By Michael Bryan I always enjoy going out a limb and proving myself a terrible electoral prognosticator. In that spirit, here are my predictions for Tuesdays Presidential Election. Electoral maps generated by RealClearPolitics dandy Create Your Own Map tool. Play with it at peril of your afternoon disappearing in a clatter of obsessive clicking. You've … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Dr. Richard Carmona for U.S. Senate campaign has released the last ad of the campaign. Press release:
Carmona ad release: 'Rally'
Closing pitch pledges to give voters 'the Arizona they deserve'
Rich Carmona's U.S. Senate campaign released a new ad entitled "Rally," featuring video taken throughout Carmona's travels across Arizona, including President Bill Clinton's recent visit to Tempe.
"We are a state of good people who are committed to do the right things, to educate our kids, provide opportunity, so that every single kid can appreciate the American Dream like I did," Carmona tells voters.
The one-minute ad also tallies much of the praise Carmona has received from voters, organizations and media for his "bipartisan appeal" and "independence."
"So many of us are tired of the extremist, vitrolitic politics that's out there right. We're in gridlock now," Carmona, a lifelong independent, says. "Now it's time to take government back and give you the Arizona you deserve."
"I can't think of a person in America who is more needed at this moment in our history in the U.S. Senate," President Bill Clinton told thousands of supporters at a rally in October. "If you want America to come together and not be torn apart; if you want there to be a 21st-century modern American middle class, you've got to vote for Rich Carmona for the United States Senate."
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Video below the fold.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
A Latino voter surge in Arizona has long been predicted, but has yet to materialize, as it did in California after Republican Governor Pete Wilson screwed the pooch with his anti-immigrant Prop. 187. California is now reliably "blue."
Will Republican Governor Jan Brewer's embrace of disgraced recalled state senator Russell Pearce's anti-immigrant SB 1070 lead to the long anticipated Latino voter surge in Arizona on Tuesday? Latino groups say they have registered tens of thousands of new Hispanic voters in Arizona leading up to the Nov. 6 general election. Latino voters surge in Arizona:
Over the past six months, a coalition of 10 Latino groups has been going from door to door, registering new voters and encouraging voters who are already registered to sign up for early mail-in ballots. The groups also have been encouraging voters who have received early ballots to mail them in and even offering to deliver them to county election officials on their behalf.
The voter-registration drives are part of a concerted effort by advocacy groups to increase the number of Latino voters in Arizona to counter what they consider anti-Latino policies such as Arizona’s immigration law, Senate Bill 1070, and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration-enforcement sweeps.
The voter-registration efforts intensified over the past two weeks after it was revealed that [Maricopa] county printed the wrong election date on some election materials in Spanish, including bookmarks distributed at voter-outreach events and election reminders distributed with voter-ID cards.
The Spanish version of the materials gave Nov. 8 as the election date instead of the correct date, Nov. 6.
The errors sparked an outcry from Latino voting groups concerned that the wrong election dates printed in Spanish could prevent some Latinos from voting, undermining some of their efforts to boost Latino turnout at the polls.
by David Safier I walked my general neighborhood this morning. Lots of nice people. Lots of friendly conversations. Great walking weather. But my favorite door was the most unpleasant. The guy was such a caricature, it was like he came from central casting. I walk up his driveway. He's over 80, standing on the porch … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Civil Rights Movement hero Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) addressed the DNC convention on voting rights. "My dear friends, your vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful, nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union." Lewis went on to describe the literacy tests and poll taxes that are now unconstitutional.
"Today it is unbelievable that there are Republican officials who are trying to stop some people from voting. They are changing the rules, cutting polling hours and imposing requirements intended to suppress the vote . . . that's not right, that's not fair, and that is not just."
"I've seen this before. I've lived this before. Too many people struggled, suffered and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote. We have come too far together to ever turn back. So Democrats we must not be silent. We must stand up, speak up and speak out. We must march to the polls like never ever before. We must come together and exercise our sacred right."
Video below the fold.