Doug Ducey

No, wobbly Democrats, Scott Smith is (still) not your GOP boyfriend

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Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com

Former Mesa Mayor and AZ GOP Gubernatorial candidate Scott Smith got an undeniable boost on Thursday. He was not only endorsed by Governor Brewer (which everyone expected would happen, though it’s curious that they waited until after mail-in ballots dropped to do it) but AZ Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill swiftly cancelled a meeting with Smith backers in which he was going to try and get them to switch to Doug Ducey. This is a big deal. Smith’s team reports a big bump in fundraising overnight and, with Christine Jones’ campaign fading fast, Smith has a real chance in that primary. Smith will enjoy strong LDS support now that Ken Bennett is no longer a contender and it looks like he’s going to take business establishment support away from Ducey. (I still consider Ducey the favorite based on his early fundraising advantage, all the name ID he’s gotten with his feud with Jones, the continued dark money support from radical right wing moneybags, and the tendency of GOP primary voters to select the biggest asshole who is also electable in the general.)

Needless to say, this Scott Smith development caused a resurgence in the cooing and swooning that tends to overtake some of the more softhearted liberals/left-of-center types in Arizona where he is concerned. It’s so bad at this point that I’ve seen some Democrats bragging on Facebook how they changed their registration to get Republican ballots to vote for their dreamboat.

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What would make Arizona Republicans eager to raise their own taxes?

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com Terrorizing brown people, of course! HighGround, the firm owned by Chuck Coughlin (Arizona’s true Governor) which represents GOP candidate Scott Smith, released a poll of the upcoming primary. The results for Governor track with other recent polls showing Doug Ducey and Christine Jones vying for the lead but still a lot of … Read more

Is Cathi Herrod really all that?

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I’m becoming increasingly skeptical that Cathi Herrod, President of Center for Arizona Policy, is (or ever was) as all-powerful as she is reputed to be. Let’s look at recent evidence: First there’s the humiliating defeat of the religious bigot bill SB1062 and the swift public recanting and repudiation of by it three Senators who had voted for it. And then comes this, a new PPP poll of the Governor’s race:

Moving on to the Governor’s race for this year, it looks pretty wide open for both the Republican primary and the general election. The leader for the GOP nomination is ‘undecided’ at 34%. 5 candidates have measurable amounts of support at this point- Ken Bennett at 20%, Christine Jones at 16%, Scott Smith at 12%, Andrew Thomas at 9%, and Doug Ducey at 6%. Al Melvin, John Molina, and Frank Riggs all register at 1% in the poll.

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