BRINGING IN THE MONEY

posted by Christopher Conover

According to campaign finance reports for the last quarter, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has nearly $780,000 on hand. Her campaign raised more than $280,000 in the last three months. About half of the money came from individual donors with the balance coming from political action committees.

Giffords, who was shot on January 8th, still has not announced whether or not she is running for reelection. She does not have to legally make that decision until May.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

posted by Christopher Conover

Jerry Lewis is a conservative Republican from Mesa and according to Channel 12 in Phoenix he is set to take on Senate President Russell who is up for a recall election. Lewis, who is a political new comer, is an accountant and charter school official in Mesa. Like Senator Pearce he is also Mormon.

Senate President Pearce is the first elected official in Arizona to face a recall vote in 100 years. Opponents gathered more than 10 thousand signatures to force the recall.

DID WE JUST MEET ARIZONA'S NEXT GOVERNOR?

posted by Michael Chihak

An interview we did for a future Arizona Week uncovered Flagstaff's worst-kept secret: that Mayor Sara Presler is a superstar.

While those in Flag know about Presler, we didn't, and we assume many others south f the Mogollon Rim don't either. Here's a brief look.

We spent just an hour or so with the two-term mayor and were impressed with her political savvy, her knowledge of the convention and visitor business that makes Flagstaff business tick and how to keep it ticking.

She also showed the smarts to let business take the lead in Flagstaff's downtown redevelopment. She was so proud of it that she didn't hesitate to take yours truly for a stroll through downtown before the formal interview. Then, in the interview, she plugged it shamelessly.

Presler is 31, a lawyer and the first woman and the youngest person ever elected Flagstaff mayor. She was 28 when first elected in 2008. She is in the last year of her second two-year term and has already announced she won't run for a third term.

Flagstaff elections are nonpartisan, but Presler says "everyone knows" that she is a Democrat.

Sara Presler is someone to watch in Arizona. If she wants it, she could have a bright political futute.

TUCSON RACES SO FAR

posted by Andrea Kelly

The summer has already been busy for city elections, even though the races are just getting started. Several candidates were knocked off the ballot when they failed court challenges and, even more recently, write-in candidates have joined the crowd.

Additional write-in candidates still have time to officially file with the city Clerk's office, the deadline is July 21.

Here's a look at the races as they stand now:

Mayor
Dave Croteau (Green)
Mary DeCamp (Green)
Rick Grinnell (write-in Republican)
David Karr (write-in Democrat)
Joseph Maher (write-in Democrat)
Jonathan Rothschild (Democrat)

In the race for mayor, the write-ins have different thresholds to meet to advance to the general election. Grinnell must get a little more than 1,000 votes to earn a spot on the general election ballot. That mark is equal to the number of signatures he would have had to collect if he had instead filed as a primary candidate, instead of a write-in candidate.

For one of the Democrat write-in candidates to make it to the general election ballot, they must receive more votes than Rothschild, since he's already qualified for the primary ballot.

Ward One
Joe Flores (Democrat)
Regina Romero (Democrat)

Ward Two
Paul Cunningham (Democrat)
Jennifer Rawson (Republican)

Ward Four
Shirley Scott (Democrat)
Tyler Vogt (Republican)

WILL KELLY RUN?

posted by Christopher Conover

Campaign finance reports are due to the Federal Elections Commission by the end of the week, so numbers are just starting to trickle in. While most political junkies keep an eye on who is raising money attention is also paid to who isn’t raising money.

In January, Jesse Kelly who challenged Gabrielle Giffords last year was rumored to be on the cusp of announcing another run…but so far that announcement hasn’t come. And despite the fact that Kelly has an active campaign account for a 20-12 congressional run, in the last quarter he raised no money. Kelly is the only active candidate in either Congressional District 7 or 8 to file a report at this point.

SENATE CAMPAIGN FINANCE

posted by Christopher Conover

Election Day for the US Senate and House is still more than a year off, but candidates are starting to line up their finances. Rep. Jeff Flake (R) who is running for the US Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jon Kyl (R) has banked $ 2 million so far. According to his campaign that is an addition of more than $800 thousand to his coffers in the last quarter. Campaign finance reports are due to the Federal Elections Commission by the end of the week.