READ/REVIEW: Arizona Libertarian Candidates Fall Short Under New Law; Maricopa County Election Results, Including Write-Ins

  Maricopa County Primary Results - Unofficial Report by arizonaspolitics on Scribd

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WATCH: DCCC Doubles Its Headmaster Ad Spend Against Babeu In #AZCD1...$340k (FOLLOWING MONEY IN ARIZONA'S POLITICS)

The Democrats' DCCC is going big early, quickly doubling its ad buy hammering GOP nominee Paul Babeu in the open-swing-mega-district that is Congressional District 1.  $340,000 has now been spent on the ad.

That first ad continues to feature snippets of Channel 15 reports on the Pinal County Sheriff's previous life as the controversial headmaster at DeSisto School in Massachusetts. Arizona's Politics reported on the disclosure that $170,000 went into the production and first week of air time.

The new FEC filing this afternoon indicates that an additional $171,121.30 in ad spots were purchased yesterday, bringing the total to more than $340,000.

Surprisingly, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee still has not yet posted the ad online and has not provided a copy to Arizona's Politics. However, a somewhat-blurry copy has been posted on YouTube by DailyKosElections, and it seems to match what we have seen on air; therefore, we are including it here.


DCCC has now spent nearly as much in less than one week as the campaign for Democratic nominee Tom O'Halleran had spent ($373k) in the entire first year of his effort to replace Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-CD1). Kirkpatrick is running against Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

Going into the last three weeks of the primary - as of Aug. 10 - O'Halleran had $471k of cash on hand, and likely did not have to spend much before the Aug. 30 primary. Babeu had raised almost as much as O'Halleran, but had to spend much more in his competitive 4-way primary; he only had $116k cash on hand on Aug. 10, and likely spent much of it before Aug. 30.

The district - which covers a huge swath of eastern Arizona has long been a hotly-contested swing district.


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GOOD FOR THE GOOSE, GOOD FOR THE GANDER: Biggs Preparing To Try To Add His Votes If Judge Lets Jones Add Hers Tomorrow (#AZ05Recount)

Earlier today, Christine Jones' campaign sent out a plea to people who gave her emails: Let us know TODAY if your early or provisional ballot was counted! This afternoon, Andy Biggs' camp sent out a similar blast to its supporters. Good for the goose, good for the gander.

So, if Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joshua Rogers decides at tomorrow's hearing (10:30am) that the County Elections Department should open and count ballots that it had held out for various reasons, each side will be prepared to present a list of their (likely) supporters who want their ballot envelopes re-checked and counted. They may even ask some of them to come to the hearing to explain to the judge why their vote should be counted.

If the judge orders some or all of them included, whoever has the bigger list might have a head start as the 9-vote primary election contest goes into automatic recount mode.

At 9:10 this morning, Ms. Jones - who is currently 9 votes behind for the GOP nomination for CD5 (East Valley) - sent out the following email urging people to check online to see if their early or provisional ballot was counted, and if not to contact them by midnight tonight.

Friend,

The seven days since Election Day have been a flurry of activity... here is the latest:

1) On election night, we had a 1.3% edge over Andy Biggs with 100% of the precincts reporting. Statistically, there was no clear path to victory for our opponents.

2) As of Friday night (the final night of counting ballots), Andy Biggs somehow, beyond all mathematical probability, edged us by just 9 votes. That makes this the closest congressional election in modern Arizona history. This means, by Arizona Statute, that there will be an automatic recount.

3) Seeing that the vote was so close, we looked closer at all ballots cast, and found that more than 300 ballots have not been counted for various reasons. As you know, voting is a constitutional right and we have taken this issue to court to ensure every vote is counted.

4) We believe your vote should count! Please do the following:

- To check if your early ballot was counted: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/earlyvotingballot/earlyvotingballotstatus.aspx

- To check if your provisional ballot was counted: http://recorder.maricopa.gov/provisionalballotstatus/

PLEASE do this ASAP. We need to know about ANY votes that were not counted by tonight (Wednesday) at midnight.

If you find that your vote was not counted, please reply to this email immediately.

Sincerely,

Christine

PS: Please forward this email to anyone you know who is our supporter. Please do it NOW! Thank you.

Biggs' attorneys and campaign management quickly realized that what is good for the goose would also be good for the gander. Their remarkably-similar email hit inboxes at 3:10pm, and only gave people 2 hours to let them know.

Dear Friend,

9 votes - that's all that separates me and my next closest opponent Christine Jones in the race to replace Matt Salmon in the United States House of Representatives.

Because of the closeness of the vote, there will be an automatic recount and legal challenges before the election is officially over.

There are several early ballots and provisional ballots that may not have been counted - and one of them could be yours! These early and provisional ballots are being called into question in an ongoing court case, and we want to make sure that all who have voted legally have their votes counted.

It's important that you check now to see if your early or provisional ballot was counted!

You can check to see if your early ballot was counted by clicking here.

You can check to see if your provisional ballot was counted by clicking here.

Call Daniel Stefanski at 623.451.1729 or Cesar Ybarra at 619.843.3434 if you believe that your ballot did not count.

You have until 5 pm tonight to resolve this issue if your ballot did not count. Time is of the essence!

Thank you for your support! 

Andy Biggs

The differences between the two emails that jump off the screen are that the Jones campaign - in the  P.S. indicates that it is looking especially for "supporters", and that while both say they want your votes to count, the Jones email does subtly point out that THEY brought this case to court to stand up for people's right to vote.


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3 LAPS TO GO: Well, THAT Clears the Air! McCain Revs Up For Congress' September Sprint

Arizona Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is a known fan of just about all things sporting (and, semi-sporting). So, it should come as no surprise that his first official act in returning to Congress this week was to sign on as a co-sponsor of the RPM Act of 2016!

(photo from Fox Sports)

The cleverly-acronymed bill is more completely known as the "Recognizing and Protecting Motorsports Act of 2016" and was introduced by North Carolina Republican Richard Burr back in March. After a couple of pit stops, the bill snagged McCain and two other Senators yesterday as co-sponsors, bringing the almost bi-partisan crew to 26 in time to step on the gas to cross the finish line before this Congress adjourns following the election.

Oh yeah, were you wondering what exactly the RPM Act does? Simple, it would exempt motor vehicles from the anti-tampering measures of the Clean Air Act IF it is SOLELY used for competition.

Questions abound: Does that mean you cannot test it out or run practice laps with it? And, could the Senator modify his campaign's car and declare the entire election season as a competition? (Attention, Congressional candidate Biggs.) Alas, we were not motivated enough to check to see if the Clean Air Act has a definition for "competition.

We were motivated enough, however, to check to see if McCain's general election opponent had also co-sponsored the identical House bill. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-CD1) has not, although occasional ally Rep. Paul Gosar has (R-CD4). (The only other AZ Rep. co-sponsoring.)





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Aaron Flannery Calls Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell To Concede In 185 Vote Battle

The Maricopa County Recorder's office announced late Friday night/early Saturday morning that their boss, Helen Purcell, had survived a close primary battle by 185 votes. Today (after returning to town), the political newcomer who nearly knocked off the 27-year veteran called her to congratulate her and to tell her he would not be contest the outcome.

Aaron Flannery told Arizona's Politics this afternoon that he will continue to be active and will lend his fresh set of eyes to issues however he can be helpful.

Purcell's office came under local and nationwide scrutiny this year when incredibly long lines for the March Presidential Preference Election lasted all day and into the wee hours of the night. A lawsuit resulted and the portion about the polling place allocations may be near settlement for November's election. She has also been criticized for other ballot mishaps over the past few years.

Purcell faces Democratic challenger Adrian Fontes in the November election.


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ROUND TWO: Trump Upset With Flake's Daily Double

Morning Joe was not on today, so Donald Trump had to watch Arizona Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) on not one, but TWO of the Sunday news shows. It took him a few hours to Tweet about it, but the GOP Presidential nominee finally got there:

The Republican Party needs strong and committed leaders, not weak people such as @JeffFlake, if it is going to stop illegal immigration.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2016

Here is video of both of the Senator's interviews, along with the transcript from CNN's State of the Union.

Trump must still be upset about how Flake stood up to him two months ago during a meeting with GOP Senators.

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WATCH: Pro-McCain SuperPAC Trains Sights On Kirkpatrick, Spends $61K Online (FOLLOWING MONEY IN ARIZONA'S POLITICS)

Arizona Grassroots Action, a pro-McCain SuperPAC that spent $2.6M beating up Kelli Ward in the primary, begins training its sights on general election opponent Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-CD1) this weekend, with a $60,000 online ad buy.

The SuperPAC filed its FEC 48-hour disclosure statement on Saturday, indicating that it spent $1,000 producing the 30-second ad focusing on the already-well-worn path of Obamacare, leaving a constituent face-to-face early, and voting with Obama (but not mentioning Pelosi). (This is the same group that pasted Ward's picture in between liberals Bernie Sanders and Raul Grijalva.) It throws in the Iran nuclear deal for some freshness.

AGA was the biggest-spending SuperPAC in Arizona's primary election contests, and the ironically-named group has received $1.5M from just 14 contributors around the nation. (APS parent company Pinnacle West rounds out the top 15 contributors. AGA has collected more than $1M in the past three weeks.*




* Calculated by subtracting the $1.5M in IE spending thru 8/10 from the $2.7M in IE spending reported since. On 8/10, there was ending cash on hand of $66k. Therefore, approximately $1.1M had to have been raised after 8/10 in order to spend $1.2M in the past two weeks. The next disclosure date is October 15.

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WATCH/READ: Flake Pulls Rare* "Daily Double", Tells TWO Sunday News Shows Still Can't Vote For Trump

Arizona Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) pulled off a rare* "Daily Double" today when he was interviewed on two of the major Sunday news shows, and he repeated his key answer: "I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. And, as of now, I would still not vote for Donald Trump."

CBS' Face the Nation had him back on after host John Dickerson had grilled him just 4 weeks ago. And, Jake Tapper questioned him on CNN's State of the Union program.

He had two clever ripostes to questions about the GOP Presidential nominee's on-again-off-again-self-described "softening" regarding deportation of all immigrants in this country illegally.

TAPPER: You didn't buy Rudy Giuliani's explanation earlier this morning saying that there was a line in there that people didn't pay enough attention to that would allow for possibly a discussion of letting undocumented immigrants stay in this country after the ones who have committed other criminal acts are deported.
FLAKE: Well, if it was there it was buried pretty deep. And no, I didn't catch it.
There was just the statement that you're going back. And think of that for a bit. If you have 11 million would are undocumented here, a lot of those are children who are brought across the border when they were 2 years old, say. What he is saying is that they would all have to go back -- or this is what I heard -- and then that they would perhaps be able to come back here in the future. But if there aren't visa categories to accept those who have been deported, then they wouldn't be able to come back. Or they would have to remain out for a long period of time until some -- I guess some vague talk of a commission would create a visa category for them to come back.

And, with Dickerson, Flake said: "Some say hardening, some say softening, I say confusing."

Flake, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that has refused to hold confirmation hearings on Merrick Garland - President Obama's nominee to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court - repeated his call to confirm Garland in a lame duck session if Donald Trump loses to Hillary Clinton. "I would like him to bring him up. I think the principle ought to be for Republicans to confirm the most conservative jurist that we're able to confirm," Flake said.

TAPPER: Noticeably absent from the event, Arizona's Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who has loudly disagreed with Trump.

And he joins us now.

Senator, good to see you. Thanks for joining us.

SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: Thanks for having me on.

TAPPER: So, the last time we spoke, you said you did not know what you were going to do on Election Day. You must have a pretty good idea by now, though.
If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?

FLAKE: I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. And, as of now, I would still not vote for Donald Trump.

TAPPER: So, if you -- if you don't want to vote for either of them, would you vote for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian?

FLAKE: You can always write somebody in.

So, I just know that I would like to vote for Donald Trump. It's not comfortable to not support your nominee. But, given the positions that he has taken and the tone and tenor of his campaign, I simply can't.

TAPPER: The RNC was planning to praise Donald Trump's speech on immigration in your home state a few days ago.
FLAKE: Right.

[09:30:00]
FLAKE: Right.
TAPPER: But once officials of the RNC heard the speech, they dropped plans to praise the speech. That's pretty remarkable for the RNC not to praise a speech of the Republican nominee.

FLAKE: Well, it was a pretty remarkable speech in that it just really doubled down on a lot of the rhetoric that he has used before, and it really didn't explain with any clarity where he is going to move ahead in the future. It simply went back to some of the positions he has taken.
TAPPER: You didn't buy Rudy Giuliani's explanation earlier this morning saying that there was a line in there that people didn't pay enough attention to that would allow for possibly a discussion of letting undocumented immigrants stay in this country after the ones who have committed other criminal acts are deported.
FLAKE: Well, if it was there it was buried pretty deep. And no, I didn't catch it.
There was just the statement that you're going back. And think of that for a bit. If you have 11 million would are undocumented here, a lot of those are children who are brought across the border when they were 2 years old, say. What he is saying is that they would all have to go back -- or this is what I heard -- and then that they would perhaps be able to come back here in the future. But if there aren't visa categories to accept those who have been deported, then they wouldn't be able to come back. Or they would have to remain out for a long period of time until some -- I guess some vague talk of a commission would create a visa category for them to come back.

TAPPER: So Hillary Clinton's campaign, after the speech in Arizona, as I am sure you know, announced that they would take out a 6-figure ad buy in Arizona.
It's been 20 years since the state went for a Democratic presidential nominee. But take a look at the CNN poll it shows Trump ahead of Clinton but only by five points. Do you think that Trump is comfortably ahead, or does Clinton have a chance of winning Arizona?
FLAKE: Well it shouldn't be close. You know, we went big, I think, eight points for Mitt Romney last time. Arizona should still be a red state. But Donald Trump, with the rhetoric that he has used and the characterizations of, you know, many of the state's population have put the state in play. And unfortunately, you know, that leads to Democrats spending a lot of money here. Unfortunately for Republicans.
I think John McCain will be fine. He did very well in the primary last week. A lot of the down-ballot Republicans will be fine as long as they aren't seen as, you know, believing the same things that Donald Trump believes in

TAPPER: So you think Hillary Clinton could win Arizona potentially because of Donald Trump's rhetoric?
FLAKE: Yes. I do.
TAPPER: Senator John McCain, as you know, he's up for re-election this year. Take a listen to this from his new campaign video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: If Hillary Clinton is elected president, Arizona will need a senator who will act as a check, not a rubber stamp, for the White House. (END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: It's interesting McCain presenting himself as a check on a President Clinton rather than as an ally of President Trump who -- he doesn't even mention Donald Trump in the video. Is this the right argument for Republicans to be making, essentially the same argument Republicans made in 1986 when they were convinced that Bob Dole was going to lose?
FLAKE: Well, I've said that I think Republicans do need to distance themselves from Donald Trump.
I am not suggesting that John McCain has to do that. He is running a smart campaign and he has broad and deep support here. But I do think it's a position that Republicans ought to take. We cannot, for the future of the party, be associated with this kind of message and with this kind of tone and tenor. It's just -- it's not good for the party. It really isn't.

TAPPER: When you listen to Hillary Clinton's speech about Donald Trump appealing to the darker parts of this country, appealing to racism essentially, did you agree or disagree with what she had to say?
FLAKE: Well, I have been saying that long before Hillary Clinton was talking about it. I think a lot of us have been. I think that's the problem that we have. When you -- when you refer to a judge born in Indiana as a Mexican in a pejorative way, when you refer to John McCain as he has, you can't respect him because he wasn't -- or he was captured, or you refer to those who crossed the border as rapists, you know, you just can't appeal to a broad swath of the electorate.
And so, if -- even if Republicans all lined up behind Donald Trump in Arizona, it still wouldn't be enough. You have got to appeal to swing voters, to independents. And he is just going out of his way, it seems, to offend them.
TAPPER: One last question, sir. If Hillary Clinton does win the election, would you want Mitch McConnell to bring up Merrick Garland as soon as possible for a vote during the lame duck session of Congress? Do you fear she would appoint somebody even more liberal?

FLAKE: I would like him to bring him up. I think the principle ought to be for Republicans to confirm the most conservative jurist that we're able to confirm.
[09:35:08]
And if we do lose the election then we ought to move swiftly, I think, to confirm Merrick Garland.
TAPPER: Senator Flake, always a pleasure. Thank you so much for your time, sir.
FLAKE: You bet. Thank you. TAPPER: Coming up taco takeover. A Latino Trump supporter warns the result of too much illegal immigration will be -- quote -- "taco trucks on every corner." Dangerous or delicious? That story next.

*"Rare" in that it might be a first for him, and is rare for anyone not (currently) running for office or at the very top of the news that week. Even Arizona senior Senator John McCain - once the king of Sunday news shows - did not usually go on two of the competing shows on the same day.

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