Wake-Up Call: Wednesday, August 27, 2008

With the PolitickerAZ.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of Arizona's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.

Vice President Cheney to speak in Phoenix

Vice President Dick Cheney was expected to arrive in Phoenix Wednesday morning to speak at the American Legion National Convention.

Cheney follows Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, who addressed the group of military veterans on Tuesday. (Arizona Republic, AP)

Link: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/08/27/20080827Cheney27-on.html

Dispute over ballot description settled

A dispute over how to describe a proposed ban on gay marriage was resolved late Tuesday, just as the printing presses were set to roll on an informational booklet for voters. (Arizona Republic, Mary Jo Pitzl)

Link: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/08/27/20080827initiatives-side0827.html

Candidates' expenses questioned

Just a week before the state's primary, the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission voted Tuesday to investigate whether state House hopeful Frank Schmuck and Arizona Corporation Commission candidate Paul Newman violated elections law. (Arizona Republic, Scott Wong)

Link: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/08/27/20080827cleanelections0827.html

Ruling keeps roads, land measures off Ariz. ballot

A state Supreme Court ruling Tuesday means Arizona voters won't be deciding proposed ballot measures on transportation funding and conservation of state trust land.

Election officials who reviewed qualifying petitions for each measure had determined that neither had valid voter signatures. (Arizona Republic, AP)

Link: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/08/26/20080826ballot-measures0826-ON.html

Gov: McCain shouldn't take Ariz. vote for granted

DENVER - Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is warning GOP Sen. John McCain not to take his home state for granted in the November election.

She told the Colorado delegation to the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday that there is evidence McCain is losing support among voters in that state, with up to a third of the voters still undecided. She says those voters will be the deciding factor in this year's election. (Arizona Republic, AP)

Link: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/08/26/20080826govnapolitano26-on.html

AZ delegates get plum spot at Denver convention

They're the 50-yard line seats of the Democratic National Convention, and Arizona's delegates have got 'em.

Grand Canyon Democrats have landed in a primo spot at this week's festivities in Denver — just maybe because they're from the home state of Barack Obama's GOP rival, John McCain. Directly behind the Arizona delegation: the Obama family skybox and vice presidential candidate Joe Biden with his wife, Jill. (Daily Star, Staff)

Link: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/politics/254743.php

McCain, in Phx., turns up the heat on Obama

PHOENIX — Sen. John McCain welcomed a crowd of more than 1,000 veterans to his home state Tuesday by advising them that "it's a dry heat."

And with Democrats spending the week one state away, at their own national convention in Colorado, the GOP's presumptive nominee notified the audience that Gov. Janet Napolitano was "out of the town, up in Denver at some big party they're throwing there." (Daily Star, Daniel Scarpinato)

Link: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/politics/254726.php

Voters to be told gay vows already banned

PHOENIX — Arizona voters will be told when they go to the polls that it already is illegal for gays to marry in this state.

Secretary of State Jan Brewer agreed late Tuesday to add that fact to the description of Proposition 102 that will appear on the November ballots. Approval would add a same-sex-marriage ban to the state constitution.  (Daily Star, Howard Fischer)

Link: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/politics/254755.php

New Phoenix billboards say, 'Imagine No Religion'

PHOENIX — Controversial billboards touting freedom from religion and separation of church and state are going up around the downtown Phoenix area this week.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., paid CBS Outdoor, an advertising company, to put up five signs that read "Imagine No Religion." (Daily Star, AP)

Link: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/metro/254756.php

Voters to decide if Tusayan becomes city

PHOENIX -- Fewer than 175 voters will decide Sept. 2 if Tusayan, the gateway to the Grand Canyon, becomes an incorporated town, governed by its own city council. (Daily Sun, AP)

Link: http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2008/08/26/news/state/20080826_arizo_180097.txt

Still time to vote early in primary elections

Pima County voters can still cast an early ballot in Tuesday's state's primary elections, even though vote-by-mail time has expired. (Tucson Citizen, Staff)

Link: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/local/94962.php

Arizonans won't get to vote on transit projects taxes

Arizonans will not get a chance to decide whether to raise their taxes for new transit projects.

Without comment, the state Supreme Court today left intact a trial judge's ruling that backers of the tax hike waited too long before going to court to challenge the ruling of Secretary of State Jan Brewer that they did not submit enough valid signatures. That means they have no legal way to pursue their contention that Brewer and county recorders erred and that Proposition 203 should be on the November ballot. (East Valley Tribune, Howard Fischer)

Link: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/124078

With the PolitickerAZ.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of Arizona's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.