Following The Money: Democrats Spend Big in Southern Arizona Legislative Races

A Democratic mailer targeting Republican Frank Antenori sponsored by Victory 2008; Antenori charges that Democrats "made complete fabrications."

We’ve mentioned recently in The Skinny (here and here) how the Arizona Democratic Party is making a big push to flip the Arizona House of Representatives. To do it, they need to flip four seats into the Democratic column while hanging onto the gains they made in 2008.

That’s no easy task, but the Democrats are never likely to find themselves in a more advantageous political environment. And they certainly have the financial resources to make it happen, although we’ll have to wait until Election Day to see if they ended up spending all their money in an effective manner.

The Democratic Party has invested a half-million dollars into Victory 2008, a political committee pushing for Democrats in GOP districts across the state. They’re being backed up by Arizonans for a Healthy Economy, a political committee that, according to the most recent campaign finance reports, had been funded by the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education ($50K), the Arizona Fire Fighters ($50K), the SEIU labor guys ($50K), and Arizona’s List, a political committee dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women ($37K). Arizonans for a Healthy Economy also picked up a bunch of contributions from Tucson-area lefties.

Here in Southern Arizona, the Democrats have targeted Districts 25, 26 and 30 with more than $300,000 in campaign spending. They should get an easy pick-up in LD25, where Republican Rep. Jennifer Burns is retiring. The district leans Democratic and the Republican candidates are not especially credible; one of them, David Stevens, isn’t even in the country to campaign.

In GOP-leaning District 26 (Catalina Foothills, Oro Valley, Saddlebrooke), the Democrats have to protect Rep. Nancy Young Wright and carry Don Jorgensen to victory against Republicans Vic Williams and Marilyn Zerull. They also want to keep the state Senate seat in Democratic hands by supporting Cheryl Cage against Republican Al Melvin.

In LD26, the Democratic committees have combined to spend

“Something” Happening Here: Obama Team Calls Arizona “Functionally Tied”

Here’s an ad you’ll be seeing a lot of in the next few days. The Obama campaign announced this morning that they believed they had “a real shot in Arizona” and would be making a major buy to run “Something,” a positive spot that’s getting play in other battleground states.

One Obama staffer, playfully borrowing language from the McCain campaign, called the Arizona race “functionally tied.”

They’re splashing some cold water on the idea that Arizona is in play over at Nate Silver’s excellent Fivethirtyeight.com.

Obama himself will not be making a visit here, according to Jon Carson, the campaign’s national field director.

As long as it’s Halloween, we thought we’d bring you this ad, just because it has robots in it.

Giffords New Ad: Energy Independence

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is facing Republican Tim Bee in Congressional District 8, has debuted a new ad focusing on energy independence. Just like her first TV ad–and as Bee has done in both of his–she makes no mention of party affiliation.

Air War: TV Ads Debut in LD 29 Seven-Way Super Slam!

Two Democrats in the crowded Legislative District 29 Seven-Way Super-Slam are using their Clean Elections bucks to air TV ads.

Ephraim Cruz shows off his weightlifting skills…

…while Daniel Patterson visits a local playground.

McCain’s New Ad: Celebrity

The McCain campaign has a new ad today: Celebrity.

New Bee TV Ad

Republican congressional candidate Tim Bee, who is challenging Democrat Gabrielle Giffords in Congressional District 8, has a new TV ad. Like his first ad, it does not mention that he is a Republican.

McCain’s New Campaign Ad: Words

Sen. John McCain debuted a new YouTube ad today that hammers Barack Obama for deciding to forego public funding for his presidential campaign.

Here’s Obama explaining why he opted out of the system:

Is this an issue that will hurt Obama? Well, it’s not as if McCain doesn’t have some flip-flops of his own: