Dispatch From The Inferno State: The People Of Arizona Need Some Good News. We Want Them To Get Some On Tuesday.

-by Doug Kahn

Sometimes during the run-up to an election I’m overcome by irrational exuberance. I think Randy Parraz is going to pull out a shocking win on Tuesday and win the Democratic nomination for US Senate. It’ll be Parraz vs. McCain, and that’s the contest Arizona needs. Randy Parraz is an honest, caring human being who isn’t afraid of Joe Arpaio, Russell Pearce and the other racist bullies in Arizona. He’s the kind of progressive Democrat we’re proud to call our own. Go to his website and see if you don’t agree.

Steve Singiser at DailyKos has some recent polling in the race.

AZ-Sen: Parraz internal claims close race for Democratic nod
Picking up a poll that slipped through the cracks last week: a new internal poll from Senate contender Randy Parraz has him within striking distance of the long-perceived frontrunner in the Democratic field, Tucson councilman Rodney Glassman. Glassman still leads, even in Parraz's poll, nabbing 20% of the vote to 17% for Parraz. The internal poll, by Dem pollsters Winning Connections, showed a ton of undecideds (nearly half of the electorate) still up for grabs in the August 24th primary.

Randy managed to come up with enough money to run his own tv, the positive biographical piece that a candidate is supposed to run first. From what I’ve seen, it’s a substantial buy. There’s an English and a Spanish version, and I’ve seen them, they’re good. You know, every candidate would like to win on a purely positive campaign.  

Howie has set up a new way for us to help win elections. We now have a 527 committee, the Blue America PAC I.E., and our first television buy is in Arizona, for Randy Parraz. The spot runs today through Monday in the Tucson and Phoenix areas.
 
We decided to do some of the dirty work, and take on Rodney Glassman, the front-runner.
 
Oh, Randy’s not reticent about pointing out that Rodney is a hypocrite, not a real Democrat. It’s easy to make contrasts, which Randy did in the four debates; having principles tends to give you the self-confidence to tell the truth. The other Democrats around here are busy trying to look like benevolent Republicans; so when Randy talks about how he spoke up against Joe Arpaio at Maricopa County Supervisors’ meetings in 2008 (and got arrested for it) he stands out. When he says it’s past time for complete equality for LGBT people, no exceptions, he looks like the leader people around here need. It’s fairly simple, looking good here; just have the gumption to tell the truth. 

This from the Daily Star about Glassman running away from important issues: 

Democrat Rodney Glassman has somehow managed to avoid a yes-or-no answer on whether he supports gay marriage, which has come up at debates between the four candidates vying for the seat. About all he'll say is he supports equality.

 
If you’re unfamiliar with the race: Ravishing Rodney, the Denatured Boy, is a spoiled, immature rich kid from Fresno, California, who moved to Arizona and became a Democrat because it’s fairly cheap to buy elections here. He promised to personally finance his campaign with millions of dollars in family money, and early on locked up the endorsements of the (clueless) Democratic establishment. Since then he’s convinced everyone who has come in contact with him that he’s one of the prime shitheads in Arizona politics, and we’re talking about the home state of some fabulous wankers.
 
For instance, remember the guy with the gun strapped to his leg outside an Obama event in 2009? He’s really from Scottsdale.


Here’s a sign carried by 3 guys protesting outside the Phoenix New Times, a good place to research real news about all that’s right wing in the Inferno State. (Not because they’re wingnutty, but because they agree it’s important to ridicule the idiots among us.)


The road department agrees with me:


There’s some circumstantial evidence that women don’t like working for Ravishing Rodney. The Phoenix New Times had this a few days ago: 

Since July, three top staffers have bailed on Glassman: Political Director Junelle Cavero left last month; Field Director Kristin Gwinn resigned a couple of weeks ago; Communications Director Dawn Teo stepped down earlier this week. Sources tell me there are more resignations on the way.
 
Glassman's press secretary Tina May confirmed the departures. "This is the regular churn of campaigns," May explained. "People come and go all the time."
 
I contacted the three women, who all declined comment for this story, other than to admit they're no longer working for Glassman.
 
But several confidential sources inform me that Glassman's staffers left because they were not happy with the behavior of their candidate.

These sources relayed a litany of complaints about the Glassman campaign, from Glassman berating staffers and volunteers in public, even yelling at them, to Glassman's having his brother Jeremy play a major role in the campaign (doing little or nothing, they say), and the fact that Glassman and his minions gave Democrats reason to believe he would sink millions into his bid for Senate. 

Sources also claim staffers were upset by a homophobic remark the former Tucson city councilman and onetime registered Republican reportedly made about a gay city councilwoman, saying that, "The toughest thing for me to do will be to sit next to an openly gay councilmember." 

Glassman denied making the statement to the Arizona Daily Star, but the councilwoman in question, Karin Uhlich, told the Star that the report was accurate.

 
I’m going to do my bit and go phone bank for Randy today and tomorrow at the UFCW office in Phoenix. I want to know if he really has the grassroots effort going that I think he does, and the turnout at this kind of volunteer opportunity will prove it. Only dedicated volunteers will call voters all day.