ARIZONA GETS A REPUBLICAN DEBATE

posted by Andrea Kelly

Arizona gets a debate.

That's the official word from Republican party officials this week.

The debate was promised after Gov. Jan Brewer agreed not to move the state's primary up to January 2012. The state will vote in the presidential preference election in February, which is still earlier than party officials want, but not so early that we jump ahead of other states.

Until this week, the promise was just that. Now we know CNN and the state Republican Party will co-host the event, and that it will air on the cable network at 6 p.m. Dec. 1. It's not clear yet where the debate will be, but there's speculation it will be somewhere in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

CARMONA RESPONDS TO U.S. SENATE RUMORS

posted by Andrea Kelly

Last week reports circulated saying U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' associates were urging former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona to run for Senate.

Giffords' Congressional office spokesman denied the office's involvement, and Rodd McLeod, a Giffords' campaign consultant, said he talks to Carmona but wouldn't elaborate.

Carmona responded via email to AZPM attempts to contact him, confirming that Giffords' associates are among those encouraging him to run for U.S. Senate.

"Over the last couple of months I have been contacted by many elected colleagues and their staffs, many who I know, (on both sides of the aisle) in the US House and Senate as well as appointed officials, encouraging me to consider running for the US Senate seat. I was asked to cite specific names but I did not. I was pressed by the reporter to cite Gabby's staff specifically and I did not but rather said that Gabby's staff, who are also friends were among many others that had contacted me," he wrote.

Carmona said, also via email, he is weighing the difficult decision of whether to run.

"I am doing the internal due diligence necessary to balance the call to national service one more time vs the contributions I can continue to make to community, country and globally in my present positions," Carmona wrote.

BIVENS OFFICIALLY ENTERS U.S. SENATE RACE

posted by Michael Chihak

AZPM colleague Christopher Conover reported in a blog posting 10 days ago that former Arizona Democratic Party chair Don Bivens was going to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jon Kyl.

Now, Bivens has confirmed it with an official announcement on his Website. The Arizona Republic's AZ/DC blog reported on that this morning.

Bivens is the first Democrat to become a candidate in a race that has drawn a good deal of attention and several Republican candidates.

Kyl, who is the Senate minority leader and Arizona's junior senator, announced earlier this year that he won't seek a fourth term.

FREE SPEECH DEBATE: NICE VS. CIVIL

posted by Michael Chihak

Say what you will about Bob Walkup, but the man is a nice guy. His niceness and likability probably account most for his election to three straight terms as mayor of Tucson.

But being nice isn't enough to lead a city. His 11 years, 10 months in office vividly demonstrate that fact. That's a digression, for now; it's a topic for a time closer to the end of his tenure, in a month or so.

Our focus today is how Walkup's nice by nature approach to nearly everything puts his footprints on the First Amendment. The Arizona Daily Star's Josh Brodesky characterized it most appropriately in his Sunday column.

Walkup has openly declared war on incivility, making its antonym the byword of his last year in office. Spurred by the Jan. 8 shooting, Walkup has said he won't allow anything he considers uncivil at City Council meetings.

Last week, that meant gaveling out of order one speaker at the council meeting and having him escorted from the Council Chamber. Roy Warden, for whom the term "gadfly" isn't nearly strong enough, was apparently preparing to launch into a tirade on newly appointed interim City Manager Richard Miranda.

That wasn't to Walkup's liking, so out he went, the First Amendment be damned.

The strength of character Hizzoner showed in doing that would have served him well in the last decade if it were focused on downtown redevelopment and city finances overall, or myriad other grinding issues the city faces.

YET ANOTHER SAD NOTE IN DEMOCRACY

posted by Michael Chihak

Arizona Rep. Richard Miranda says he wants to see what others might describe as super majorities of Latino voters in at least theee Phoenix area legislative districts

Miranda is a Democrat from Tolleson who helps lead a coalition of minority groups trying to influence the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission's mapping work. He testified last week before the commission as it wraps up hearings aimed at helping it produce a first draft of redistricting maps.

Miranda said in an interview with Arizona Week that the U.S. Justice Department official who oversees application of the Voting Rights told him that minorities must have a chance to elect officials of their choice.

That means much more than a simple majority of the population, even of the voting-age popultion, Miranda implied. He said he wants the legislative district map to include three districts that have Latino populations of 68 percent to 69 percent. He said that's because Latinos turn out in much smaller numbers at the polls.

"Is there something to be said for just do better with voter turnout?" I asked him.

His response: "That's always the case. It's not only here, in Phoenix, it's throughout Arizona. ... It has always been an issue."

Maybe it's time to make it a non-issue by getting more Latinos, more non-Latinos, more Democrats, more Republicans, more of everyone who by birth or choice is a U.S. citizen out to vote.

GIFFORDS ASSOCIATES REPORTEDLY URGING ANOTHER DEM TO RUN FOR SENATE

posted by Andrea Kelly

Reports are circulating that U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' associates are urging former Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona to run for the open U.S. Senate seat in Arizona.

The report apparently originated in a Politico story, and was picked up by the Associated Press.

It's getting attention because Giffords was rumored to be interested in the open Senate seat before she was shot at a Jan. 8 congressional event. She is recovering in outpatient therapy near Houston.

Giffords' congressional office spokesman Mark Kimble said no one in the congressional office is involved in campaign matters, and the news did not come from the congressional office. Rodd McLeod, a campaign consultant, is named in the Politico story, and said he talks to Carmona but wouldn't elaborate on their conversations or confirm the Politico story.

Carmona has not responded attempts to contact him.