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Arizona Democrats are playing in the CD8 GOP primary—AGAIN!

By: smagar (Diary)  |  August 10th, 2010 at 08:48 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

In the summer of 2006, I was surprised to see the Democrats running TV ads…in the GOP primary. The ads targeted a candidate (whose name escapes me and Google can’t find) who was the GOP’s preferred successor for the retiring Jim Kolbe.

Perhaps those Democratic ads in a GOP primary helped: the targeted candidate lost the primary. The primary winner, Randy Graf, turned off enough voters in CD8, a purple district, to allow Gabrielle Giffords to win the seat.

Fast forward to 2010. Giffords is vulnerable, and there’s a tight GOP primary in CD8 between Jonathan Paton and Jesse Kelly.

This weekend, I noticed that Paton signs were starting to sprout…well, an awning of sorts.

Very narrow signs were springing up directly behind Paton signs. The signs were just tall enough—what a coinky-dink!—to sit right on top of the Paton sign. They also were strategically placed so they didn’t touch Paton’s original signs. (IIRC, it’s against the law in AZ to physically attach something to another candidate’s sign).

The signs say “PayDayPayton.” They list a website (http://www.paydaypayton.com) that criticizes “lobbyist Jonathan Paton” for “lin[ing] his pockets lobbying for payday lenders.”

Scroll to the bottom of the website, and what do we see?

PAID FOR BY THE ARIZONA DEMOCRATIC PARTY, 2910 N. CENTRAL AVE., PHOENIX, AZ 85012.
WWW.AZDEM.ORG. HQ 602-298-4200. NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE COMMITTEE.

I’ll start checking the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson’s daily newspaper, to see if the intrepid reporters there are covering this story. IMO, the fact that one party is OVERTLY playing in the other party’s primary should be a newsworthy story.

I suspect, though, that the Arizona Democratic Party is counting on the Arizona media’s silence to cover up what they’re doing. Something tells me the local media will find they just don’t have the time to cover this story. Or, what’s more likely, they’ll cover it in detail—AFTER the election is over. Much in the same way that Howard Kurtz, lead apologist for the MSM runs exposes after every election, decrying the bias the MSM showed in its reportage and calling on them to NEVER do it again. (Until the next election, that is).

COMMENTS

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  • proudgop

    Its very clear Giffords does not want to face Patton. He is strongest candidate and has been fundraising a lot more then other GOP candidates

    Patton needs to win primary

  • wansoongie

    If you think by attacking Paton, the Dems and Giffords’ campaign are signaling their preference on who they would most likely not want to face, you are misreading this tactic completely. The Dems and Giffords’ campaign are most certainly attacking Paton because he IS who they want to face. They are legitimizing his campaign by drawing attention to it. At the same time they are driving up his negatives among the independent voters.

    Think about it.

    -Paton has a record. Easily attacked.
    -Paton leans to the moderate side of conservative. All the better for Giffords in this current political climate.
    -Paton is not terribly energetic about his campaign; he was talked into running for this by Republican Party establishment because late last year they didn’t think Kelly could win. Paton is not enthusiastic about running; you can see that in his debates and in the intensity of his campaign.
    -He may have raised slightly more money, but that’s the only thing he has going for him at the moment.

    On the other hand:

    -Jesse Kelly has no record other than positions he’s taken during the campaign. Much tougher to attack.
    -Kelly has a refined message which fits very well with the current political climate and matches the sentiments of the voters in the district.
    -Kelly has been campaigning hard since he announced his intention to run. He is full of energy and he can tell you flat out why he is running. I don’t think Giffords wants to face a guy that will make her work hard to keep her seat. If she opposes Kelly she will not only have to just spend money, she will have to get out there and personally campaign and she doesn’t want to do that because she doesn’t want to defend her record in front of the public. If you attended one of her town halls during the health care debate last year you know what I mean.
    -Kelly has raised a significant amount of money considering he did not have the political connections Paton did. Should he win the nomination, republicans and independents in this district WILL support him financially.

    Don’t be fooled into thinking Giffords would rather run against Kelly. I’d be willing to bet she has internal polling that tells her that would be a bad idea. That?s why she?s trying to legitimize Paton.