Friday, February 28, 2020

BREAKING: A Democrat Not Named Mike Bloomberg Goes Up On Arizona Airwaves (WATCH, ARIZONA'S AIR WAR)

A Democratic Presidential candidate NOT named Mike Bloomberg is going up with an ad in both the Phoenix and Tucson markets.

Beginning Sunday, Elizabeth Warren will introduce herself to local TV viewers in advance of the March 17 Democratic Presidential Preference Election.

Warren's ad buy looks to be for between $60-100,000, with the spot (so far) running only through Wednesday.

Warren surrogate Juliรกn Castro was in the state earlier this week, and her campaign is actively canvassing and phone banking.

According to Advertising Analytics, presidential campaigns and the groups supporting them have already spent $10.6M in Arizona advertising. Bloomberg and Donald Trump's reelection campaign have already been on Arizona airwaves, but Warren is the first to join them. Early ballots went out to Democrats across the state last week, and election day is 2 1/2 weeks away.



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Tuesday, February 25, 2020

WATCH: Republican Jewish Coalition To Air Anti-Bernie Ad During Tonight's Debate, Calling Support For Him "Insane" (ARIZONA AIR WAR)

Phoenicians watching tonight's Presidential debate will be treated to an attack saying support for Senator Bernie Sanders for President would be "insane." It will not come from one of his opponents for the Democratic nomination; it will be an ad from the Republican Jewish Coalition.


Funded largely by casino magnates Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, the RJC is spending $7,500 to air the 30-second ad in Phoenix.  (and, likely similar amounts in other major cities). (AP reporter Elana Schor has learned that the ad will air in Phoenix, Miami, Cleveland, D.C. and Philadelphia.) The ad has no scary announcer voice (until the ending identifier), but asks the question "How bad would Bernie Sanders be for Israel?".

It then scrolls through quotes from Sanders and from news coverage of him, ending with what is intended to be the biggest scare: Sanders is endorsed by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib says Bernie makes her "feel less insane".

The RJC may truly be concerned about Sanders being the current front-runner for the Democratic nomination, or it may differ from the prevailing Republican view that they would have a field day running against Sanders. Or, perhaps....



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(UPDATED, 5:15pm: Added that the ad will air in four other major markets, according to AP reporter Elana Schor.) 

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Monday, February 24, 2020

BREAKING: Trump Campaign Begins Six-Figure Phoenix Blitz Of 90-Second Ads On Tuesday (ARIZONA AIR WAR)

A 90-second ad touting President Trump's re-election campaign begins blanketing Phoenix airwaves on Tuesday. The one-week flight of ads will likely total more than $150,000.

Although the ad is not yet posted, it may very well contain highlights of last week's Phoenix rally. Most of the spots will attack the stations' news blocks, but Jeopardy viewers and others may see some collateral damage, as well.

Arizona's Politics has reached out to the President's Arizona campaign for further information and will update this article as warranted.

UPDATE: The ad does, indeed, focus on the Phoenix rally. (Below)


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Thursday, February 13, 2020

BREAKING: Senator McSally Votes Against Resolution To Terminate Hostilities With Iran; Passes 55-45 (with 8 Republicans)

3:40pm: Arizona Senator Martha McSally was not among the 8 Republican Senators to vote in favor of a joint resolution that would require President Donald Trump to obtain Congressional approval from taking further military action against Iran.

The resolution passed 55-45, and is expected to be vetoed by the President. As it stands now, the Senate would not be able to override that veto.


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Saturday, February 8, 2020

BREAKING: McSally Among Group Of GOP Senators Who Tried To Intervene On Sondland's Behalf; Confirmed By WH Official (ARIZONA'S POLITICAL SHORTS)

Arizona Senator Martha McSally was among a group of Republican Senators who tried to intervene to prevent Presdent Donald Trump from firing Ambassador Gordon Sondland yesterday, according to a report tonight in the New York Times.

The report indicates that the group reached out to the President's Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, as well as his legislative affairs director. Sondland reportedly refused to resign and be seen as part of a purge of impeachment witnesses immediately after the Senate's acquittal, so the President ordered him fired.

Sondland was the President's choice for Ambassador to the European Union after he contributed $1M to the President's inauguration fund. He was one of the President's point men on the effort to convince Ukraine to announce investigations into the Bidens and the 2016 election
interference.

Sondland revised his testimony to the House a couple of times, and ended up being a key witness about the quid pro quo in the impeachment inquiry.

According to the article, McSally was part of a group that included Susan Collins (Maine), Thom Tillis (North Carolina) and Ron Johnson (Wisconsin).

Arizona's Politics has requested comment from the Senator's office, and will update this article as warranted.


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Wednesday, February 5, 2020

BREAKING: Mark Kelly Announces He Would Have Voted "Guilty" On Both Counts; READ Statement

Today, Mark Kelly released the following statement on the Senate impeachment trial:
“The United States Senate was tested these past weeks and after a trial filled with partisanship and divisiveness it’s clear to me that they failed the test.
“This process should have been about finding the truth and enforcing the rule of law, and had I been in the Senate, I would have pushed to hear from firsthand witnesses. That is not what the Senate chose to do, and so Arizonans must reach conclusions based on the available information, which includes the president’s own words and the case as it was presented.
“Before I joined the Navy, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution – the president did as well. He did not live up to that oath when he intimidated witnesses, refused to provide documents and relevant testimony to Congress, and when he attempted to use his office to influence a foreign government to aid his re-election.
“Based on the facts we have, I would have voted to find him guilty on both charges.”

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BREAKING: McSally Statement On Her Not Guilty Votes

McSally Statement on Senate Acquittal of the President

U.S. SENATE — U.S. Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ) released the following statement today after the U.S. Senate voted to acquit President Trump:

“Today, I voted against convicting President Trump of the two articles of impeachment. I opposed removing the president from office and the 2020 ballot as this outcome would have been deeply disruptive to the functioning of our government, further divided our nation, and would prevent the American people from deciding who their president should be at the ballot box. The American people collectively are better fit to judge Donald Trump's presidency as a whole than the partisan politicians in Washington who brought forth this impeachment.

“Our Founding Fathers were clear that impeachment and conviction of a president is an extreme action of last resort, to be used for only the gravest offenses. By requiring a two-thirds vote in the Senate, the framers warned against impeachment as a political weapon by an oppositional party. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi used to agree.

“This presidential impeachment is historic for dangerous reasons. It is the first partisan House impeachment with bipartisan opposition. It is the first to deny procedural fairness protections to the president during the House inquiry. It was done in a mere 48 days with no serious attempt to fully resolve all separation of powers issues. This is a reckless precedent in its entirety, especially the House's attempt to force the Senate to do the work it should have completed before articles were ever sent over. This rushed, incomplete, and unfair process should never be repeated by either party in the future.

“The President is not perfect, and the way he evidently attempted to address his legitimate concerns about corruption involving the Bidens was inappropriate. Even if all the House Democrats allege is accurate, even if John Bolton supports their allegations in his book, even if other negative information comes out in the future, this does not rise to anywhere near the level of throwing the president out of office or off the ballot for the first time in American history. Beyond that, House Democrats failure to exhaust all available avenues to obtain witnesses and records, by definition, invalidated their frivolous charge of obstruction of Congress. This entire matter, ultimately, should have been handled via the normal oversight processes available to Congress with subpoena disputes resolved in the courts. You can't argue, as Nancy Pelosi did, that the president is an urgent danger to national security and then wait for over a month before sending an incomplete work product to the Senate. Her actions were transparently political and not at all in line with the grave nature of our impeachment process.

“After 13 witnesses, over 28,000 pages of evidence, and nine days of presentations, the Senate did its constitutional duty to try this impeachment. The Democrats simply failed to convince the Senate—or the American people—that the president should be removed from office. It is only fair that the American people decide who their president should be. It’s time for the Senate to resume its focus on issues that matter to real people, like the cost of prescription drugs, access to affordable health care, and taking care of our veterans.”


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(BULLETIN) BREAKING SILENCE: AZ Senator Kyrsten Sinema Will Vote To Remove President, On Both Articles

2:05pm: According to C-Span, 78 of the 100 Senators explained their votes on the Senate floor. Arizona's two Senators announced their votes on Twitter (Sinema) and Fox News (McSally).

Also, for the record, Sen. Sinema's announcement on Twitter came 6 minutes before Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) made a similar announcement. But, more than four hours after Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL). Those three were the Democratic Senators most-watched as to their intentions.

1:46pm:


Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema will NOT break her silence on the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump by speaking on the Senate floor before the ultimate votes.  Sinema's Communications Director Hannah Hurley confirmed the information moments ago.

Sinema is one of the final three Senators to let it be known how she will vote and she has been the subject of much speculation.

Even after fellow moderate Doug Jones (D-AL) explained this morning why he will vote to remove the President for both abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Fox News hosts continued to express hope that either Sinema or Joe Manchin (D-WV) will vote with Republicans to make the vote "bi-partisan".

The votes on the two Articles of Impeachment are expected to take place at approximately 2pm, Arizona Time.

Sinema attracted even more attention and speculation after conspiculously applauding at last night's State of the Union address for things that her fellow Democrats stayed in their seats. After the speech/rally, she posted this tweet.




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Tuesday, February 4, 2020

WATCH: McSally and Trump Will "Absolutely" Campaign Together A Lot, It's All About "Rallying the Base"

Arizona Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ) agreed this morning that "absolutely" she and President Trump will be campaigning together a lot to make sure Arizona votes Republican in November.


The Senator appeared on "Fox & Friends" today to note that her well-publicized interaction with CNN reporter Manu Raju benefitted her campaign - "it rallied the base" -  and also that she expects some Democrats to vote with all 53 Republican Senators to acquit President Trump tomorrow.

"Disgusting" was her reaction to the Iowa Democratic Party's botching of the caucus results, and she used the question to throw in the catchphrase "liberal leftists careening towards socialism" as she praised the Trump Administration (for being the opposite).

That answer prompted host Brian Kilmeade to ask her what she learned from losing to Kyrsten Sinema in 2018 for the open Senate seat. She did not answer the question directly, but made it clear that the answer is to further rally the base.

"Well, we have to. In Arizona, I'm the fire wall to make sure we keep the senate majority. My opponent's first vote is for Chuck Schumer. Make no mistake, he will be with the nominee on the left who is for all these hard left-wing policies, and we have got to make sure that we keep President Trump in office and we keep the Senate majority. And that's Arizona, ground zero."
And, that is when Kilmeade asked about the two campaigning together "a lot".

Watch the entire interview:
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Monday, February 3, 2020

2020 SNOW-BIRDING: Iowa Caucuses Taking Place IN Arizona

Wondering about that sudden chill that spread through Arizona this morning? You might blame the Iowa Presidential caucuses. Huh?

Several dozen snowbirds and college students from Iowa will be caucusing today in Arizona, and the weather gods obviously wanted it to feel like a true Iowa caucus! (Never mind they probably were trying to get away from the cold.)

That's right - there will be FOUR caucus sites this afternoon/evening for Iowa's many registered voters wintering in our sunny(?) state. This is the first time that the Iowa caucus has set up satellite locations for temporarily-self-exiled Iowans, and - not surprisingly - Arizona and Florida are the only states with so many caucus locations.

The Harkins movie theater in Queen Creek will host an early-bird caucus, at 3:30pm. The two in Tucson and one in Green Valley will start at the traditional time of 6pm. (Another fun fact: one in Tucson will be at a private home.)

Potential caucus-goers had to register by January 17 to attend one of these sites, so do not plan to be a snowbird who just flits in. However, the four Arizona caucuses are open to the public.

Final fun fact: Through the early 1990's, Arizona had a modified version of the caucuses to choose the delegates to the national party conventions. That changed when the Legislature and Governor made them state-run affairs. Arizona's Presidential Preference Election takes place on March 17 - this year, it is only for Democrats. The deadline to register to vote as a Democrat for the PPE is February 18.

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