Salmon announces $158,000 Q3 fundraising

Former Congressman Matt Salmon today announced he raised $158,136 in the third quarter of 2011, bringing his total fundraising to $330,424 since announcing his bid to return to Congress.

Mesa’s Watergate: Cortes’ campaign conspirators should come clean

The Arizona Constitution, Article 7 section 12, charges the Legislature with the duty to “maintain the purity of elections.” Arizona case law has held that attempting to place a “diversionary candidate” on the ballot is illegal. A “diversionary candidate” is one who is in the race solely to divert votes from a particular candidate so as to give an advantage to another candidate. The re[...]

Lewis makes TV ad buy

Jerry Lewis, who is challenging Senate President Russell Pearce in the Nov. 8 recall election, is hoping to capture early voters and will air TV ads targeting Mesa residents starting this week.

Legislative map unveils tough primary matchups

Some districts packed with incumbents

Republicans cry conspiracy over redistricting

Republicans are really mad about redistricting. An approved draft (as in preliminary) congressional map strengthens the chances of Democratic incumbents Gabby Giffords and Raul Grijalva, both of whom narrowly won re-election last year. Republican freshman David Schweikert and Ben Quayle, on the other hand, appear to be on a collision course and could face each other in the primary in 2012. And Rep[...]

Pearce, Lewis spar over illegal immigration in 1st debate

Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce and his opponent in a recall election met in their first debate Thursday, sparring over illegal immigration and its financial impact on education and businesses.

Why the lawsuit against Olivia Cortes had to be aggressively defended

It’s not because the lawsuit was politically motivated. Everyone knows how unapologetically brutal politics can be. And it’s not because the lawsuit was brought to defame Ms. Cortes, either. Placing your name on a ballot is the functional equivalent of sending the world an open invitation to attack your character.

Judge: Cortes was recruited by Pearce allies, but she stays on ballot

A judge ruled today that the Mesa woman accused of being a “diversionary” candidate in the recall election targeting Senate President Russell Pearce was clearly recruited by Pearce’s supporters but that he cannot kick her off the ballot.

IRC fills ‘doughnut’ hole, but finds trouble with Mesa

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission will spend the weekend studying proposed changes to its congressional map to see if it can retain a competitive district in the Phoenix area without carving Mesa into three separate districts.

8 GOP senators who voted against immigration bills get business backing

Eight of the nine Republican senators who bucked their party and played a pivotal role in defeating a package of immigration bills last session have the backing of the business community going into next year’s election.

It’s the least he could do

On Monday, Adams told our reporter that he believes the commentary S Smith penned attacking him for not backing Pearce was not just a put-on by the Salmon campaign, but was written by them, too.

Rematch: Kirkpatrick launches early attack on Gosar — he touts mining bill

Less than three months after Ann Kirkpatrick lost her seat in Congress, the former representative of Arizona’s 1st Congressional District announced that she would challenge the Tea Party-endorsed dentist Paul Gosar again for control of the expansive rural district.