“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today….”

to celebrate another Thanksgiving, and to give thanks for all we have. My simple list this year of what I am grateful for:

–my wonderful, loving family

–my good friends who bring joy and fun moments to my life

–my health so far (very important asset as we all age). Remember “Aging: if it’s not your issue, it will be”.

–the fact that I’ve now blogged 1183 posts online here, to inform and educate the community about what’s happening here in Tucson and Southern Arizona.

It’s been almost three/half years since I started up “Carolyn’s Community” on June 18, 2009. And it’s been mostly fun and rewarding. Glad we have competent veteran Tucson Citizen reporters Mark Evans (our Administrator) and Wildcat sports guru Anthony Gimino working for us at Tucsoncitizen.com.

Usually I ask everyone at a Thanksgiving dinner just to say one thing they are grateful for. If you would like to add a comment below about what you are thankful for, please do.

Happy Thanksgiving one and all.

Tucsoncitizen.com administrator Mark Evans reports that a large # of early ballots may not be counted in time for complete results last night:
http://tucsoncitizen.com/mark-evans/archives/761/. It is also unclear how many provisional ballots were cast yesterday as well.

Latest unofficial election returns from Secretary of State’s website, click here for updates.

UPDATE: Will try to update each evening as ballots are counted by Pima County and updated by AZ Sec. of State–but only for CD 1, CD 2, LD 9 House, LD 10 House, PCC District 5 Board, TUSD School Board which are close races.

For updates after Nov. 10, go to new summary post: http://tucsoncitizen.com/community/2012/11/10/2012-arizona-general-election-updates/

U.S. Senate (open seat)
Richard Carmona (D) 754,416
Jeff Flake (R) 834,206
Marc Victor (L) 72,227

CD 1 (open seat) Kirkpatrick is still leading as of 11/9/12
Kim Allen (L) 13,061
Ann Kirkpatrick (D) 107,750
Jonathan Paton (R) 101,486

CD 2 – may be too close to call – McSally is leading on 11/9/12
Ron Barber (D), incumbent CD 8, 125,187
Martha McSally (R) 125,223

CD 3
Raul Grijalva (D), incumbent CD 7, 67,595
Blanca Guerra (L) 5168
Gabriela Saucedo Mercer (R) 46,419

LD 2
State Senate
Linda Lopez (D), incumbent LD 29, 31,118

State House – 2 seats
Chris John Ackerley (R) 19,698
Andrea Dalessandro (D) 22,483
Rosanna Gabaldon (D) 21,371

LD 3
State Senate (unopposed)
Olivia Cajero Bedford, incumbent LD 27, 31,124

State House – 2 seats (unopposed)
Sally Ann Gonzales (D), incumbent LD 27, 25,986
Macario Saldate (D), incumbent LD 27, 22,482

LD 9
State Senate
Steve Farley (D), 38,191
Tyler Mott (R), 31,361

State House – 2 seats: Orr and Steele still leading as of 11/9/12
Ethan Orr (R), 37,622
Mohur Sarah Sidhwa (D), 35,237
Victoria Steele (D), 39,053

LD 10
State Senate
Frank Antenori (R), incumbent LD 30, 31,919
David Bradley (D), 37,157

State House – 2 seats: Mach & Wheeler still leading as of 11/9/12
Todd Clodfelter (R, 31,712
Stefanie Mach (D), 35,535
Ted Vogt (R), incumbent LD 30, 33,389
Bruce Wheeler (D), incumbent LD 28, 37,609

LD 11
State Senate
Jo Holt (D), 29,185
Al Melvin (R), incumbent LD 26, 38,590

State House – 2 seats
Dave Joseph (D), 27,843
Adam Kwasman (R), 33,517
Steve Smith (R), 35,860

LD 14
State Senate
Pat Fleming (D), 20,958
Gail Griffin (R), incumbent LD 25, 36,049

State House – 2 seats
David Gowan ( R), incumbent LD 30, 31,924
Robert Leach (D), 18,863
David Stevens (R), incumbent LD 25, 31,711
Mark Stonebracker (D), 18,863

Corporation Commission (3 seats)
Robert Burns (R), 696,394
Marcia Busching (D) 552,608
Christopher Gohl (L), 76,729
Sandra Kennedy (D), incumbent, 613,556
Thomas Meadows (G), 46,634
Paul Newman (D), incumbent, 618,251
Daniel Pout (G),39,133
Susan Bitter Smith (R), 690,049
Bob Stump (R), incumbent, 722,434

Returns from Pima County elections of some races, http://www.pima.gov/elections/results1.htm. Go online for the other races — Constables, Justices of the Peace, other school boards.

Pima County Assessor (unopposed)
Bill Staples (D), incumbent, 196,926

Pima County Attorney
Claudia Ellquist (G) – withdrawn
Barbara LaWall (D), incumbent, 195,334

Pima County Recorder
Bill Beard (R), 103,631
F. Ann Rodriguez (D), incumbent, 172,719

Pima County Sheriff
Dave Croteau (G), 9584
Clarence Dupnik (D), incumbent, 154,842
Mark Napier (R), 143,895

Pima County Superintendent of Schools (unopposed)
Linda Arzoumanian (R), incumbent, 187,671

Board of Supervisors
District 1 (open seat)
Ally Miller (R) 42,841
Nancy Young Wright (D) 36,119

District 2
Jim Kelley (R), 13,902
Ramon Valadez (D), incumbent, 21,787

District 3
Tanner Bell (R), 22,131
Sharon Bronson (D), incumbent, 25,771

District 4 (unopposed)
Ray Carroll (R),incumbent, 56,461

District 5
Richard Elias (D), incumbent, 28,431
Fernando Gonzales (R) 10,691

Pima County Treasurer
Beth Ford (R), incumbent, 152,020
Elaine Richardson, 124,456

Pima Community College governing board (non partisan,2 seats):

District 3:
Sylvia Lee, 19,997
“Vicki” Marshall, incumbent, 12,525

District 5: Cortez still leading as of 11/9/12
Marty Cortez, incumbent, 14,186
Richard Fridena, 12,773
Francis Saitta, 6042

TUSD Governing Board (nonpartisan race, 3 seats): no change in status since election night, with Foster, Stegeman & Juarez leading

Menelik Bakari, 5990
Debe Campos-Fleenor, 24,799
Don Cotton 21,647
Miguel Cuevas,incumbent, 25,776
Ralph Ellinwood 19,597
Kristel Foster 36,158
John Hunnicutt 25,071
Camy Juarez 28,666
Robert Medler 13,083
Betts Putnam-Hidalgo 22,181
Mark Stegeman, incumbent 35,268
Alex Sugiyama, incumbent 18,107

For information/updates on which propositions won statewide & for City of Tucson, click here.

Stay tuned for updates, as I will post new figures as they become available — but only if the results are changed from this initial report, as ballots will be counted slowly day by day. This is the update of the latest returns, but not all precincts have reported statewide. Congratulations to the winners.

In the Tucson Daily Citizen (predecessor of the Tucson Citizen newspaper) a May 20, 1971 article featured a straw ballot to vote for one of the 10 candidates vying for Mayor of Tucson:

1. Joseph I. Brown, D, ran twice before for Mayor & lost
2. James N. Corbett, D, the Mayor (up for re-election)
3. James Dunleavy, D (formerly R), political newcomer
4. Douglas Edgell, R, ran before for City Council & lost
5. Harmon Harrison, R, on the School District 1 Board of Trustees
6. Larry G. Kelly, I, political newcomer
7. Lewis C. Murphy, R, former Tucson City Attorney
8. H. Kelley Rollings, D, political newcomer
9. Robert Royal, R, Ward 6 Councilman
10. Cynthia Schiesel, D, political newcomer (only woman in the race)

Trivia questions for long time Tucsonans:
Q 1: Who won these Republican and Democratic Mayoral primaries (out of the 4 Republicans, 5 Democrats listed above) in 1971?
Q 2: And who eventually won the General Election in 1971? (see answers at bottom of this blog)

40 years later in June, 2011 the City of Tucson had 7 candidates vying for Mayor after the June 1 deadline for nomination petitions:

Ron Asta, R (formerly D), who ran against the same Lewis Murphy (#7 above) in 1983
Dave Croteau, G, ran for Mayor in 1999 (write-in), and again in 2007
Pat Darcy, I (formerly D), ran for Mayor in 1999 Democratic primary
Mary DeCamp, G, ran for Ward 3 Council seat in 2009, only woman in the race
Marshall Home, D (formerly R and I), political newcomer
Shaun McClusky, R, ran for Ward 5 Council seat in 2009
Jonathan Rothschild, D, political newcomer

There were almost 10 candidates this year, but political newcomers Green Jon McLane and Democrat Thomas Lombardi withdrew before the June 1 deadline for filing of nomination petitions. Both had residency problems.

Subsequently 3 of these candidates (Asta, Darcy, and McClusky) were found to not have enough valid petition signatures, and one (Home) withdrew due to a lawsuit over his residency in the County and not in the City of Tucson.

There are three candidates left (Croteau, DeCamp and Rothschld) and currently three new write-ins, Democrats David Karr and Joseph Maher, Jr. and Republican Rick Grinnell. So with the 3 additional write-ins, there have been 10 candidates vying for the Mayor’s job this year as well.

Stay tuned for any additional write-ins prior to the July 21, 2011 filing deadline.

For you history buffs, may I recommend a 1970 booklet, “The Tucson Citizen – A Century of Arizona Journalism” by former reporter Don Schellie. Our Tucsoncitizen.com editor Mark Evans was giving out copies of this booklet at our Tucson Festival of Books booth in March, 2011. (In 1970 after 100 years of publication of the Tucson Citizen newspaper, Schellie reports that the population in Tucson was about 320,000 people. In 1870, the population was only 3200.)

Answer to trivia Q #1: Mayor James Corbett (D) and Lewis Murphy (R)
Answer to trivia Q # 2: In the General election Lew Murphy upset the Mayor by receiving 32,699 votes (52.32%) to Corbett’s 29,797 votes (47.67%), and went on to serve 4 terms as Mayor.
(The official canvass of November 2, 1971 does not list the Independent candidate Larry Kelly.)

And I have no idea what the results of that voter straw poll were. Anyone know? Tucson Daily Citizen readers were supposed to “vote for any one candidate of your choice regardless of his or your party affiliation”, and mail in to:
“STRAW VOTE, Tucson Daily Citizen, Tucson, Ariz.” No further address was provided. And no internet in 1970, so no online-voting.