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Political hostilities in southern Arizona ceased for a brief moment just before midnight on Aug. 24, when it became clear that Jesse Kelly trounced Jonathan Paton in the Republican contest in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords sent out a brief note congratulating Kelly, a Marine veteran; Paton, an Army reservist and former legislator, also called to congratulate the winner.
That’s about as peaceful as it got, as the Giffords and Kelly campaigns shifted their focus to the general election.
About an hour after sending the note, Giffords’ campaign went on the attack.
And the volley of fire between the two camps hasn’t stopped since.
“Mr. Kelly makes 2006 nominee Randy Graf appear moderate,” one memo from Giffords charged. Giffords defeated Graf, a conservative Republican, four years ago.
This, in a nutshell, would be the gist of Giffords’ criticism of Kelly: She seeks to paint her Republican challenger as too extreme for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.
In fact, this was already a theme that Giffords’ camp kept coming back to during the primary season. This time, she has $2 million to spend behind that message.
Kelly, on the other hand, wants to portray his opponent as an out-of-touch, big-government incumbent lawmaker.
“All the money in the world does not hide her record of big government spending, bankrupting future generations and taking over health care for millions of Americans by government,” said Adam Kwasman, Kelly’s campaign manager.
Kwasman said there are four chief criticisms of Giffords, which the Kelly campaign believes are among the main factors in the race: Giffords’ votes on the stimulus, bail out, cap-and-trade, and health care.
So far, the two campaigns have stayed on issue. And while the campaigns’ tone is passionate, it is not personal.
Giffords’ campaign has been calling out Kelly on his position on Social Security; Kelly’s campaign has since ramped up its focus on the issue.
Giffords’ camp said Kelly is flip-flopping.
“Kelly’s answers on Social Security read like a multiple-choice exam: Privatize it, Phase it out, Eliminate it… and now… Protect it. If Jesse Kelly went to Congress, which would it be?” her campaign said.
Kelly replied that Giffords is playing from a “liberal attack manual” to scare seniors.
“Here is the truth: Jesse Kelly wants to protect Social Security for current retirees,” Kelly’s campaign said. “We will fully honor our commitments for those now receiving benefits. Those who have been paying into the system should also receive their full benefits.”
But Kelly said there’s a need for a long-term solution to ensure that money paid into the system would be available when people retire. Younger workers, for example, should have the choice of putting a portion of their contribution into a personal retirement account.