DEBT CEILING COVERAGE, Arizona Delegation: Some Catch-up items

I haven't had too much time to sit down at the computer the last few days - certainly not as much time as I would like to given the circumstances.  So, here are a few things from the e-mail box and the twitter feeds and the Google-monster that I would like to post.  As always, if you know of something that you think should be included, drop me an e-mail - I'd love to include it!
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Quayle, Ben (R-CD3):  Quayle was interviewed by Fox News' Neil Cavuto this morning (Saturday, 8:15a.m., AZT).  Below the video are some quotes pulled by Quayle's office.

On Speaker Boehner’s bill:

“The plan that we put forth in the House, it was not going to solve all of the problems that we have, but this is going to take time… This is what the Boehner bill did. We had caps on spending; we had a balanced Budget Amendment. I voted for it and I think it was the right step.”
On the long-term fiscal situation:
"We need to move our country in the right fiscal direction. We can’t be saying, ok look S&P and Moody’s might downgrade us. We have to make the best decisions to try and make sure that we are tackling our fiscal problems.”

On differences within the Republican Party:

“We are all in this together. We all have the same ideals and we’re looking to push that same ideals. We have different strategy. Some people try to get it all at once. Others are trying to say— hey look, we understand where we are. We don’t have the Senate, we don’t have the White House. Let’s get what we can get and move the country in the right direction. So, I don’t think there is really any schism of ideology. It’s just a difference of opinion in strategy. “

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Schweikert, Davide (R-CD5):  Rep. Schweikert released an angry statement this (Saturday) afternoon.  Here it is:

“While our economy is on the brink of a debt disaster, it is unconscionable that President Obama and the Senate Majority still refuse any plan that will not give the president a blank check.
“The House of Representatives did the heavy lifting and passed a bipartisan plan, yet President Obama’s calls for ‘compromise’ seem to ignore this reality.
“The Reid plan borders on embarrassing. It is full of smoke and mirrors instead of common sense and math. It will have a disastrous impact on our military, does not cut close to the amount it hikes, and advertises $1 trillion in phantom cuts.
“Senator Reid continues to play games and disregard the will of the People’s House. It is clear that President Obama and the Senate Majority just don’t get it.” 

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Gosar, Paul (R-CD1) :  Rep. Gosar released a statement last night (Friday), after passage of the Boehner bill:

“I’ve said all along, default is not an option for our country. The plan that offered the best solution was Cut, Cap and Balance, however, the Senate refused to even vote on that. We are forced to provide a compromise, which Speaker Boehner has forged that overall cuts more in spending than gives in debt ceiling increases. This conservative plan still moves the nation on a path to fiscal responsibility.”

“A year ago Congress only talked about tax increases and more failed stimulus plans. Now we are talking about, and voting on, measures that restore fiscal sanity. We are moving our country forward.”  

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DEBT CEILING COVERAGE: Arizona Delegation Updates

With the House of Representatives debating this afternoon (now in indefinite recess), and many divergent viewpoints, I am trying to compile where our 10 Arizona Congresspeople (Representatives and Senators) are at this moment.  If you have some links or info, please e-mail me (info@ArizonasPolitics.com).  Thanks.

Flake, Jeff (R-CD6):  Rep. Flake - who is running for the Senate next year - has been moved (by the National Journal) from "undecided" to "leans no". ABC reporter Tweets (3:00p.m., AZ Time) that Flake and Franks each had "private conversations" with Speaker Boehner and declined to comment to press afterwards. 
       This afternoon (1:08p.m., AZ Time), The Hill indicated that Flake was still leaning no and that he was thinking about other chess moves for the GOP - that the Senate should pass Reid's plan, then the House could attach a "clean balanced budget amendment" and pressure the Senate with it as the Aug. 2 deadline looms larger.

Franks, Trent (R-CD2):  Rep. Franks has nothing from today on his website or his Twitter feed, as of 1:53p.m. (Arizona Time).  And, a Washington Post article posted this morning lists Franks as "publicly undecided."  The National Journal lists Franks as a "no" vote.  ABC reporter Tweets (3:00p.m., AZ Time) that Flake and Franks each had "private conversations" with Speaker Boehner and declined to comment to press afterwards.

Gosar, Paul (R-CD1):  Rep. Gosar was among the 20-30 House Republican freshmen who participated in a news conference this morning supporting the Boehner proposal.  Facing the picture below, he is to the right of center.  He did not speak, and has not issued any statements.  He did "re-Tweet" Speaker Boehner's message claiming that he had the "only serious proposal."

Quayle, Ben (R-CD3): Webpage, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook silent, as of 1:37p.m. (AZ Time). However, the Washington Post political columnists Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake identified him (and Jeff Flake) as one of the 5 to watch today:  "The Arizona freshman has said he would withhold a decision until the final bill came out, but his time to make a decision is rapidly running out. Quayle is just the sort of conservative establishment type — his father, Dan, was a senator from Indiana and vice president — that Boehner has to have to get to 217 votes."

Schweikert, David (R-CD5): Rep. Schweikert is among the House Republican freshman.  Yesterday, he indicated that he was "leaning no" regarding the Boehner plan. This morning, he was on CNBC: "I'm holding out 'til the last moment, to see if I can get one last (spoken over)...." (4:58 into video) http://youtu.be/ts74YQCx9NE .  The National Journal lists Schweikert as "publicly undecided".

*
Giffords

Grijalva, Raul (D-CD7): The co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus, Rep. Grijalva spoke briefly today at a press conference rally to urge Congress to protect against cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

     In his constituent newsletter yesterday, Grijalva suggested that the GOP is simply trying to cut programs they have been trying to eliminate: "They're using their manufactured crisis to try to cut important programs - like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security - that they've tried to eliminate for years. They're trying to tell us these programs, not the wars and upper income tax cuts of the past 10 years, are why we have a deficit. That's simply not true. In 2001, decades after these programs were created, we had a budget surplus of $258 billion. What changed? Well, I don't have to remind you of the last 10 years. We launched two wars and gave taxpayer money to corporations to destroy the economy."

Pastor
*
Kyl
McCain

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Schweikert Votes To Limit U.S. Funding For Libya Operation; Grijalva and Pastor Vote Against Authorizing Operation

An interesting day in Congress today as the House defeats two Libya-related measures, and three Arizona Representatives are among those whose votes will gather attention.

First, Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-CD7) and Ed Pastor - Arizona's two Democratic Congressmen (the third, Gabrielle Giffords, is still rehabbing) - (D-CD4) voted with the majority in refusing to authorize the U.S. to participate in the NATO operation that has been proceeding in Libya since March.  All the Arizona Republicans voted against and the House vote was 123-295 against the resolution.  (The overall split among Democrats was 115-70, and the GOP split was 8-225.)  The Senate is expected to pass the authorization.

The second vote was one pushed by Speaker of the House John Boehner, to cut off funding for the ongoing operations there.  It failed 180-238, and the only member of the Arizona delegation to vote for cutting off funding was Rep. David Schweikert (R-CD5).  Arizona's other four Republicans voted with a majority of the Democrats in not cutting the funding.

The only Representative to issue a statement (so far) is Rep. Jeff Flake (R-CD6), who voted against both measures:  "“The President still has not made clear what national security objectives are being met by U.S. participation in the NATO mission or how we can justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars to fund our efforts there.  The time for debate over whether to authorize U.S. armed forces to engage in Libya was months ago, before the U.S. entered into the NATO operation."


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INTERESTING WEEK: Rep. David Schweikert Gets Around, Including Guantanamo

If he had just ended at the gasoline pump, it would have been a boring week for Arizona Rep. David Schweikert (R-CD5).  Just because Congress was not in session does not mean that he got a week off of work. 

And tomorrow, he will be meeting supporters in the park and at a tony reception featuring GOP message guru Frank Luntz (both campaign events, visit davidschweikert.com for info). 

However, in between those events (or before), Schweikert will be catching us up on his mid-week visit to Guantanamo Bay, where the U.S. continues to detain a number of so-called "enemy combatants."

Sooooo, what did YOU do this week?

P.S. I do feel sorry for him, though.  Next week, Congress is back in session!


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THIS A.M.: Pump Your Congressperson Full of Opinions While He Pumps Your Vehicle Full of Gas; Schweikert Hits The Streets

Arizona Rep. David Schweikert (R-CD5) will listen to you gripe about the price of gas this morning, help you pump a few gallons and explain to you why the Republicans' "all-of-the-above" energy strategy is the right path for our country.

He will be at the Danny's Family Car Wash in Scottsdale (on Scottsdale Road between Greenway and Bell) from 8:00-9:00. 

And, how did he pick that location?  Well, the Hendon family who owns the local chain of car washes are regular John McCain contributors.

Next stop? Parking cars?







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YEAH, WE'RE LOOKING AT YOU, ARIZONA: New York Times Peeks Behind Scenes At Flake's, Schweikert's Town Halls

(Occasionally, we try to highlight news coverage of Arizona from around the rest of the nation and world. The series will be titled, "Yeah, we're looking at you, Arizona.")

The New York Times ran a report today (page A9) about the behind the scenes efforts to rustle up people to attend congressional town hall meetings.  The article focuses solely on Arizona Reps. Jeff Flake (R-CD6) and David Schweikert (R-CD5).  (And actually, Flake's was a campaign event as part of his effort to take  Jon Kyl's seat in the Senate.)

Nothing much surprising in the report, and it does not put Arizona in a negative light.  In fact, the gist is that these efforts were representative of those going on around the country.




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READ: Post-Funding Bill Comments From Reps. Flake, Quayle, Schweikert

Here are the comments from three members of Arizona's House delegation, who all voted against the bill to continue funding the federal government through FY2011, in the order in which they hit my e-mail box.  (Although Arizona's Politics always reserves the right to limit the length of these comments, in this case, we did not.)

Rep. Jeff Flake:  “Simply put, the cuts in this bill don’t go deep enough to begin to get us on the right fiscal course.  As President Obama conceded yesterday, the fiscal crisis facing the country is serious.  Unfortunately for taxpayers, this bill doesn’t reflect the seriousness of the problem.”

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Rep. Ben Quayle: “Without question, the Republican Majority in the House has brought about a fundamental shift in the dialogue coming out of Washington. Since Members of the 112^th Congress took the oath of office, the crux of our debates has been about saving money rather than spending it. Speaker Boehner and the Republican House leadership should be commended for shifting the debate.  However, I do not believe this funding agreement goes far enough to reduce our debt. My constituents sent me to Washington to rein in spending and create jobs. We need to make serious reductions and reforms to ensure that future generations of Americans have the same opportunities that past generations have enjoyed.”

____

Rep. David Schweikert:

“We have a duty to be unwavering in our commitment to get Washington back on the right track, but today’s bill does not go far enough in doing that. This is the first continuing resolution brought to the House floor this year that does not achieve the $100 billion level of spending reductions that Republicans had pledged.


“I applaud the Republican leadership for forcing the president to the table during this debate. We must continue to change the conversation in Washington from raising taxes and growing government to limiting government and preserving economic freedom.

“House Republicans know we must keep up the fight to cut spending at the scale we need. We can do better and we must do better.”

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FACT CHECK FOLLOW-UP: CBO (Politely) Calls Out GOP - and Schweikert - On Healthcare Law Costs

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office ("CBO" has struck back at the Republicans' use of its report from last Friday, strongly suggesting that the GOP misrepresented its analysis.

Yesterday, Arizona's Politics Fact-Checked Arizona Rep. David Schweikert's (R-CD5) - and the GOP's- claims that the costs associated with the healthcare reform law that went into effect last year had just risen by $500 billion (to $1.445 trillion).  While unable to uncover where they had come up with that number - even in the CBO's budgetary analysis that was apparently the source that the Republicans had latched onto - we noted that Schweikert and fellow Republicans were studiously ignoring the larger picture of the net effect of the law on the federal budget deficit and that the repeal of the law would increase the deficit.

Late yesterday, after the Fact Check was researched and written, but before it was posted, the CBO posted on its Director's blog a clarification of the issue.  It appears that the CBO was not pleased with the selective use of its figures.  (This was probably exacerbated by the fact that the Republicans had been blasting the CBO for its analysis of last year's law and of the GOP proposed repeal.)

While not lending itself to easy quoting, the new CBO blog post does make it clear that: (1) the CBO's adjustments to the estimated cost of expanding health insurance coverage were slight and based on technical changes and updated economic inputs; (2) one cannot automatically infer a re-estimate of the entire budgetary impact of the law; (3) the CBO still is secure in its earlier conclusion that the entire law reduces the deficit through 2021 by approximately $210 billion; (4) that the Republicans' talking point ONLY comes from the "gross effect" of the insurance coverage provisions and blurs different time periods (last year's estimate covered 2010-19 and the new one 2012-21); and (5) that the CBO will continue to make these types of adjustments, and the figures will "probably change again in the future for all of those same reasons."

While adding the caveats that the GOP should have included - that the CBO has not re-estimated the entire budgetary impact - it is reasonable to infer from the CBO's report in February on the estimated total deficit reduction effect of the 2010 healthcare reform law ($210 billion), and the 8.5% increase between February and last week in the estimated net effect of the insurance coverage provisions ($89 billion), (and assuming that the other provisions' estimated effects have not changed since last month) that the estimated total deficit reduction effect of the 2010 healthcare reform law is presently estimated at $121 billion between 2012-2021.  On the other hand, for that same period, repeal of the 2010 healthcare reform law is presently estimated to increase the federal deficit by approximately $121 billion between 2012-2021.

One further addition  to yesterday's Fact Check: we noted that Schweikert claimed that the "job-killing" healthcare reform law added $670 billion dollars in taxes.  Here is a Politifact analysis breaking down the amounts of taxes in the law - they could not come up with a legitimate figure (from the CBO or the Joint Committee on Taxation) for the next ten years (through 2019) of more than $525 billion.

With the new information from the CBO - and, unless and until we are presented with a factual defense of the GOP's claims - we are giving Schweikert and the GOP a Fact Checked grade of "F" for the false use of numbers. 


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(Quickie) FACT CHECK: Arizona Rep. David Schweikert (One Of Many GOP'ers) Misleading Re: Healthcare Reform This Week

The Tweet from Arizona Rep. David Schweikert (R-CD5) caught my eye: "The cost of #Obamacare would buy you all 32 NFL Teams, 30 NBA Teams , 30 MLB Teams , and 30 NHL Teams almost 8 times."  Honestly, my first thought was how that action would affect whether the Phoenix Coyotes stay in town.  My second thought was that that figure needs to be fact checked.

First stop, the document Schweikert cites in the Tweet.  Not much help, just a brief Republican talking point from the Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.  It indicates that the CBO's (the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office) latest estimates put the "cost of Obamacare has increased by $500 billion", for a total cost of $1.445 trillion.  Unfortunately, the GOP does not bother to cite where they received that from.

The next stop was to Rep. Schweikert's website, to see if we could glean more details.  The figure is there in his news release, along with the claims that last year's law includes "$670 billion in new taxes and counting", that it is "job-killing" and that his vote for repealing it "is a much better way."

Still no hint on where the $500 billion increase/$1.445 trillion total is gleaned from.  Next stop, the CBO's own website.  Nothing there on their "health" page - not since February 18, that is, when the CBO made it clear that they thought that the House Republicans' repeal would make our federal budget deficit WORSE by $251 billion between 2012-19!

Perhaps the Republicans are speaking of this CBO analysis of the President's 2012 budget submission, dated March 18, 2011.  However, after wading through the wonky document - particularly pages 14-15 and the table on page 22 - I could only find evidence that the CBO has concluded that changed estimates had a positive (downward) effect on the budget deficit over the next ten years.

Without being able to know what data Schweikert - and, the GOP in general - is relying upon, it is impossible to fully evaluate their claims.  However, what is certain is that they are leaving out the most important part of the data - the bottom line.  The CBO has scored the healthcare reform law as being positive for reducing the federal budget deficit (and the overall U.S. economy, for that matter), and has blasted the GOP's reform as increasing that deficit.

Misleading, at best.

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Half of Arizona's Congressional Delegation Makes A Run For the Border Thursday; Sen. McCain Leads The Pack

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) leads half of Arizona's Congressional delegation to the Arizona-Mexico border this week. (March 23-24)  After their survey of the situation, the five will head back to Tucson for a press conference in the parking lot of the regional office of the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas agency (down by the Tucson airport).

Reps. Jeff Flake (R-CD6), and freshmen Paul Gosar (R-CD1), Ben Quayle (R-CD3) and David Schweikert (R-CD5) will join McCain on the survey and at the news conference.

UDPATE:  Not sure if they're going to the Douglas/Agua Prieta area, but came across this report this a.m.: http://bit.ly/f2nqXI


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FOLLOWING THE MONEY IN ARIZONA'S POLITICS: No Rubber Chickens On This Circuit: Arizona Congressional Delegations Trips Since Election; Cuba, Reagan Library Highlights

(This will be the first in an ongoing series of reports publicizing trips and gifts given to Arizona's Representatives and Senators in Washington.)

After his easy re-election in November, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-CD6) took off for Cuba.  Flake - now running for the U.S. Senate - spent five November days on the island nation on the tab of the Lexington Institute.  While the food there was rather cheap, lodging for Flake and his wife ran to more than $300/day.

The next long trip taken by a member of the delegation was when Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-CD8) spent five days (with her husband and two daughters) in Charleston, SC over New Year's.  The well-known Renaissance Weekend brings together political leaders and other movers and shakers for a series of panel discussions.  The tab came to $2,740.00 and was picked up by the group.

Three Republican House members from Arizona attended a retreat in late January in Simi Valley, hosted (and paid for) by the conservative Heritage Foundation.  Rep. David Schweikert's (R-CD5) tab was the largest, at $2,521.80, while Rep. Trent Franks (R-CD2) only spent $1,536.10. Flake was in the middle with $2,042.60.  Schweikert and Flake brought their spouses.

That same weekend, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-CD7) attended a similar ideological retreat, but it was apparently much more austere.  Grijalva and two staffers spent two days in Chantilly, Virginia, paid for by the Progressive Ideas Network and Progressive Congress Action Fund.  The tab for transportation, meals and lodging only came to $535.69/person.





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Arizona Rep. David Schweikert's Reaction To Sen. Jon Kyl Retirement Announcement

Schweikert:  “Senator Jon Kyl's record of service to our state is something all Arizonans should be proud of. His tireless advocacy on behalf of our state for over twenty years has made Arizona a better place. One example of this leadership was his work to ensure that Arizona's water rights were protected for years to come.


“I also think it is worth recognizing Senator Kyl's conservative leadership over the course of his career. He has a long and distinguished record as a conservative leader that won't soon be forgotten.

“I will also always be grateful for the help Senator Kyl and his team gave to us as we set up our new office in this Congress. He has been a good friend and mentor and will be missed.”




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Arizona Rep. David Schweikert Teams Up With Sens. Enzi and Barrasso To Push Single Subject Lawmaking. (In CONGRESS???)

Arizona Rep. David Schweikert (R-CD5) is getting some national attention for introducing a single-sentence resolution into the House, calling for single-subject legislation.  Politico notes that the trio wants to "end the practice of weighing down bills with irrelevant add-ons by confining every bill to a single issue."

Schweikert introduced H.Res. 70 in late January, with no cosponsors and no attention.  (Heck, he did not even send out a news release.)  Perhaps now that the two Senators have introduced their version, the House leadership will take more notice.  He told Politico, "“Every bill voted on in the U.S. Congress should be considered on its own merit in an open and transparent way before the American people.”

Here is the entire text of Schweikert's resolution:

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to prohibit the consideration of any bill or joint resolution carrying more than one subject.


Resolved, That rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by adding at the end the following new clause:

`Restrictions on bills and joint resolutions

`11. It shall not be in order to consider any bill or joint resolution carrying more than one subject.'.

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Rep. Schweikert Votes With, Against House Republican Leadership In Past 24 Hours (Patriot Act extensions, UN funding)

As Washington and Congress-watchers are buzzing today about the House Republicans' apparent divisions on the Patriot Act extensions and the U.N. funding measure, only one Arizona Congressman has voted against party lines.  Rep. David Schweikert (R-CD5) joined some so-called Tea Party Republicans and voted against the extensions of three provisions of the Patriot Act last night, but voted with all but three of the GOP caucus to try to yank back $180 million in funds for the United Nations.  Both measures failed to get the necessary 2/3 support.

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WATCH: Arizona Rep. David Schweikert On Fox Business News: "We're Devastatingly Broke"

Arizona Rep. David Schweikert (R-CD5) appeared on Fox Business News this afternoon.  In a joint interview with California Democrat Loretta Sanchez, Schweikert defended Rep. Paul Ryan's plans for cutting spending, saying: 

"We're devastatingly broke, and the entitlements are going to drive us into the ground.  So if you really care about that college student and that student having an economic future, we have to do the tough stuff now, or it comes crashing down around us."

Of course, the hosts had to ask if Sanchez and Schweikert were going to sit together tomorrow for the State of the Union address.  Sanchez took a flirty approach, while Schweikert noted that the Arizona delegation (except those apparently, who like Sen. McCain, already have dates) is probably going to sit together.




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VISIT: Arizona Rep. David Schweikert Indoors Tomorrow, Saturday To Meet With Constituents; First Since Fellow Rep. Giffords Shot

New Arizona Rep. David Schweikert (R-CD5) is the first of Arizona's Congressional delegation to announce open meetings with constituents since the attempted assassination of colleague Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-CD8).

The "listening sessions" were announced on Schweikert's Twitter account, and will take place tomorrow (Friday), from 9-11a.m. at the Tempe Pyle Adult Recreation Center, and Saturday, from 2-4p.m. at the Pecos Community Center in Phoenix (Ahwatukee).

(The addresses are 655 E. Southern Ave. and 17010 S. 48th Street, respectively.)

The announcement does not appear to be up on either Schweikert's official House website or his old campaign website.

No word on formats or security arrangements yet, but the fact that both will be in inside rooms - as opposed to Giffords' ill-fated session outside a Safeway grocery store - will make it more easily controllable.


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READ: Arizona Rep. David Schweikert's Fundraising E-mail To Keep Democrats From Bankrupting America

Arizona Rep. David Schweikert (R-CD5) did not get to speak during the House debate on HR2, which passed late this afternoon.  The proposal to repeal last year's healthcare reform bill will now move to the Senate, where it appears to be stuck.  However, Schweikert did send out a campaign committee fundraising e-mail today supporting the repeal effort.  The text is below the jump.

In it, he asks the reader to "Stand with David Schweikert in 2011! Click here to support our fight in Congress to bring real healthcare reform that does not bankrupt our nation."  He then claims that "ObamaCare" will cost $2.7trillion and increase the national deficit by nearly $700 billion. 

Text below the jump.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS: Web Site, Office Info For New Arizona Representatives

Now that our new Arizona Congressmen have been sworn in (and are no longer "former" Representatives), their official websites are up and their constituent offices are open for business.  Kudos to new Rep. David Schweikert (R-CD5), the only one of the trio to have his "Full Biography" already up on the website; Reps. Ben Quayle (R-CD3) and Paul Gosar (R-CD1) are still running with the full generic website.

For the first time, all 8 members of the Arizona delegation have the same website naming convention: http:last name.house.gov . (Previously, a couple had first initials in front of the last name.)  Thus, you can find the new guys at http://gosar.house.gov/ , http://quayle.house.gov/ , and http://schweikert.house.gov/ .

After the jump is the D.C. and Arizona office info for the new guys:

WRAP-UP CD5 - FOLLOWING MONEY IN ARIZONA'S POLITICS: Arizona's $7 Million House Race

(Arizona's Politics tried to pay close attention to the flow of national spending in Arizona's competitive congressional races during the campaign, through our "Following Money In Arizona's Politics" series.



Congressional District 5, encompassing much of eastern Maricopa County, received quite a bit of that attention throughout the general election campaign.  In fact, the negative ads and outside spending started before the ink on the primary election results was dry. Everyone expected a tough rematch battle between Democratic incumbent Harry Mitchell and Republican David Schweikert.


And, it was.  Most visibly, on the air, where ads attacking each other were often run back-to-back during commercial breaks on the local news.  In the end, however, the Republican wave was more than enough to send Schweikert to Congress on his third try for the office.*  Schweikert received 110,374 votes (52.0%) to Mitchell's 91,749 (43.2%), while Libertarian Nick Coons collected 10,127 votes (4.8%). (per official state canvass)
CD5 is the third in our series of post-election reviews of where the money came from. (CD1, CD7) Most of the information is collected from the Center for Responsive Politics - which compiles the required FEC filings. However, totals here may differ from CRP's due to occasionally-confusing coding by the outside group's filings; Arizona's Politics has attempted to catch those (in?)advertent errors.)
The outside spending on the Schweikert/Mitchell race began quickly with the 60-Plus Association's ad attacking the Democratic incumbent on healthcare reform ruling the airwaves at first.  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ("DCCC") responded, the National Republican Congressional Committee ("NRCC") entered the ring a few days later, and the air war accelerated right up 'til the last vote dropped.

The final total for outside groups ended up in Schweikert's favor, $1.7Million to $1.5Million.  However, if you remove homegrown outside money - the Arizona Republican Party ($84,998) and John McCain's committee ($80,472) - the national independent expenditure money was virtually even.  This is also reflected in the DCCC vs. NRCC numbers - $1,179,157 vs. $1,145,283!

Here are the other IE's on behalf of Mitchell:  $267,316 by America's Families First Action Fund, $29,266 by America Votes, and $4,600 from NARAL Pro-Choice America. (The UFCW and Sierra Club spent $436 and $10, respectively.)

Going to bat for Schweikert were:  the Club For Growth ($153,284), the SuperPAC for America ($89,794), $52,224 from the NRA, and $35,292 from the American Academy of Ophthalmologists. (Didn't see that one coming, didja?)  The 60-Plus Association spent $19,251, National Right to Life dropped $13,039, and Revere America kicked in $1,302.

The close contest in outside money spent was also reflected in the spending by the candidates' committees themselves.  Adding in their disbursements, nearly $3.8M was spent by Mitchell or on his behalf, compared to $3.3M by Schweikert or on his behalf.

BOTTOM LINE: It was a great win for Schweikert and the Republicans.  Like Gosar in CD1, Schweikert enjoyed an advantage in outside money spent on his behalf;  however, unlike his new colleague, Schweikert was outspent by the incumbent/on his behalf.  Nevertheless, his victory margin exceeded Gosar's. 

This was the most expensive congressional campaign in Arizona (maybe even including the Senate race, after all is picked through), clocking in at slightly over $7.1 Million.  Still, Schweikert went into debt ($530,000, all but $30,000 to himself); more on that to come.




*The 8.8% spread in favor of Schweikert was less than the average margin of victory for the statewide GOP.




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FOLLOWING MONEY IN ARIZONA'S POLITICS: Club For Growth Spends Big For Schweikert

On Friday, the Club For Growth PAC put its final foot forward in CD5 to give Democratic Rep. Harry Mitchell the boot. (supporting GOP nominee David Schweikert)

They purchased $150,800 (less a few thousand for production costs) for the last-minute ad. Also spent $80.89 on a press release. 




We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com. Thanks.