Tucson, AZ - Today, Ron Barber for Congress announced that the campaign has agreed to a debate in the special election for CD-8.

KUAT-TV (Channel 6) will host a televised head to head discussion of the issues. It will be aired throughout the district at 6pm on May 16th, the day before early ballots are sent to the voters of CD8.

On the 2nd of November in 1909, during what became known as the “Uprising of the 20,000,” female garment workers went on strike in New York. Many were arrested and a judge told those arrested: “You are on strike against God.”

Wow…who’d have guessed?

There’s nothing unpatriotic about the union movement; it’s as American as apple pie.  Boston carpenters walked off the job in April of 1825 in the interest of a 10-hour workday. Ten years later, children working in the silk mills in Patterson, New Jersey went on strike. Of course they had an outrageous demand: A six-day workweek of eleven hour days.

Sweatshops, eleven-hour days, inadequate wages and wretched or dangerous working conditions are largely a thing of the past. The result is we tend not to notice or care about Capitalism’s continuous attack on the power and even the existence of the union movement. This may not be a good thing.

A union is the average hourly worker’s only defense against the economic power of a system that always tries to buy raw materials (that’s you, oh my brothers and sisters) at the lowest possible price. It’s not dumb, if you’re an hourly wage person, to remember you’re just so much raw material to that system.

May Day Events Today:

9:00 Annual Tucson May 1st Coalition March for Immigrant and Workers Rights, from Greyhound Park Parking lot to Armory Park for a Noon rally with speakers, entertainment and info booths.

Afterwards, join Occupy Tucson at Armory Park for extended fun, entertainment, potluck, and other activities, well into the evening.

Submitting written responses to softball questions doesn’t seem so threatening or difficult. If his campaign team wants to avoid that I imagine it’s because they’d much prefer to let the Republican party machine do Kelly’s ‘debating’ for him.

I haven’t forgotten Green Party candidate Charlie Manolakis, who would certainly profit from debate exposure with Barber and Kelly, but without all three candidates participating I doubt we’ll see a debate.

Read the Star feature.

I cannot understand this obsession with the notion that the United States Postal Service show a profit. We don’t ask the armed services to to show a profit and we don’t ask them to take a portion of their annual budget and pay it forward into the military pension program.

The establishment and maintenance of a national postal service is a mandate of the US Constitution. (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 7) If you entertain some fevered conservative dream of starving it into non-existence and handing its functions over to a private corporation you might ask whether that would be possible without amending the Constitution. Or whether you’d even want to do that.

In many small communities across the country the post offices function as community centers, a place where neighbors meet and exchange the time of day when they pick up their mail. It would be a shame to lose them.

One stamp sends my card or letter across the street or across the country. Federal money well spent. Can’t always say that for our imperial military engagements.

Postal Clause + Analysis Here

“I find it interesting that when a poor woman seeks welfare and other aid to assist her in the raising of her children; she is described as not working and in need of a job. When a fortunate woman stays at home to raise her children, she is described as working hard.”

Right on, Mr. Gallagher.

Letter here.

These mailings have been reinforced by robo-calls repeating the same claims…that Barber’s policies would force people to lose their health care plans, that Cap-and-Trade would prevent 40,000 Arizona jobs from being created and that Barber supported cutting $500 Billion from Medicare.

These are pretty much Republican charges left over from the Giffords-Kelly campaign, which weren’t particularly effective then either.

I’m not interested in discussing the Pinocchio rating of these claims, although it’s worth remembering that Cap-And-Trade hasn’t passed and that the  “$500 Billion from Medicare” was to stop HMOs from charging the government fees greater than the standard Medicare fees. Medicare went on as before.

What’s interesting about these mailings is that they are an attempt to “brand” Barber before debates between Barber and the Republican candidate are held. This is a traditional “first strike strategy,” the intent of which is to put your opponent on the defensive from the beginning of the campaign.

I receive these because I am a registered Independent, but it’s worth noting that neither the Data Port’s registered Democrat nor I have heard from the Dems.

Our Democrat has heard from Mitt, who writes because, “you are one of America’s most notable Republicans.” Oh?

We’ve received mail from two of the four Republican primary candidates, Frank Antenori and Dave Sitton. Neither mentions Democratic candidate Ron Barber; that job has been handled by the Republican party. This allows the candidates the space to hack away at  fellow Republicans.  Both are critical of their opponents.

Antenori’s mailer is the smallest of all received being only 6 by 11…half the size of the other mail pieces. He has room enough to compare his record to that of Kelly and McSally, but, gosh, there just isn’t enough room to mention Dave Sitton.

Sitton’s mailer claims that he has more detailed plans for achieving security and improving the economy than his opponents and that he has been in the community for 38 years.

If you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to vote on Tuesday.

Going to the polls on election day is a way of witnessing your faith in the system. It takes a little effort but what the hell, Americans have died to preserve our right to vote and their sacrifice seems to deserve a bit more effort than tossing an envelope in the mail box. At the polling place you see your neighbors and they see you and all together you’re saying, “Hey, this is a good we all believe in, an act that binds us to one another.”

(In the interest of convenience would you mail your confession to your priest just because it’s too much trouble to go to church? No, I didn’t think so.)

At any rate, for probably the first time in my life I wouldn’t be able to vote on election day this year so I bit the bullet and voted early. Now as a registered Independent I could pick the party to vote for. Since Democrat Ron Barber is unopposed he clearly didn’t need my vote in the primary so to make my vote ‘important’ I would help out the system by voting in the Republican primary.

I  decided that since all the Republicans were conservatives, and debates hadn’t seemed to differentiate them well, I would vote for the most conservative of the lot. And who would know his conservatives like an old timer here at Tuson Citizen…Fort Buckley. So as a gesture of “hands across the aisle.” I voted for his pick, Mr. Antenori.

Now for a short period of time I thought I might become the victim of the early voter monster…the creature that occasionally eats an early voter’s ballot…that I would vote for someone who would withdraw, who couldn’t stay the course. When that happens your vote is as dead as last week’s fish and you don’t get a do over.

Happily, I read yesterday that Antenori has successfully filed with the FEC.  I imagine we can now count on him to push forward to become the Republican standard bearer.

I hope so…And I imagine Ron Barber does, too.

Political parties and their candidates love it when we vote early. They lock down the votes of solid supporters and can spend their money on getting out the votes of independents and undecideds.

The early voter is immune to attack ads on his candidate. He’s voted. Even if he decides that vote was a mistake he’s saddled with it. He can’t take it back. If, for any reason, his candidate withdraws or is run over by a truck, he doesn’t get to vote for someone else.

Frankly I see no reason to vote early. Better to wait until ‘till the last debate has echoed off into history, and the last mailer has arrived.

This is particularly important in open primary elections where Independents may vote in either the Republican of Democratic primary and where there are multiple candidates.

If the urge to vote early is too strong scratch the itch to vote here.

If The Congressional District 8 Election Were Held Today, I’d Vote For:

What would an election be without caucuses, polls, and stout assertions of political preferences?

Here you go…the first Data Port political preference poll, this time featuring Republican candidates for Congress in the soon-to-pass-away  District 8.

Who do you favor? You may comment about your choice in the comments section.

This strategy is not an unheard of gambit…it was reported the other day that even Mitt Romney has done it. In states with closed primaries, where  independents can’t vote in the party primaries, you must temporarily change your registration to do this.

In Arizona an Independent may vote as he or she chooses. So if you want to help Barber in the general election you might choose the Republican you judge his weakest possible opponent. (Jim Kelly, Frank Antenori, Dave Sitton, or Martha McSally)

Independent voting is a two-edged sword of course. Republican- leaning Independents may vote for the Republican candidate they judge strongest against the Democrat in the general election.

Now that Barber has announced that he will run for the full Congressional term in the new District 2, as well as running to complete Giffords’ term, voting decisions for both Democrats and Republicans become more complicated.

Beginning with Barber, his decision to run again in November imposes on him  a series of contests in which he will not get anything like a free pass.

The current run for the District 8 congressional seat will surely be more hotly contested by the Republicans, regardless of which Republican wins the primary. They will not wish to risk ceding the power of incumbency to the Democrats in the November election.

If he loses the District 8 race it is an open question whether he would choose to run for the district 2 seat against the new incumbent congressman who had just defeated him.

If Barber wins, he will most likely have a contested primary for the District 2 seat against a slate of Democrats who chose to honor both him and  Gabrielle by passing on the District 8 race.

The primary opposition could be serious. Three Arizona legislators have thrown their hats in the ring. Paula Aboud, Steve Farley and Matt Heinz have sound legislative backgrounds and solid name recognition.

Just in the wings is Stanford Law School graduate Nan Stockholm Walden who is widely believed to be favored by early Giffords supporters.

Until Barber announced today this was the Democratic candidate slate.

Who knows what it will be tomorrow…but now the fun begins.