The Arizona Democratic Party is out raising the state GOP by a lot.

Arizona’s new campaign contribution limits pumped an additional $8.6 million from individual contributors into the 2014 election, with Governor-elect Doug Ducey accounting for nearly a quarter of that extra money.

As early ballots went out, the extremely lopsided outside spending in the governor’s race strongly favored Republican nominee Doug Ducey. In the meantime, independent expenditure spending for Democratic nominee Fred DuVal is picking up, but not by much.

The dearth of reliable, independent polling in Arizona elections is nothing new. A long-term decline in independent polling by universities and media organizations has left IEs and other biased groups as the main source of publicly available polling for the state’s elections.

Administrative Law Judge Tammy Eigenheer gave Attorney General Tom Horne’s campaign something it hadn’t gotten in a long time — good news.

As a primary field becomes more crowded, the portion of votes needed to win the nomination becomes smaller and smaller. With as many as seven or eight Republican gubernatorial candidates on the ballot this year, any advantage can help lead to a win.

For some, the advantage may be geography.

Lone Democrat outweighed by crowded Republican field for governor

Next year’s primary is shaping up to be the hottest contest for a Republican gubernatorial nomination in more than 20 years.

Former Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman is bowing out of the governor’s race and running instead for state treasurer.

The referendum effort against the state’s controversial new election law is now facing a two-pronged opposition, as a second political action committee filed paperwork this week to fight the referendum.

Businessman Bob Worsley dug deep into his own pocket, loaning his campaign $140,000 in his race to defeat former senator Russell Pearce.