CD5

CD5 Republican candidate Laura Knaperek today announced former Arizona House Majority Leaders Ernie Baird, Lori Daniels and Steve Tully have all endorsed her primary campaign today. Knaperek us seeking the nomination for the right to take on Harry Mitchell.

L to R: Joe Arpaio, Susan Bitter Smith, Ed PhillipsAt her Scottsdale home Friday evening, Susan Bitter Smith at last officially entered the six-person Republican primary field in CD5. Though some have questioned the soundness of her last-in-the-water strategy, Bitter Smith sought to belay any doubts by beginning her campaign surrounded by political supporters, including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and replete with an oversized Taxpayer Protection Pledge that the campaign claims is "the biggest of any candidate."

I'm issuing a special challenge to our PolitickerAZ.com readers. The first person that can email a VERIFIABLE photo of Lee Adam Gentry to me at rob.tornoe@politicker.com wins a signed print of this cartoon.

Last night's CD5 Republican candidate forum offered a different take on the contenders from last month's event in Scottsdale. While the candidates fielded questions on earmark spending, border security and cuts in government programs, what emerged spoke less to individual policies as the sense that whoever emerges as the nominee will shoulder a heavy burden for the Party.

The field acknowledged a profound dissatisfaction with the Republican Party among voters and a need to reconnect with conservative principles in action, not just as a campaign ploy. They also pledged not to let the primary get so heated as to destroy the victor's chances of beating Rep. Harry Mitchell, and that, once the ticket was set, the others would unite behind the effort of unseating Mitchell in the general.

Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-5) is playing up the drama of his re-election fight. Though he enjoys a commanding money lead over the field of Republicans vying to face him in November, his razor-thin margin of victory in 2006 and the vulnerability inherent to most freshmen in Congress is seen as a cause for concern.

He and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-8) are assessed to be early favorites to retain their seats, but there's a lot of time left in an election season that has yet to kick off in earnest.

Last week Inside Edge pointed out the curious decision of Susan Bitter Smith to make her formal announcement on a Friday, the day typically set aside to release bad or negative news.  Well now that decision also appears to be have cost her a public appearance with her Republican rivals.  While Mark Anderson, Laura Knaperek, Jim Ogsbury and David Schweikert will be appearing in a CD5 Republican forum being hosted by LD8, Smith will not be invited as she will not be an official candidate until the next day.

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Today, U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-5) secured two victories in battles he's been waging since the beginning of the year. The first came when Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, James Peake, capitulated on Rep. Mitchell's request to turn over documents related to suicides among veterans.

The second was acheived when the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which Mitchell introduced with three other congressmen and which has become a centerpiece of his work on the Hill, was officially included in the war spending supplemental. Its inclusion presents the best opportunity for its passage.

On Thursday, May 8th, the LD8 Republican Committee will be hosting a forum for the CD5 Republicans candidates.  Mark Anderson, Laura Knaperek, Jim Ogsbury, David Schweikert and Susan Bitter Smith will discuss the issues and make their pitches at the Mustang Library in Scottsdale starting at 7pm. 

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At 8 o'clock this morning, CD5 candidate Jim Ogsbury became the first of Rep. Harry Mitchell's challengers to file with Secretary of State Jan Brewer.

Even before his official entry, though, the effort to discredit him as a conservative has already begun. In what Ogsbury's campaign manger calls a "whisper campaign" propagated by proponents of Ogsbury's primary opponent David Schweikert, Ogsbury's stance on non-fiscal issues near to conservatives' hearts - most notably abortion - have come into question. 

Thus on the first morning of his official campaign, Jim Ogsbury spoke with PolitickerAZ to explain why he is, as his website claims, "The True Conservative for U.S. Congress." 

Scottsdale attorney Jim Ogsbury today became the first official Republican candidate to challenge Harry Mitchell in CD5.  Ogsbury filed his nominating signatures with the Secretary of State's Office.  Ogsbury used the signature gathering procedure to personally go door-to-door and meet voters.

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