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When Maricopa County Sheriff candidate Dan Saban submitted his qualifying signatures today, turning in over three times as many as he needed to get on the ballot, he did so without the backing of the Buckeye Police Association, which represents the officers of the police department he headed until a week ago.

Yet Saban doesn't believe BPA's endorsement of his rival, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, or for that matter the endorsement of Arpaio by the Phoenix Law Enforcement Agency, is that great a liability. For Saban, it’s a slew of other endorsements he's garnered that are far more important to his campaign, and he says he has the 8,000-plus signatures to prove it.  

This week's Arizona Winners & Losers are now posted.

A Democratic primary in LD29 is now officially on. With state Rep. Tom Prezelski (D-Tucson) running again and state Rep. Linda Lopez (D-Tucson) termed out, there's room for one more Democrat on the ballot.

However, there are two Dems vying for the spot. Matt Heinz filed last week for the LD29 House race, and now that Daniel Patterson has become official as well, the fight is on in this reliably Democratic district.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean came to Phoenix Tuesday to strategize with Democratic volunteers, bolster the belief that Sen. John McCain is beatable in Arizona and discuss downticket races.

Now the Arizona Democratic Party has released the podcast of Dean's talk with the party's new media communications manager, Jeff Goodman. In it, Dean discusses McCain's weaknesses, touts Democratic congressional candidates and finally reveals which candidate he DNC chair supports... on American Idol.

Democrat candidate for Maricopa County Sheriff, Dan Saban, will submit more than 8,000 signatures tomorrow.  2,480 valid signatures are required by June 4th for Saban to obtain ballot status against Sheriff Joe Arpio.

According to a recent story in the East Valley Tribune, Tempe Vice-Mayor Hut Hutson took thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from an ambulance company, owned by a friend. The company, PMT, had recently been given a high-paying exclusive city contract.

Hutson says PMT president Bob Ramsey is a personal friend, but can’t seem to remember if he solicited a donation before or after the vote on February 7th. Prior or post Feb. 7th is important because Hutson would be prohibited to talking to Ramsey while the contract was being considered by the City Council.

Hutson is currently in a four-way run off for the last two seats on the City Council.

Guadalupe Mayor Rebecca Jimenez had accused Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of racial profiling in her community during April crackdowns of illegal immigrants.  Yesterday Jimenez was pulled over by the sheriff’s deputies and ticketed for a cracked tail light and driving without proof of insurance.

Jimenez has been threatening to drop the Sheriff’s office who currently provides law enforcement services for Guadalupe.  Inside Edge assumes this may speed up that process a little. 

Have you checked out our national site Politicker.com yet?  It’s a great resource for political news from around the country.  The site will become even more inclusive as we add new sites.

The following is an op-ed release Sheriff candidate Dan Saban has issued regarding the Governor withholding funds from Sheriff Joe Arpaio:

The current Sheriff wasn't doing his job of serving warrants, so the Governor had to step in and do it. That's a shame because sheriffs have always taken responsibility for serving them. Here's a little history to back up my claim.

Congratulations to Tedski at Rum, Romanisn and Rebellion for being named the official Arizona blogger for the Democratic National Convention.