Arizona Capitol Times Election Coverage Your Inside Track to Arizona Elections

Democrat Jon Hulburd kept hammering away at Ben Quayle over the Republican’s ties to a racy website, but after the candidates’ first and only televised debate, observers are saying that line of attack has run its course.

For a candidate who has trailed by as much as 22 points in recent polls, even a sliver of good news is cause for celebration. Every poll taken over the past few months has shown Republican Gov. Jan Brewer beating Democrat Terry Goddard by double digits, with some showing him down by as much as 22 points. But though they all show different margins of victory for Brewer, a couple polls have shown Goddard narrowing the gap as Election Day approaches.

Arizona Capitol Times reporter Jeremy Duda talks about what early ballots mean to campaign strategy and what can be expected from the most watched races in the final weeks before November's election.

A group of former Cold Stone Creamery franchise owners accused Republican state treasurer candidate Doug Ducey, the company's former CEO, of using a raft of dishonest business practices to perpetuate a revolving-door system that lured in franchisees, bankrupted them and then pushed them aside to make way for new ones.

Attorneys for the Arizona Democratic Party filed a complaint alleging that the state GOP, the Republican Governors Association and Gov. Jan Brewer's campaign violated a host of campaign finance laws.

When lawmakers voted in March to put the referendum on the ballot — a measure that would sweep and dismantle the Early Childhood Development and Health Board Fund — they expected it to put about $325 million into the state’s cash-starved coffers. But as of Sept. 1, the agency had about $100 million more than that on hand.

Tom Horne and Felecia Rotellini were feeling the financial pinch after their hard-fought primary wins in the attorney general’s race.

Without a primary to drain his campaign cash, Democratic treasurer nominee Andrei Cherny has a massive war chest as he prepares to launch a spate of television ads in time for early voting.

Gov. Jan Brewer’s abrupt cancellation of the Border Governors Conference in Phoenix may cost the state as much as $200,000.

Jon Hulburd’s biggest disadvantage so far is that he’s a pro-choice Democrat running for a congressional seat in a heavily Republican district. Ben Quayle’s most significant challenge will be to convince voters from his own party that his moral compass is working properly.