Gabriela Saucedo Mercer

Her announcement will be made at 11 a.m. Wednesday March 2nd at the Inn Suites/Tucson Hotel, 475 N. Granada Avenue, Copper room in Tucson, 85701. Doors open at 10:30 a.m.

From her website:

Gabriela Saucedo Mercer lives on Tucson’s west side with her husband of 24 years, Ted Mercer. Gabriela, “Gabby” for short, set aside her work career with a defense electronics firm in order to raise her 3 children and continue her education. As the kids were growing up Gabriela became more and more concerned about the direction that her adopted country had taken in recent years. She legally emigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1986 in order to live in a nation full of opportunity and Constitutional protections of individual liberties. She became a proud U.S. citizen in 1991.

I happened to be at the Tucson City Council meeting last Spring when Gabriela stood up & spoke against the Council’s opposition of SB 1070, and Congressman’s Grijalva’s call for a boycott of the State of Arizona. Most of the Mexican Americans in the room spoke against SB 1070.

Campaign info: www.saucedomercer.com, 520-349-5600, gabriela@saucedomercer.com.

Congressman Raul Grijalva has served since January, 2003 and won his last November, 2010 campaign against political newcomers Republican Ruth McClung, Libertarian George Keane, and Independent Harley Meyer. Results of that recent race:

GRIJALVA, RAUL M. (DEM)
50.16% 79,935
MCCLUNG, RUTH (REP)
44.16% 70,385
KEANE, GEORGE (LBT)
2.71% 4,318
MEYER, HARLEY (I-N)
2.83% 4,506
Write-in
0.14% 228
159,372 total votes cast

3/3/11 UPDATE: 2 live videos of this campaign kick off event:

http://tucsoncitizen.com/in-the-aggregate/2011/03/02/gabriela-saucedo-mercer-releases-two-videos-in-race-for-cd-7/

The DREAM Act (H.R. 5281) would have provided citizenship to young people under 30 years old who illegally came to this country with their parents (under the age of 16), by attending college or serving in the U.S. military for 2 years. The bill required people applying for DREAM Act status to pay a $525 fee and an additional $2,000 fee is required after five years.

I reported on this measure when it passed the U.S. House of Representatives on December 8, by a close vote of 216 to 198.

I also wrote a follow-up blog about the 8 House Republicans who voted for it (click here).

The U.S. Senate is currently composed of 56 Democrats, 42 Republicans, and 2 Independents.

Arizona’s U.S.Senators, John McCain and Jon Kyl are both Republicans, and voted against cloture today.

The House of Representatives approved a bill that would grant thousands of young, illegal immigrants the chance to become American citizens Wednesday night.

Called the DREAM Act, the proposal would permit young people brought illegally into the U.S. by their parents the opportunity for citizenship. However, that’s contingent on them completing two years of college or military service.
The vote was 216 to 198.

The White House lobbied hard for the bill’s passage, lauding it as a step towards a comprehensive reform of the nation’s immigration laws.

Supporters say the measure would strengthen the U.S. economy and boost military readiness.

Critics contend that the legislation offers what they call “amnesty” for illegal immigrants.

The Senate plans a vote Thursday to try to summon the DREAM Act to the Senate floor. It is expected to fail.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), one of the main backers of the DREAM Act, believes this is the last chance he has to pull this legislation across the finish line.

“Once the Congress of the United States changes hands and the House of Representatives is in the hands of the Republican Party, I don’t see any movement on comprehensive immigration reform,” Gutierrez said.

Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/12/08/house-passes-dream-act-immigration-measures#ixzz17ZuNivyy</

Stay tuned for updates from blogger 3 Sonorans.

For the first time (as far as I know) there were more Independent candidates in a legislative race (LD 28 Senate) than candidates from the major parties. There was one Democrat (the incumbent), one Republican, and two Independents running in that legislative race.

But it seems that Independent candidates don’t receive a lot of votes.

November 2006 General Election: Jay Quick ran as an Independent in CD 8 House, and got 1.68% of the vote (3523 votes). This past August, 2010 he ran again for CD 8 House as a Republican in the primary, and received 2.29% of the vote (1648 votes), slightly more percentage wise.

November 2008 General Election: Ralph Nader ran for U. S. President as “Nonpartisan” and got only 0.51 % of the vote in Pima County (1995 votes). He formerly ran for President as a Green Party candidate.

November 2010 General Election: Harley Meyer just ran in CD 7 House as an Independent, and got 2.83% of the vote (4506 votes).

In LD 27 Gene Chewning just ran for State House as an Independent & got 6.46% of the vote (4,114 votes). He ran before for the same seat as a Republican in November 2006, and got 19.54% of the vote (11,327 votes)– which shows that major party affiliation does help.

And in LD 28 Senate, Ted Downing (formerly a Democratic legislator) got 6.25% of the vote (3,085 votes) running as “Nonpartisan and Independent”, while Dave Ewoldt as an Independent (formerly with the Green party) got 2.86% of the vote (1,414 votes). Final tallies are not complete for these two races either.

Downing ran for this same seat in the September, 2006 Primary as a Democrat and got 45.71% of the vote (7746 votes). He only got 3085 votes this time in the 2010 General Election, so leaving the Democratic party seems to have lessened his chances of vote-getting.

Running as an Independent frees the candidate from a Primary Election challenge, but they don’t have a political party “machine”/resources to help them get out the vote, nor a political party platform to assist the voters in deciding what these candidates stand for. Being “independent” minded may not be enough for today’s discerning voter.

And I suspect that voters who choose “Other/No Party/Independent/Non partisan” status do so as they want to avoid party labels (or are unhappy with their former party), the closed Primaries, and want the freedom to pick & choose between all the Political Party candidates (Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Independent, etc.) in the General Election.

Time will tell if any independent/non partisan candidate will win a seat in Southern Arizona in the future.

UPDATE: Only Independent politicians in Southern AZ have been Ward 2 Councilmember Carol West (who changed from a Democrat), and District 3 Pima County Supervisor Ed Moore (who changed from a Republican).

1) AZ-08 General Election Debate hosted by the Associated Students of the University of Arizona (ASUA) in partnership with KUAT and Cox Communications. Panel of Journalists to question the candidates: Christopher Conover, Arizona Public Media; Dan Shearer, Green Valley News & Sun; Jim Nintzel (Tucson Weekly), and Emily Fritze of ASUA.

Monday, October 18, 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.)

University of Arizona – Student Union, 3rd Floor Grand Ballroom, 1303 E. University Blvd.

Arizona Public Media will air the Arizona Congressional District 8 Debate live at 7PM on PBS-HD Channel 6, NPR-KUAZ 89.1FM/1550AM, and online at http://ondemand.azpm.org

2) AZ-08 General Election Debate hosted by the Sierra Vista Chamber of Commerce

Wednesday, October 20, 5:30 p.m.

Buena High School Performing Arts Center

5225 E. Buena School Road, Sierra Vista, AZ

3) AZ-08 General Election Debate on KUAT’s Arizona Illustrated (www.azpm.org)

Friday, October 22, 6:00 p.m.

The debate will air Friday evening for one hour as part of the regularly scheduled Arizona Illustrated program on KUAT Channel 6.

CAMPAIGN WEBSITES:

Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords (D): www.gabriellegiffords.com

Jesse Kelly (R), www.votejessekelly.com

Dr. Steve Stoltz (L): www.stevestoltzforcongress.com

CD 8 registered voters at time of 8/24/10 primary:
Democrats 139,982, Libertarians 2826, Republicans 157,327, Greens 832, Others 120,772 for a total of 421,739 registered voters. Update of # of voters for General Election not available online from Sec. of State’s website.

CD 8 encompasses all of Cochise county, and parts of Pima, Pinal, and Santa Cruz counties (see wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona%27s_8th_congressional_district)

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords

Jesse Kelly

Steve Stoltz

The first CD 7 debate between Democratic 4 term Congressman Raul Grijalva and his 3 challengers– Mortgage loan servicer George Keane (L), physicist/rocket scientist Ruth McClung (R), and former math teacher Harley Meyer (I) will be at 5:00 to 6 p.m. at Pima Community College Desert Vista Campus, 5901 S. Calle Santa Cruz, Pueblo Building cafeteria.

This event is co-hosted by the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Arizona Public Media, ASUA, and Pima Community College Desert Vista Campus. FREE and OPEN to the public, so show up to ask your questions of the candidates.

Campaign websites:
Congressman Raul Grijalva (D), www.grijalvaforcongress.com
George Keane (L)
Ruth McClung (R), www.ruth4az.com
Harley Meyer (I), www.harleymeyer.com

Also on Wednesday, October 13, Arizona Illustrated at the UA will televise a forum with Congressman Grijalva, Keane, McClung, and Meyer. They will tape this interview earlier in the day. You can then watch it at 6:30pm on Channel 6 KUAT. Or online at www.ondemand.azpm.org/ usually a few hours prior and thereafter.

CD 7 registered voter totals (from Arizona Sec. of State’s office after the 8/24/10 primary):
Democrats 142,283, Libertarians 2740, Republicans 75,437, Greens 674, Others 103,750 for a total of 324,884. An updated count for the General Election is not available online as yet.
Congressional District 7 encompasses parts of five Arizona counties: La Paz, Maricopa, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, and all of Yuma County.

Congressman Grijalva has served this new district since January, 2003 and it was created in time for the November, 2002 election, based on the increase in population in Arizona from the 2000 Census.

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).

Brian Miller

CD 8 candidate Brian Miller announced tonight that he is ending his campaign for U.S. House.
At an event scheduled with former UA Basketball Coach Lute Olson, one of his early supporters, Miller made this announcement at the Skybox restaurant, 5605 E. River Rd.

Fellow candidate Andy Goss withdrew his candidacy on July 7, endorsing Jesse Kelly.

Miller, a Major and senior pilot in the United States Air Force Reserve, 45th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, said he would support Jonathan Paton in this race in the August 24 primary.

This leaves Jesse Kelly, Jonathan Paton and Jay Quick running in the CD 8 House Republican race. I last wrote about this race when all four candidates appeared on KUAT’s Arizona Illustrated on July 30 (click here. )

I’ll be updating this blog once I receive the press release from the Miller campaign. See below:

8/11/10 Press release: “Brian Miller announced at an event this evening that he will be suspending his campaign for Congressional District 8. Brian Miller, a Constitutional conservative Republican, ran his campaign on a platform of limited government, individual freedom, and peace through strength.

Brian Miller released this statement: “Though we have run a tremendously successful grassroots campaign on a limited budget, at this point I do not have the funds to continue this race. My competitors have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising – and it is impossible for me to make up that gap. We are looking to the future, and I believe the only candidate who can beat Gabrielle Giffords in November is Jonathan Paton.

“I want to thank all of my supporters and volunteers from the bottom of my heart. This has not been as easy decision for me, but I think it is best. I will not give up the fight for the Constitution and freedom, because this is an ongoing battle – for me, my family, and all Americans.”