The list of candidates for Arizona’s Feb. 28 presidential primary is complete—and Project White House 2012, the Weekly’s Reality Journalism competition, is underway!
A total of 23 Republicans are on the ballot, which is one less than the 24 Republicans who were on the ballot in 2008.
We would have gotten to 24 candidates this year, if former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman hadn’t messed up his paperwork. It really says something about the importance of organization when local guitar legend Al “Dick” Perry can get on the GOP primary ballot, but Huntsman screws it up.
Speaking of Al Perry: He landed the No. 4 spot on the Arizona GOP presidential ballot at a random drawing of names for ballot order at the Arizona Secretary of State’s office earlier this week. That puts him well ahead of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is at the No. 17 spot.
“I hope that doesn’t confuse our voters,” said Secretary of State Ken Bennett. “I think that people who support Rick Perry will vote for Rick Perry and hopefully they’ll notice the distinction between Rick Perry and Al ‘Dick’ Perry.”
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is chairing Rick Perry’s campaign in Arizona, did not appear too happy about his candidate sharing a name with another contender for the White House.
“Who is that?” Arpaio said when The Range asked him about Al “Dick” Perry. “I don’t know who that is. I know there’s only one of me.”
To answer Arpaio’s question: Al “Dick Perry” is one of the 10 GOP candidates who are participating in Project White House, which will present a variety of challenges to the candidates between now and Election Day. The candidate who does the best job will win the Tucson Weekly’s endorsement for the GOP race.
By luck of the draw, Project White House candidates snagged the top five spots on the GOP ballot this year.
The Arizona Democratic Party opted out of having a primary on Feb. 28, preferring to do a caucus later in the year. That prevents a Project White House candidate from potentially embarrassing President Barack Obama.
But the Green Party is in the race, with six candidates on the ballot. At least three of them are participating in Project White House and we’re hopeful that the rest will join in before the end of the week.
We’re looking forward to introducing you to the candidates in Project White House in an upcoming cover story, but in the meantime, you’ll find more information about them, as well as their plans for the country, at www.projectwhitehouse2012.com. You’ll meet people like Charles Skelley and Peter “Simon” Bollander, who made quite a splash during Project White House 2008. And you’ll meet newcomers like Sarah Gonzales, who notes in a missive to us that Arizona’s nomination form is the “easiest job application I have ever filled out. AND I can also see who else applied for the job! I totally know my competitors! After seeing who else applied from the Republican Party … I think I have a shot.”
We agree, Sarah—and we’re thrilled to have you on board.
As truck driver and presidential candidate Cesar Cisneros told us when he agreed to be part of the Project White House 2012 this morning: “The rich guys get all the TV shows and media attention because they can buy it, but there’s always a miracle for the little guy.”
Hank Stephenson assisted in the reporting of this entry.
This article appears in Jan 5-11, 2012.
“The candidate who do the best job will win the Tucson Weekly’s endorsement for the GOP race.”
Who edits this stuff?
Eric: I made the change. Sometimes the thrill of participatory democracy overtakes us for a moment and we lose our grammatical heads. Thanks.
What is this, the Rodney Dangerfield syndrome? I received the email alert about qualifying for the Arizona ballot and I registered with Project White House 2012, and I have posted a couple mini essays there.
I am swamped campaigning because I have filed two federal district court cases challenging FCC jurisdiction over our access laws, and as soon as i apply for broadcast time with your PBS stations I may be filing a 3rd.
My purpose in delivering a major speech substantively dealing with the issues facing our nation is to win the election. I am going to seek your support to “sponsor” my access request of the PBS stations. That means you could / would be in the studio, so after 90 minutes the last half hour would be devoted to your questions.
That is the plan. visit http://levinson4president.com
Gary Swing Interviewed on “Phoenix: Here and Now”
I was interviewed today at noon by the Phoenix Here and Now news program on KJZZ Radio. They were doing a story on “Project White House” candidates in the Arizona presidential primary. I was supposed to be one of two candidates they were interviewing, but I didn’t hear whether another candidate spoke before I was patched in. They did mention Republican candidate Al “Dick” Perry, a Tucson musician who has the fourth position on the Republican ballot. Rick Perry has the 17th position on the ballot out of 23 candidates. I have the second ballot line of six on the Green Party’s primary.
I was only able to speak live on the air for a few minutes in response to interviewer Steve Goldstein’s questions, but I managed to get a lot of substance in. I did a serious interview, without using humor. Goldstein asked why I decided to run in the Arizona primary, do I have political plans for after the Arizona primary, who I would likely support for president in the general election, what I thought about Arizona making it easy to get on the ballot, and how I felt about candidates using Project White House to run farcical campaigns.
I mentioned that my family lives in Tucson, so I decided to participate in the Tucson Weekly’s political reality contest as a forum for advocating real political reform. I mentioned that I ran as a Green Party candidate for Congress in Denver in 2010, and that I may do that again this year. I said that the Green Party stands for nonviolence, ecology, social justice, and democracy. I said that I’m running as an anti-war, pro-environmentalist candidate. I stated that Jill Stein and Kent Mesplay are the Green Party’s “real” candidates for president, running nationally for the nomination, that I expect Jill Stein to win the nomination, and I encouraged people to vote for Green Party candidates in the general election.
I expressed my support for open ballot access laws, and for including minor party and alternative candidate in election forums. However, I stressed that it is more important to adopt proportional representation voting systems for legislative elections to break up the two party system, make every vote count, and provide fair representation for voters in government.
I described the office of the president as a military dictatorship, wielding too much power, regardless of who holds the office. I proposed to eliminate presidential elections and adopt a parliamentary system with a weak executive chosen by Congress.
I expressed support for a single-payer national health insurance system.
I also said that there’s a place for humor and political satire in election campaigns, and I gave the example of Vermin Supreme, a clown who just placed third in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary. He ran a satirical campaign, but made a lot of good points, and garnered a lot of media attention.
Gary Swing
Green Party Candidate for President of Arizona
http://www.newmenu.org/swingvoter