Senior Arizona U.S. Senator John McCain will face off with his 3 challengers: Rodney Glassman (D), Jerry Joslyn (G) and David Nolan (L) on Sunday, September 26 at 6 p.m. on Channel 3 KTVK in Phoenix, in Tucson on Channel 18 KTTU, and live-stream online at www.azfamily.com.

Various house parties are being hosted to view this live, but here’s a non-partisan one:

Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is hosting a non-partisan senatorial debate watching party
Where: McMahon’s Steakhouse on Ft. Lowell, 2959 N. Swan Rd.
When: Sunday, September 26, 2010, 6:00 PM

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For more info call the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
4420 E. Speedway, #101
Office: (520) 620-0005
www.tucsonhispanicchamber.org

Campaign websites for these candidates:

–Dr. Rodney Glassman, www.rodneyglassman.com
–Jerry Joslyn, www.joslynforsenate.com
–Senator John McCain, www.johnmccain.com
–David Nolan, www.nolan2010.org

Read my previous blog (with photos) on the lesser known Green & Libertarian U.S. Senate candidates (click here).

Dr. Glassman (who served Dec. 2007- April, 2010 on the Tucson City Council) won the Democratic primary on August 24 with 34% of the vote, over 3 challengers– John Dougherty, Dr. Cathy Eden, and Randy Parraz.

Senator John McCain needs no introduction from me, being the 2008 GOP U.S. Presidential nominee and U.S. Senator since 1987 representing Arizona, and U.S. Congressman for 4 years prior to that. McCain easily defeated 2 challengers with 56% of the vote in the GOP primary, over former Congressman J.D. Hayworth and businessman Jim Deakin.

11/22/10 update: Libertarian candidate David Nolan passed away yesterday suddenly (click here).

John McCain is a household name here in his home state of Arizona. After all he has been the Senior U.S. Senator from Arizona since 1987, and served 4 years as an Arizona U.S. Congressman prior to that. He prevailed over Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney to become the Republican nominee for U.S. President just two years ago. And Senator McCain had run for President before in 2000.

U.S. Senator John McCain

Today at his Tucson headquarters (2945 E. Grant Road) Senator McCain said to his supporters, including CD 8 candidate Jonathan Paton and Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll, that he hopes for a “great celebration” tomorrow night when he wins the Arizona primary. He thanked his supporters and volunteers, saying that many had “been with him since the beginning”, and he promised for “a time in action in the U.S. Senate” in 2011, as he had “great faith” in our country. Prior to his speech, McCain praised the work done in the Arizona state legislature and in Iraq of former State Senator Jonathan Paton, who incidentally said he met McCain for the first time in Fallujah.

The Senator appeared confident that he would win the Republican primary tomorrow against his challengers, former CD 5 Congressman J.D. Hayworth and Phoenix businessman Jim Deakin. Some say this is his toughest primary challenge in his career.

U.S. Senators have a lot of stature, since there are only 100 of them in America. Being as I used to work on Capitol Hill for fellow U.S. Senator Dan Inouye as a legislative aide on his personal staff, I know what it feels like to be close to their power & influence. And incumbent Senator McCain at age 73, does indeed wield that power & influence on the national and international scene. Incidentally he will be celebrating his 74th birthday in a week, on August 29.

Stay tuned for election results tomorrow on this race, and to find out which Democrat (John Dougherty, Dr. Cathy Eden, Dr. Rodney Glassman, or Randy Parraz) will be the newest challenger in John McCain’s long political career. And read my earlier blog on the Green and Libertarian challengers in this race (click here).

Back in March, during Women’s “Herstory” month, I blogged about the rise of women politicians in Arizona (click here). Coming up is Women’s Equality Day on August 26, celebrating the suffrage movement allowing women the right to vote.

So now as we head into the Arizona primary on Tuesday August 24, here’s a list of the women candidates and politicians up for re-election in Arizona (and mostly Southern Arizona). D stands for Democratic Party, G for Green Party, R for Republican Party.

–U.S. Senate: Dr. Cathy Eden (D) candidate
–U.S. House: Ruth McClung (R) in CD 7, candidate
–U.S. House: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D) in CD 8, incumbent

–Governor Jan Brewer (R), incumbent
–Sec. of State: Michelle Lochmann (G), write-in candidate
–Attorney General: Felecia Rotellini (D), candidate
–Treasurer: Barbara Leff (R), candidate
–Superintendent of Public Instruction: Margaret Garcia Dugan (R), candidate;
Penny Kotterman (D), candidate;
Dr. Beth Price (R), candidate
–Corporation Commission: Brenda Burns (R), candidate

–State Senate LD 25: Gail Griffin (R), candidate, former legislator
–State Senate LD 26: Cheryl Cage (D), candidate
–State Senate LD 27: Olivia Cajero Bedford (D), candidate, former legislator
–State Senate LD 28: Paula Aboud (D), incumbent
–State Senate LD 29: Linda Lopez (D), incumbent
–State Senate LD 30: Marian McClure (R), candidate, former legislator

–State House LD 25: Patricia Fleming (D), incumbent;
Peggy Judd (R), candidate
–State House LD 26: Terri Proud (R), candidate;
Nancy Young Wright (D), incumbent
–State House LD 27: Sally Ann Gonzales (D), candidate, former legislator
–State House LD 28: Mohur Sidhwa (D), candidate
–State House LD 30: Andrea Dalessandro (D), candidate;
Parralee Schneider (R), candidate

Seems like there’s now a woman candidate for almost every elected office in Arizona (except State Mine Inspector, which doesn’t quite seem like a woman’s job). But I could be wrong on that one. We have come a long way.

Vote wisely on or before August 24.