Jon Kyl

I recieved an e-mail from the folks responsible for a new political news site, The Arizona Guardian. Already there is talk that it will be “democratic leaning” due to the involvement of Democratic consultant Bob Grossfeld. They make a little hay of this accusation in their “Guardian Angel” column:

Thanks to Arizona Capitol Times and the Yellow Sheet for announcing the start up of The Arizona Guardian in an item last month. Wow, what a scoop that was. Too bad they got it pretty much wrong. But we hear that’s not an unusual occurrence for that venerable old publication (1929? Really?). To correct the public record: There are four - not three - journalists staffing The Guardian.

U.S. Reps. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) and Harry Mitchell (D-Tempe) broke ranks with their party Wednesday night to vote against a bill that would commit billions of federal dollars to the resuscitation of the U.S. auto industry.

The bill passed around 8:30 p.m. EST on a vote of 237-170, with all but 32 Republicans opposing the bill or not voting, and 20 Democrats joining with the GOP. Two of them were Giffords, a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats, and Mitchell, who has sought admittance into the Blue Dog coalition.

Rob Haney is out and Steve Tully is in as chairman of the Legislative District 11 Republican Committee, after a tempestuous meeting Tuesday night that saw passions flare and intra-party division on display.

Prominent figures in the Arizona Republican Party, past and present, turned up alongside LD11 precinct committeemen and curious rank-and-file Republicans from outside the district for a meeting that promised to be memorable and did not disappoint. Among those on hand Tuesday night were former Gov. Jane Hull, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, former legislator and Arizona Corporation Commissioner Barry Wong, a number of sitting and former state legislators and U.S. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Phoenix). Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell was there with ballot counting machines from the county to handle the votes.

Seen as more than a vote on the 11th district's leadership, the meeting was in spirit and actuality a battle between competing ideologies within the Republican Party as a whole. One Republican activist from outside the district who showed up to witness the proceedings told PolitickerAZ.com, "I came to see the bloodbath."

Jon Kyl

U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Phoenix) spent the past two days speaking out in opposition to a proposal that would send $25 billion in federal funds to bail out the so-called Big Three automakers.

On Fox News Channel's "Fox News Sunday," Kyl told host Chris Wallace that he would rather General Motors, Chrysler or Ford declare bankruptcy and restructure than hand them federal dollars.

"We have laws to deal with companies who are having a hard time," Kyl said. "And if they can't pay their bills, they go into a reorganization under what's called Chapter 11 of our bankruptcy code, and as a result of that... they can restructure, reorganize, get rid of the contracts that are bringing them down, create a new business model and move forward."

Arizona's junior senator is making calls to secure another term as the No. 2 Republican in the U.S. Senate and is not expected to face any opposition. Arizona's influence in the senate should be great next year with Jon Kyl in his position and John McCain with increased stature.

U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Phoenix) and U.S. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Phoenix) told PolitickerAZ.com Saturday they recognize that Republicans are likely facing a serious deficit in the number of seats they will hold in the 111th Congress, but said the GOP can still have a major hand to play in the agendas of the House and Senate.

While polls nationwide indicate 2008 might be a repeat of the Democratic wave of 2006, or possibly worse for Republicans. Even contemplating that scenario, Kyl and Shadegg saw hopeful signs for their party.

John Shadegg, the senior-most Republican in the Arizona House delegation, sees ways Republicans can be effective if the outlook is as bleak in January as many are saying. Yet he is not willing to accept the premise of a Democratic tsunami on its face.

"I think the turnout models are all wrong," Shadegg asserted, also saying polling numbers aren't always accurate predictors of election results. "Thomas Dewey - remember that?" Shadegg asked, referring to the 1948 Republican presidential nominee whose election was seen as a sure thing, but who lost to Harry Truman nonetheless.

Still, Shadegg said, "It would appear Republicans are going to lose seats."

At a Phoenix rally for Republican presidential nominee John McCain Saturday, McCain's fellow U.S. senator from Arizona Jon Kyl (R-Phoenix) described the path to a McCain victory in Tuesday's presidential election, and discussed the importance of a decisive victory in Arizona.

"In the national polls, John McCain is four points behind," Kyl told reporters at Desert Storm Park before Saturday's rally. "If he can chip away at that four point gap - one point Saturday, one point Sunday, one point Monday, one point Tuesday, he can win."

Kyl disputed the accuracy of recent polls on the Arizona race, including one from Arizona State University that shows a two-point race between McCain and Sen. Barack Obama in the state.

"The polls aren't tightening as much as you've been led to believe," said Kyl, who claimed that because the ASU poll surveyed registered but not necessarily likely voters, its results were disputable.

Between 200 and 300 supporters of Republican presidential nominee John McCain turned out to Desert Storm Park in Phoenix on Saturday, where U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Phoenix) and U.S. Reps. John Shadegg (R-Phoenix) and Jeff Flake (R-Mesa) addressed the crowd, but representation was highest for one group of non-voters: foreign journalists.

Television and radio crews from such far-flung locales as Spain, Poland and New Zealand were on hand for the event, and mobbed Kyl before the state's junior senator mounted the dais. Perhaps as many as ten such teams were on hand at Saturday's rally, meaning overseas news agencies represented as much as 10 percent of those in attendence.

The foreign press has been streaming into Arizona in anticipation of Tuesday night, when, following national returns, Sen. McCain will either concede the presidential contest or declare victory - or perhaps neither if the vote is close - at the Biltmore resort in Phoenix.

U.S. Rep. John ShadeggWASHINGTON - House and Senate Republicans are rushing to the aid of U.S. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Phoenix), the seven-term congressman who finds himself in a surprisingly difficult fight for re-election.

U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, has asked members of the committee to open their wallets for Shadegg, a former chair and sitting member of the committee, according to a Capitol Hill aide familiar with the fundraising effort. With members out of town, Hensarling's member-to-member appeals have taken place over the phone.

Shadegg is competing against Democratic attorney Bob Lord in a race that was widely seen as Shadegg's to lose. But with the political atmosphere toxic for Republicans, Democrats have grown increasingly optimistic of their prospects of winning the Phoenix-area seat. As of Tuesday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had spent more than $1 million on television advertisements and mailers hammering Shadegg.

U.S. Reps. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) and Harry Mitchell are celebrating the passage of the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act, the compromise energy bill that passed the House Tuesday on a 236-189 vote.

The bill is a hybrid that enacts a number of the energy priorities on both sides of the aisle. It opens the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling for oil, but does not extend the allowed limits as far as congressional Republicans wanted.

The bill also allows some of the fuel in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve onto the open market, repeals tax breaks for oil companies and provides investment in renewable energy, paticularly through an eight year extension of the Investment Tax Credit - a priority for Giffords.    

"Solar power represents one of our nation’s best hopes for a clean, secure and sustainable energy future," said Giffords, speaking Tuesday on the floor of the House in support of the bill. "It will provide powerful economic benefits to my district in Southern Arizona and to the rest of the country."