Last night, I was fortunate enough to attend a mixer for Gov. Janet Napolitano at Terra Cotta. (Full disclosure: Terra Cotta owners Michael and Maya Luria are friends of mine.) Gabrielle Giffords and Jim Pederson were also present, as were LD26 House candidate Lena Saradnik and LD26 Senate candidate Charlene Pesquiera.
It was a nice event, although Napolitano and Giffords made relatively brief appearances. It was good to see Saradnik and Pesquiera working the crowd; they’re clearly going all-out in a tough district for Dems.
Napolitano, Giffords and Pederson all spoke briefly, with Napolitano leading the way and introducing the other two. (There is NO doubt who the Democratic leader is in this state, nosiree.) Napolitano was polished and folksy as ever, and Giffords was very charismatic. Pederson, on the other hand … not so much.
Maybe this is an unfair criticism, because Napolitano and Giffords have extensive campaigning experience, whereas Pederson does not. But … yikes, he came off as kind of robotic and maybe even a little creepy. The weirdest moment came when Pederson mentioned sending Giffords to Washington, D.C., and Pima County District Attorney Barbara LaWall shouted out from the audience something to the effect of: “We’re going to be sending you, too, Jim!” (I wasn’t taking notes, so I may be off slightly.)
As the crowd hooted and hollered, Pederson looked at LaWall and said, in a tone that reminded me of an exasperated husband, “I was getting there, Barbara” He then noted who LaWall was (“Pima county’s excellent district attorney,” he said. Um, OK.), and went on with his speech about how his race was close and he had a chance.
I am sure Pederson meant the whole “I was getting there, Barbara” in a loving, funny way. Seriously. Didn’t come off like that.
I really, really hope Pederson wins. Jon Kyl’s lost all credibility with me by pushing Iraq, helping run up the deficit and scapegoating the LGBT community for political purposes. I hope Pederson gets six years to work on his charm and charisma. But if he loses a close race—and he very well may—then his lackluster campaigning skills may shoulder much of the blame.
This article appears in Nov 2-8, 2006.
>It was good to see Saradnik and Pesquiera working the crowd; they’re clearly going all-out in a tough district for Dems.
Well, OK, some punctuation here is censored.
“It was good to see Saradnik and Pesquiera working the crowd; they’re clearly going all-out in a tough district for Dems.”
Hmmm, maybe it would be a better use of their time to be out talking with Independents and Republicans, rather than hardcore Democrats?
Maybe that’s why Pederson was less than enthusiastic about preaching to the choir?
Bob, I couldn’t disagree with you more. Candidates need to energize their bases and get them to the polls. Yes, there is an element of preaching to the choir, but you need to get the choir to the voting booth. Also, the crowd was not all Democrats; I know for sure some GOPers and independents were there to hear what the candidates had to say.
It was good to see Saradnik and Pesquiera working the crowd; they’re clearly going all-out in a tough district for Dems.
While that case is true for Saradnik, a recent poll in the Explorer suggested that Pesquiera would have a cakewalk – ~70% to ~25%. Of course, an online poll is not to be trusted blindly, but the gap is too much to say that the GOP is going to back a rightwing conservative.
Indeed, the thing that I’ve noticed is that when a Republican Party primary has a rightwing conservative candidate, that candidate can knock out a moderate because the voter base is just Republicans — Republicans who might want a RINO out. However, in a general election, when the voter base is expanded to the whole crowd, the rightwing Republican gets blown out of the water because they are way too far from the center — even if the Democrat isn’t ideal to Republican taste.
If I may posit a political theory, I would say that if the Republicans continually fight to eliminate RINOs, it will alienate the GOP’s moderate base and strengthen the Democratic Party.
Remember, this happened in reverse during the 1970s when a leftwing branch of the Democratic party took over the focus of the Dems and alienated the party’s moderate base, which moved to the Republican Party.
And, of course, nobody realizes that the invisible Libertarian Party are a viable option that would push for Reaganite economic policy and Democratic social policies.
I was also there as I write about food and receive regular missives from Terra Cotta plus I’m a blogger mouth.
I think Jim Pederson looked better in person than on TV. I think the only way he’ll get elected is if people are really sick and tired of Iraq and don’t want to send more troops there. It’s difficult to tell which is more important in people’s minds — the border or Iraq. If people think sending more troops to Iraq is murder and suicide, Pederson could possibly get some votes. But if they’re more concerned about protecting the border, Pederson goes under.
Gabby Giffords made a compassioned plea to walk the walk and talk the talk and get out there to get people to vote. Janet told some good stories and was approachable. My friend and I were able to talk to her one to one.
Interesting note: A reporter from the Independent in Britain was here following the District 8 campaigns. He didn’t have great things to say about Randy Graf and also said his favorite restaurant in Tucson so far was Cafe Poca Cosa.