Cage versus Melvin

by David Safier

I may be the last to report this, but for anyone who missed it elsewhere, Cheryl Cage has announced her candidacy for the LD-26 Senate seat. She got in the race late in 2008 and lost to Al Melvin. Now she's in early for 2010.

Lena Saradnik, former LD-26 Rep who had to step down for health reasons, is back to her old feisty, optimistic self, I'm happy to say, and she's chairing the campaign. Better political instincts than Saradnik's I have rarely seen. And Don Jorgensen, who ran unsuccessfully for LD-26 Rep in 2008, is Cage's campaign manager.

Cage and Jorgensen are still smarting from their 2008 defeats, but they're smarter, and wiser, for it.

Melvin is the incumbent, which is a big factor with voters.

It's definitely going to be a race to watch. Republican voters are in the majority, but they've shown they will vote in Democrats. And when they vote for Republicans, they're used to moderates like Pete Hershberger and Toni Hellon. Melvin is not Hershberger or Hellon, to put it mildly.

My sense is, this race is going to get statewide attention, since it epitomizes the political divide in Arizona right now.