Latino Decisions Tracking Poll: Obama leads 73 – 21 percent

October 2, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In the latest weekly Latino Decisions Tracking Poll, President Obama and Democrats have widened their lead among Latino voters:

[T]he over national polling data shows the strongest week to date for President Obama and the Democrats, with noticeable gains over last week’s poll. [Full wave 6 results here | impreMedia Voto2012 ]

Fifty-one percent of Latino voters in ten battleground states said they trust Obama and the Democrats more to make the right decisions and improve economic conditions, compared to 27% for Romney and Republicans. When combined with voters in non-battleground states, the numbers jumped to 72% and 20% respectively, a significant increase from 4 weeks ago when overall 59% said they trusted Obama and Democrats more versus 30% for Romney and Republicans to fix the economy.

“Beyond immigration, which continues to be a very important issue, Obama has now opened up a very large lead on trust to rebuild the economy among Latinos,” said Matt Barreto of Latino Decisions.  “While Republicans had hoped the weak economy would provide an opening to win over Latinos, almost three-fourths of Latinos say they have more confidence in Obama to fix the economy.  Romney’s infamous comments about the ’47 percent’ are clearly hurting him among Latinos.  He appears out of touch with the average working class family,” added Barreto.

DSCC buys ads in Arizona for Carmona senate race

October 2, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: I asked about this last week, and now I have my answer. National Journal's Hotline On Call reports DSCC Buys Ads in Ariz. Senate Race: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has placed a $526,000 ad buy in Arizona for the week of Oct. 2 to Oct. 8, their first independent expenditure in the … Read more

Carmona campaign Spanish language ad: ‘No Para’

October 2, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Press release from the Dr. Ricahrd Carmona for U.S. Senate campaign:

The Carmona for Arizona campaign will start running its second Spanish-language television ad Tuesday. The thirty-second spot will air statewide and contrasts Dr. Richard Carmona's support for the DREAM Act and funding for education with Congressman Flake’s opposition to the DREAM Act and desire to eliminate the Department of Education.

Carmona dropped out of high school, but found new opportunity in the Army — where he earned his GED while training to become a Special Forces soldier. Carmona got into community college through an open enrollment program for veterans and went to college and medical school on the GI Bill. Carmona is running to make sure every kid today gets that same shot at the American Dream.

The campaign is also launching a companion Spanish-language radio ad, which will air statewide.

Video below the fold.

Horizon (PBS) Clean Elections Debate for Arizona Corporation Commission

October 2, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Horizon Eight (PBS) hosted an hour long Clean Elections debate featuring the candidates running for the three open seats on the five-member Arizona Corporation Commission.

Video below the fold.

Want to know more about TUSD Board candidate Cam Juarez?

October 1, 2012

by David Safier

If you haven't had a chance to hear and see the TUSD Board candidates, you have another shot tonight (Oct. 1), 6:30-8:30pm, YWCA, 525 Bonita ((just south of the Fur's Cafeteria on St. Mary's Rd).

If you want to know more about Cam Juarez, he's made a 4 minute video which is a combination biography and statement on the issues. To my mind, it's the best video piece I've seen for a down-ballot candidate in terms of information and production skills.

Four minutes is long for a campaign vid. I'll tell you what. Watch the first minute. My guess is, you'll stick around for the rest. Video below the fold.

WaPo editorial: The thrill is gone for the GOP’s flimflam man

October 1, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Two years ago Paul Krugman wrote:

One depressing aspect of American politics is the susceptibility of the political and media establishment to charlatans. You might have thought, given past experience, that D.C. insiders would be on their guard against conservatives with grandiose plans. But no: as long as someone on the right claims to have bold new proposals, he’s hailed as an innovative thinker. And nobody checks his arithmetic.
– The Flimflam Man

Paul Krugman was among the first to expose the GOP's alleged boy genius, Ayn Rand fanboy Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), as a pseudo-intellectual fraud: "he’s serving up leftovers from the 1990s, drenched in flimflam sauce."

Today the editors of the Neoconservative Washington Post have belatedly come to the same conclusion. The thrill is gone for the GOP's flimflam man. Paul Ryan’s budget flimflam:

PAUL RYAN wants to tell you about the wonders of the 20 percent cut in tax rates that he and running mate Mitt Romney propose. He doesn’t want to tell you how much it will cost. On Sunday, Fox News’s Chris Wallace asked the Republican vice presidential nominee this basic question four times, citing projections of a 10-year cost of $5 trillion. Four times, Mr. Ryan dodged, hiding behind a flimsy scaffolding of pseudo-wonkiness. “Look, I won’t give you a baseline with these because that’s what a lot of this is about,” he said.

Breaking: Maricopa County Attorney announces campaign finance law enforcement action against Attorney General Tom Horne

October 1, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montogomery held a press conference this morning to announce a civil enforcement action for violation of campaign finance laws under Title 16 for illegal coordination between Tome Horne's attorney general candidate committee and an independent expenditure committee headed by Kathleen Winn in 2010.

Montgomery said he will not use Title 13 criminal statutes to supplement inadequate Title 16 campaign finance law civil remedies. He said that he has spoke with legislators about new legislation in January.

Montgomery also said Title 16 civil remedies do not require Tom Horne to resign from office. (A criminal conviction would).

Montgomery said there is no personal liability under Title 16 civil remedies. Horne's campaign committee and the independent expenditure committee headed by Kathleen Winn are the liable parties. The civil penalty can be up to three times the expenditure in question. $513,540 was spent on TV ads during the 2010 election, which means the fine could exceed $1.5 million. Montgomery found that the monies donated to the independent expenditure committee of Kathleen Winn were in fact intended for Tom Horne's candidate committee.

Montgomery is required to give Tom Horne and Kathleen Winn an opportunity to take corrective action, which could affect this enforcement action, i.e., correct the finance reports and return the money. If corrective action is taken, there is nothing more he can do. Montgomery says this is a serious shortcoming in campaign finance law.

An FBI spokesperson was also present. The FBI has turned over its investigation to the U.S. Attorneys Office, will not comment on the case. The FBI does not make prosecutorial recommendations.

It is also possible this matter will result in a State Bar of Arizona professional conduct investigation.

Montgomery repeatedly denied that he has any interest in running for Attorney General in 2014. His office did, however, coordinate this civil enforcement action with Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who is a rival of Attorney General Tom Horne for the Republican nomination for governor in 2014.

Felicia Rotellini, Horne’s Democrat opponent, is expected to make a statement.