In a closed-door meeting, the majority party in the state Senate chose Sen. Steve Pierce as the new Senate President. Pierce is a rancher from Prescott. His seatmate is House Speaker Andy Tobin. Pierce was elected to the Senate in 2009 and has served as Majority Whip.
Pima County Sen. Frank Antenori was elected to serve as Majority Whip. Sen. Andy Biggs will remain the Senate Majority Leader.
Democrat Richard Carmona is running for U.S. Senate.
He's the second Democrat to enter the race, following Don Bivens.
The former U.S. Surgeon General’s name has been tossed around for months as a potential candidate, as Arizona Democrats search for a candidate to field in the U.S. Senate race next year.
Sen. Jon Kyl is not seeking reelection, leaving the state with a rare open seat.
Democrats have been hesitant to enter the race, with several potential candidates, including Carmona, saying they wanted to wait to see what U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will do. She was rumored to be interested in the Senate race before she was critically wounded in the Jan. 8 shooting.
Several Republicans have announced their candidacy. The most high profile Republican in the race so far is Congressman Jeff Flake, and developer Wil Cardon is also running.
Where were you Tuesday?
Yes, you. You know who you are.
You’re one of the more than 100,000 registered Tucson voters who didn’t bother to cast a ballot in the city election. And they made it so easy this time. Pick up your mail, vote, mail your ballot back. You didn’t even need a stamp.
It was maddening to read that some people were excited by the record turnout of 42 percent. That’s less than half of those registered. And when you consider those who don’t even bother to register, we’re down to just one in four citizens of Tucson who took part in our democratic exercise called the election.
As for those of you who haven’t registered, are you that cynical, that jaded about democracy that you can’t muster the energy to sign up and fill in the ovals on a ballot?
One suspects that you think the system is corrupt and you’ve decided to check out. Big money, extremist conservatives and extremist liberals have taken over.
As a result, you’ve turned in your U.S. citizen badge because you think there’s nothing you can do about it. Well, you are doing something about it. In fact, you’re contributing to the corruption of the system.
Your absence from democracy is creating a vacuum that others are filling. They’re filling it with their candidates, their influence, their money and their votes.
You’re on the sidelines complaining. Your surrender is as much a cause of the problems as is the activity of those working to bend the system to the shapes they want.
Winston Churchill once said, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
One wonders what Churchill would have thought of you, the non-voter.
Perhaps he would have deferred to Founding Father John Adams who noted: "There never was a democracy that didn’t commit suicide.”
If our democracy commits suicide, you non-voters loaded the gun.
News, commentary, analysis from the AZPM political team: Christopher Conover, Andrea Kelly, Michael Chihak.
