And you have to love the shot of the empty House that Shadegg was addressing at the time.

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• White Hots cooking alongside their more commonly colored counterparts.

I honestly thought someone was messing with me when I opened the e-mail at 4 a.m., but it must be noted that I was only on my third cup of coffee of the day, which is a vulnerable state for me. Within moments, I was embarking on a Google journey into white weinerdom that left me stunned and mystified.

Stopani says he flys the white hots—which are native to Rochester N.Y.—in about three times a year. Apparently the white color is a result of using meat that is neither smoked or cured. This made it the "poor man's hot dog" back in the 1920s, according to some accounts. Conversely, the pale sausage is considered an upscale tube steak in these modern times.

Check out the Wikipedia entry on these colorless hot dogs here.

Check out Zweigle's Web site here.

An interesting tidbit that shows the growing split within the GOP:

Hayworth, a conservative former U.S. congressman who now is a popular radio talk show host in Phoenix, is reportedly interested in the race but has not formally declared for it. He captures 59% of the male GOP vote, while McCain wins 58% of female voters.

Younger GOP voters like Hayworth more than their elders. McCain has a solid lead among the relatively small number of moderate and liberal Republicans in the state while Hayworth picks up a plurality (48%) of conservatives.

If the ongoing purge within the GOP were to claim McCain—McCain!—and J.D. were to become the nominee, that puts Democrat Rodney's Glassman's hopes of claiming the Senate seat in a whole new light.

ETA: On the other hand, Rodney probably can't be too happy about this line from Rasmussen:

For McCain, the GOP Primary appears to be his biggest challenge since no major Democrats in the state have stepped forward yet to run against him.

Not so much: The plan to snip some spending has collapsed in the Senate. Rhonda has details.

If they can't even get it going with this (relatively) simple stuff, how are they ever going to be able to fill a $2 billion hole?

Here's part of a press release with more details:

Over the years, Enchanted Earthworks Gallery has changed its look and merchandise mix to adapt to the changing market and economy. Artist/owners, Val and Gordon Mustain, started the store as a metaphysical gallery featuring their own unique jewelry designs along with a variety of art and natural stones. Today, the gallery features an impressive variety of art from regionally and nationally recognized artists, as well as the Mustain’s hand-crafted jewelry designs including Gordon’s signature wire-wrapping and Val’s designer gem-stone-beaded creations.

A new gallery opening show of artists takes place on Friday, Nov. 20 with an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. Twenty artists will be present including featured artist, Keith McRoberts (14K & 18K designer gem rings); Margaret Shirer (fused dicroic glass), Nancy Dimock (encaustic wax painting), Ron Karluski (wood carving), Marianne Hopkins (Seed bead jewelry), Robin White (fiber artist), Sherri Henderson (Bronze equestrian sculpture), Betty Dougherty (dimensional acrylic painting) and other nationally known artists and jewelry designers. The featured opening for these artists will continue through Thursday, Dec. 24.

Several speakers blasted the Downtown Tucson Partnership's efforts to sell the Coronado Hotel, which has provided 42 units of low-income housing since 1991.

The Tucson City Council is now scheduled to discuss the plan at its next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 24.

Almost 20 years ago, the building, located at Fourth Avenue and Ninth Street, was renovated, in part with local and federal tax dollars.

Glenn Lyons, who heads the Downtown Tucson Partnership, could not be reached for comment. But earlier press reports indicated Lyons thought the building could be turned into offices or even a hotel.

Ward 1 Councilwoman Regina Romero said today that the city needs to ensure that there are affordable housing options downtown.

"Slowly but surely we're losing them," Romero said.

Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias echoed that concern.

"We need to save the Coronado as affordable housing," Elias said.

Attorney Bill Risner said the Downtown Tucson Partnership was a "con game" and predicted the proceeds from the sale would go to help developers.

"We need to give the City Council a spine," Risner said. "They need to say no."

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., The UA Press is celebrating 50! years of publishing with a sidewalk sale. They will offer deep discounts on scratched and dented books. Prices start at $5, and an all-you-can-stuff bag o' books is $25. Selected new titles will be 50 percent off. Music and refreshments will be on hand. 355 S. Euclid Ave. parking lot.

At 3 and 7 p.m., The Tucson Boys Chorus will perform an original piece called "Songs for the Ark," written by Frederic Balazs, at the Benedictine Monastery. Danish pianist Torsten Juul-Borre will also perfrom pieces from Chopin, Grieg and Liszt. Tickets are $50, and proceeds go to the "Preserving Our Heritage" campaign, which helps repair and restore the 70-year-old monastery. 800 N. Country Club Road.

The memorial is being held from 3 to 6 p.m., at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave.

Read more about Alan Ward here:
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2009/10/19/good-bye-alan-ward

• City of Tucson
• Tucson Ward Map (At Red Star's Request)

The big takeaway: We live in a divided city.

As we suspected, Republican Steve Kozachik pulled off his upset of Democrat Nina Trasoff by driving up turnout on the east side, while Democrats failed to get their voters out on the west and south sides.

That’s been the formula for GOP success in city elections for more than a decade.

Republicans clobbered Democrats in east side Ward 2 and Ward 4, while Democrats whipped Republicans in wards 1, 3, 5 and 6.

Kozachik, who beat incumbent Democratic Councilwoman Nina Trasoff by 1,756 votes citywide, lost his own ward. Kozahick picked up just 40 percent of the vote in midtown Ward 6.

While the final margin that separated Kozachik and Trasoff citywide was close, the margins within the individual wards are big in the Ward 6 race.

In addition to losing Ward 6, Kozachik didn’t fare well in Ward 1 (40 percent), Ward 3 (42 percent) or Ward 5 (38 percent). But in Ward 2, Kozachick captured 61 percent of the vote. In Ward 4, he got 65 percent.

In those two eastside wards, more than 35,700 voters cast ballots, accounting for about 48 percent of the roughly 74,000 votes that were cast in the election.

Citywide turnout was 33 percent, but it was higher

New campaign-finance reports show through Nov. 9, McClusky spent $90,211, compared to Fimbres’ $78,526.

McClusky, a political rookie, also managed to outraise Fimbres, despite Fimbres’ deep community ties.

McClusky raised a total of $49,649, which was matched by $45,822 in city matching funds.

Fimbres raised just $44,837, which was matched by $38,442 in city matching funds.

McClusky had trailed Fimbres in fundraising until the final weeks of the campaign. Between Oct. 15 and Nov. 9, McClusky raised $15,420, while Fimbres raised just $5,936.

McClusky spent a staggering $82,330 after Oct. 15, according to his campaign finance report. The spending included roughly $15,000 on robocalls and $54,500 on a mailer accusing Fimbres of mishandling money when he headed up the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

Those campaign expenditures were paid to Lincoln Strategy Group, which is run by Phoenix political consultant Nathan Sproul.

Here's McClusky's most recent report: McCluskyFinal.pdf

Here's Fimbres' most recent report: FimbresFinal.pdf

A press release put out today says the restaurant will begin serving dinner on Friday, Nov. 20, with lunch service beginning on Monday, Nov. 30.

The place has named Ryan Clark, the former sous chef at The Dish, as its new chef. Clark—a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who has also worked at Canyon Ranch and Fuego—has redesigned the menu with a focus on "the freshest products and ingredients, most locally grown and locally sourced," according to the release.

"And we believe our guests have a right to know the source of the food they are enjoying as well as the methods used to prepare it. Our role is to facilitate the food’s journey from farm to fork,” Clark stated in the release.

Reopening the restaurant is the final touch on a $15 million renovation. Originally a private residence, Lodge on the Desert first opened as a business in 1936.

Call 320-2000, or visit their Web site for more information.

In 2008, we had the seven-way super-slam in Legislative 29, where seven Democrats jumped into a primary for two House seats.

Something similar may be brewing for next year in midtown Tucson, where District 28 Rep. Dave Bradley is hitting his four-term limit.

Bradley’s seatmate, Rep. Steve Farley, will be seeking reelection, although he tells us he may not be using Clean Elections this time out because the publicly financed election program is facing a constitutional challenge that may eliminate matching funds, which would leave candidates who use the system in a bind should another candidate or an independent expenditure committee decide to spend a lot of campaign cash.

At least five other Democrats are looking at the race:

• Local Ted Prezelski, who made a run for the seat in 2006, has gotten a much earlier start on his campaign. Prezelski’s brother, Tom Prezelski, lost a House seat in the aforementioned seven-way super-slam.

• Democrat Tim Sultan, who lost a 2004 congressional primary to Eva Bacal back in the Age of Jim Kolbe, has lowered his sights to the state Legislature.

• Mohur Sidhwa, a former Democratic chair of LD28 and a current vice chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, is making her first run for a major office.

• Former LD28 House member Ted Downing is making noises about running, although he has not formally filed for the race. Downing now has an exploratory committee for an unnamed office.

• Bruce Wheeler, a former Tucson city councilman and a one-term lawmaker waaay back in the 1970s, is talking about making a political comeback.

Andrew Sullivan, as you might expect, is having a field day:

As this blog persistently demonstrated in last year's campaign, Palin is a delusional fantasist, existing in a world of her own imagination, asserting fact after fact that are demonstrably untrue, and unable to adjust to the actual reality after it has been demonstrated beyond any empirical doubt. The campaign's media strategy of making sure she was never in a position to be asked anything in an uncontrolled setting, and of never holding an open press conference (unprecedented in the history of presidential campaigns) were a response to this. The only interview that dared stray even a little from this fawning celebrity-deference, Katie Couric's, revealed Palin to be an astonishingly inept know-nothing, camouflaged by incessant victimology.

She is a deeply disturbed individual whose grip on reality is very weak, and whose self-awareness is close to nil. This much is not a leap, let alone unfair. It is simply unavoidable if one examines her surreal invention of reality - even when she must surely know that the evidence exists out there to contradict her.

As I have long noted, this is not the usual political mendacity and spin. It is far weirder and more disturbing than that. She creates her own reality. And the fact-indifferent, editor-free marketing company, HarperCollins, is only too willing to make some money off it.