Mayoral election since vote-by-mail ballots were mailed yesterday on October 19– listen to the Buckmaster Show on KVOI AM 1030 radio tomorrow, at high noon to hear all 3 Mayoral candidates debate. I am sure that host Bill Buckmaster will ask them several tough questions about the City of Tucson’s financial & management woes, for this hour long special show.

Who’s running for Mayor (no incumbent):
Mary DeCamp (G)
Rick Grinnell (R)
Jonathan Rothschild (D)

And if you miss it live, log onto www.buckmastershow.com later in the afternoon to hear the Standard Podcast recording. I often do that whenever I’ve been busy at lunchtime.

Read my previous blog about campaign websites of these candidates, plus those running for City Council Wards 1, 2 and 4 (click here).

Vote wisely on/before the General Election on November 8. For information on where to vote in person, here’s the City of Tucson website with 7 voting locations (click here).

UPDATE: Here’s the link for the 10/21/11 show, http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/10/21/buckmaster-show-10212011-tucson-radios-only-mayoral-debate/