Got a late notice to attend a candidate community forum sponsored by the NAACP – Tucson chapter, Tucson Urban League, and the Tucson-Southern Arizona Black Chamber of Commerce, held tonight at the Dunbar School Auditorium, 325 W. 2nd Street (at Main Ave.) As I walked in Jonathan Peck, President of the Tucson Urban League was announcing that all Republican, Democratic and 3rd party candidates (statewide) and for Southern Arizona had been invited to attend & participate. About 100 people, mostly African Americans, were in the audience.

These were the state legislators that participated tonight (1st panel):
LD 25 House Rep. Pat Fleming (D)
LD 27 House candidates Sally Ann Gonzales and Dr. Macario Saldate (Ds)
LD 28 Senator Paula Aboud (D)
LD 28 Senate candidate Dave Ewoldt (I)
LD 28 House Rep. Steve Farley (D)
LD 28 House candidate Bruce Wheeler (D)
LD 30 House candidate Andrea Dalessandro (D)
LD 30 Senate candidate Dr. Todd Camenish (D), came in late

Also attending to participate in the 2nd panel were U.S. Senate candidate Rodney Glassman,
Attorney General Terry Goddard running for Governor, Sec. of State candidate Chris Deschene, and State Mine Inspector candidate Manuel Cruz, all Democrats.

Questions asked of the panelists were basically about steps they would take to improve education, to bring economic opportunity to minority populations, to strengthen public health for communities of color, to provide quality health care, and to insure equal treatment in the criminal justice system for minority populations. Being as these were all Democrats (and one Independent, formerly a Green Party activist) their answers were quite uniform in advocating and trying to restore funding to all these areas.

Of note: Sally Ann Gonzales mentioned that she is of Yaqui heritage, Chris Deschene is a member of the Navajo Nation, and Manuel Cruz and Dr. Macario Saldate are Hispanic, and provided their ethnic backgrounds and expertise to their responses.

The last question was about what steps could be taken to insure a fair and just dialogue re: immigration reform, and both Rodney Glassman and Terry Goddard said that could be done by “retiring John McCain.” Chris Deschene repeatedly asked the audience to elect Democrats to the state legislature, where he currently serves as House Rep. in LD 2.

Also in attendance tonight were former Pima County Democratic Party Chair Paul Eckerstrom for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and former Democratic Pima County Supervisor Dan Eckstrom. Fellow blogger “3 Sonorans” (David Morales) was there as well, and will be posting a video capturing the panelists’ answers to some of these questions. I’ll link to his blog once he posts it. UPDATE: Unfortunately neither David nor I got a lot of advance notice of this forum, so his cell phone video did not tape well (see his comment below).

Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission schedule for upcoming General Election debates:

Statewide races, all telecast on KAET Horizon Channel 8 in Phoenix, to be posted online at their website within 72 hours after the debates. D indicates Democrat, G indicates Green Party, I indicates Independent, L indicates Libertarian, R indicates Republican. Most of these candidates will be invited, but not all attend the debates, as it’s only mandatory for those participating in “clean” elections. To find out who’s a participating candidate, click here.

Governor
September 1, 7 to 8 p.m.
(Governor Jan Brewer – R, Larry Gist- G, Attorney General Terry Goddard- D, Barry Hess- L)

Attorney General (9/3/10 UPDATE: DEBATE CANCELED DUE TO NEITHER BEING A “CLEAN” ELECTIONS CANDIDATE).
September 8, 7 to 7:30 p.m.
(Tom Horne- R, Felecia Rotellini – D)

Superintendent of Public Instruction
September 15, 7 to 7:30 p.m.
(John Huppenthal -R, Penny Kotterman- D)

Secretary of State
September 22, 7 to 7:30 p.m.
(Sec. of State Ken Bennett – R, Chris Deschene – D)

Treasurer (9/3/10 UPDATE: DEBATE CANCELED DUE TO NEITHER BEING “CLEAN” ELECTIONS CANDIDATE).
September 29, 7 to 7:30 p.m.
(Doug Ducey – R, Andrei Cherny – D)

Corporation Commission (2 seats)
October 4, 7 to 7:30 p.m.
(Commissioner Gary Pierce – R, David Bradley – D, Brenda Burns – R, Jorge Luis Garcia – D)

State Mine Inspector
October 06, 2010, 7 PM – 7:30 PM
(Inspector Joe Hart – R, Miguel Cruz – D)

Legislative Districts (Southern Arizona), all “Clean” candidates in House & Senate are required to participate, and others running traditionally may do as well. One seat is open in the State Senate, two seats in the State House in each legislative district.

District 26 (9/3/10 UPDATE:DEBATE CANCELED AS ALL CANDIDATES NOT PARTICIPATING IN CLEAN ELECTIONS, RUNNING TRADITIONALLY)
September 16, 6 p.m.
PCC Northwest Campus, 7600 N. Shannon Rd.
(State Senate: Cheryl Cage – D, Senator Al Melvin – R;
State House: Terri Proud – R, Rep. Vic Williams- R, Rep. Nancy Young Wright – D)

District 27
September 9, 6 p.m.
PCC West Campus, 2202 W. Anklam Rd.
(State Senate: Olivia Cajero Bedford- D, Duke Schechter- R is a write-in candidate,as is Jaime Vasquez – R; State House: Gene Chewning – I, Robert Compton – R, Sally Ann Gonzales – D, Dr. Macario Saldate – D, Kent Solberg – G)

District 28
September 14, 6 p.m.
PCC Community Room, 4905 E. Broadway
(State Senate: Senator Paula Aboud – D, Ted Downing – I, Dave Ewoldt – I, Greg Krino – R;
State House: Rep. Steve Farley – D, Ken Smalley- R, Bruce Wheeler- D)

District 29
September 28, 6 p.m.
PCC Community Room, 4905 E. Broadway
(State Senate: Senator Linda Lopez – D, unopposed;
(State House: Rep. Matt Heinz – D, Pat Kilburn – R, Rep. Daniel Patterson – D)

District 30
September 30, 6 p.m.
PCC East Campus, 8181 E. Irvington
(State Senate: Senator Frank Antenori – R, Dr. Todd Camenisch – D;
State House: Andrea Dalessandro – D, Rep. David Gowan – R, and Rep. Ted Vogt -R)

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View the latest results at 5:55 a.m. (August 25) from Secretary of State Ken Bennett, with Maricopa & Pima Counties not completely reporting:

http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/AZ/19539/32130/en/summary.html

Line up for the General Election (so far):

U. S. Senator John McCain (R) vs. former Tucson Councilmember Dr. Rodney Glassman (D) vs. Jerry Joslyn (G) vs. David Nolan (L)

CD 7 U. S. House Rep. Raul Grijalva (D) vs. Raytheon rocket scientist Ruth McClung (R) vs. George Keane (L) vs. Harley Meyer (I)

CD 8 U. S. House Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) vs. businessman Jesse Kelly (R) vs. Dr. Steven Stoltz (L)

Governor Jan Brewer (R) vs. Attorney General Terry Goddard (D) vs. Larry Gist (G) vs. Barry Hess (L)

Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R) vs. House Rep. Chris Deschene (D)

Attorney General
Tom Horne (R) vs. Felecia Rotellini (D)

Treasurer:
Businessman Doug Ducey (R) vs. Former Assistant AG Andrei Cherny (D)

Superintendent of Public Instruction:
State Senator John Huppenthal (R) vs. Former Arizona Education Association Pres. Penny Kotterman (D)

Corporation Commission (2 seats):
Commissioner Gary Pierce & Brenda Burns (Rs) vs. David Bradley and Jorge Luis Garcia (Ds)

In Southern Arizona Legislative districts:

LD 26:
State Senator Al Melvin (R) vs. businesswoman Cheryl Cage (D)
State House: Rep. Vic Williams and paralegal Terri Proud (Rs) vs. State House Rep. Nancy Young Wright (D)

LD 27:
State Senator Olivia Cajero Bedford (D), vs. write in candidates Duke Schechter (R) and Jaime Vasquez (R);
State House: former legislator Sally Ann Gonzales and Dr. Macario Saldate (Ds) vs. businessman Robert Compton (R), businessman Kent Solberg (G), pastor Gene Chewning (I)

LD 28:
State Senator Paula Aboud (D) vs. Independents Dave Ewoldt and Ted Downing, and Attorney Greg Krino (R)
State House: Rep. Steve Farley and former legislator Bruce Wheeler (Ds) vs. businessman Ken Smalley (R)

LD 29:
State Senator Linda Lopez (D) unopposed
State House: Rep. Matt Heinz and Rep. Daniel Patterson (Ds) vs. businessman Pat Kilburn (R)

LD 30:
State Senator Frank Antenori (R) vs. Dr. Todd Camenisch (D)
State House: Rep. David Gowan and Rep. Ted Vogt (Rs) vs. businesswoman Andrea Dalessandro (D)

UPDATE: Wed. 8/25 at 7:57 p.m. Sec. of State website listing vote total at 801,003, 25.81% of the registered voters cast ballots, with only Maricopa County still partially reporting. Stay tuned for final unofficial results, especially for AG race which is still too close to call for the Republican nomination. Other races likely to remain the same till all votes counted, and the canvass is accepted.

UPDATE: Thurs. 8/26 5:07 p.m. 869,441 votes counted to date, 28.02% voter turnout. Stay tuned for tomorrow night’s tally. Horne ahead of Andrews by wider margin (1073), same with Rotellini over Lujan by a much wider margin (3203), causing Lujan to concede tonight. Same candidates still ahead in LD 26, 27, 28, which are the only close races to watch now.

UPDATE: Friday 8/27 6:36 p.m. 913,578 votes counted to date, 29.44 % turnout. Andrew Thomas thought of conceding today but has apparently changed his mind since he is only 485 votes behind Horne now. Most candidates leading in LD 26, 27 and 28 seem to have won. About 22,000 votes still to be counted, stay tuned for next tally.

UPDATE: Saturday 8/28 8:13 p.m. 931,817 votes counted, 30.03% turnout. Andrew Thomas still behind Tom Horne by 853 votes. Let’s see what Monday’s tally will be.

UPDATE: Monday 8/30, 5:54 p.m. 933,212 votes counted, 30.08% turnout. Tom Horne has declared victory,but Thomas has not conceded. Sec. of State’s office told me they had 3800 votes to count today and into tomorrow. Counties have 5 working days to submit their votes, so tomorrow night is the deadline. Finally!

FINAL UPDATE: Tuesday 8/31, 4:29 p.m. 934,113 votes cast (final unofficial results), turnout 30.10 % of the 3,102,876 registered voters in Arizona. Tom Horne received 899 more votes than Andrew Thomas for the AG Republican nomination, a very close race considering how many votes were cast in that race (555,699).